This book is well written, with interesting characters that you care about what happens to them. But it also probes a universal subject--sexuality--with a slight twist. The book is neither titallating nor pornographic--it lies safely in the adult fiction realm--something you could recommend to your teenager or your mother without blushing, or revealing too much.
The book is inspired by "Lysistrata," the Aristophanes play where the women stop having sex with the men in order to bring end to a long war. In a ho-hum New Jersey suburb, high school drama teacher Fran Heller decides to stage the Greek classic, and soon enough, female students and teachers are afflicted with what English teacher Dory Lang describes as "a mild horror at being touched." It's not a war of the roses as much as it is a war of indifference to sex, of turned shoulders and unfulfilled sighs. A sudden and complete lack of desire.
No one talks about it. In many cases, the change is so subtle as to be unnoticed. But it has a chilling effect on everything. People argue more. There is less community spirit. The rythm of life is disturbed in infintessimal and yet very significant ways. It is a book that is light hearted, but the truths that it touches on are quite real. And the approach is one that doesn't make you defensive, it makes you ponder. Nicely done.
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