When Roz and Paul Mellow write a book about sex in the 1960s, they don't worry about their four children finding it. Rather, they leave it on the bookshelf as a gift to their offspring, a way to help them discover the joys of sex. Because in the Mellows' world, sex is only a source of joy, a uniting force between a man and a woman under the warm glow of love.
But as all the Mellows, both children and parents, mature, they learn that sex is so much more. It divides as much as it unites, causes as much pain as it does joy. Sex brings the dangers of AIDs. And it is not so neatly confined to heterosexual relationships.
Wolitzer's novel explores the lives of Roz and Paul Mellow's four children: Michael, Holly, Dashiell, and Claudia, through their sex lives as they learn these harsh truths. But the constant introduction of sex never feels prurient or gratuitous, as is the danger with such a topic. Rather, Wolitzer always seamlessly connects sex to larger ideas about human connection, family, and what it means to feel comfortable in one's own skin. It is a deeply enjoyable, masterfully crafted work.
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