My books are not meant to be only funny books, but humor is one of the things I really respect. I like talking to people who option my work and seeing what they have to say. As the writer of the original material, I’m fine with certain changes. When you sell something to the movies or television, it depends on what particular aspects of the book the director is interested in. A movie adaptation is always variations on a theme. I know her voice, and the film was definitely her project. MW: I was really fortunate to have an early novel of mine, This is Your Life, adapted for the screen by one of the funniest people around, Nora Ephron, but it was definitely her take on the story.

Since you have had some of your novels adapted for film and are currently in the process of having one of your novels adapted for television, how do you think your work and your humor translates from the page to screen?

I admire it when I see it done well.ĮC: You mentioned humor in other forms, such as television and film. I don’t feel like the novel format lends itself well to a lot of jokes, but humor arises from the sensibility of the writer or the sensibility, say, of the character. I think people don’t understand that within humor, pain can be written too. My novels do address some serious subjects, or at least I hope they do. I think humorous novels get undervalued in our culture, even as humor is so important in other art forms, yet I myself crave reading something really witty. I often have ironic takes on the world, like a lot of people. I never write with the purpose of ‘insert joke here,’ but there is a line from Zadie Smith’s Fail Better in which she describes writing novels as expressing her way of being in the world.

Do you always set out to write funny novels? Some of my favorite lines of yours are those background details or asides that are, perhaps, texture for the story, but that make me laugh out loud. Though you write about serious subjects, it is always through a prism of humor. I talked to Meg this week about humor, film adaptation, and what it is to be a novelist:ĮC: What I have always loved about your books is how funny they are. Based on the comedy by Aristophanes “Lysistrata,” THE UNCOUPLING is signature Wolitzer as it tackles a serious issue that has deep societal and personal importance using her particular brand of wit and humor that makes the conversation fresh and fascinating. NEW YORK-This week, novelist Meg Wolitzer releases her new book, THE UNCOUPLING, about a strange spell that is cast over the community of Stellar Plains, New Jersey that compels the women to stop having sex.

The Uncoupling by Meg Wolitzer