Wrinkled Rebels

by Laura Katz Olson

Now 80 years old, retirement and advanced age have dissipated the spirit of six college radicals of the 1960s, who jointly had participated in civil rights campaigns and anti-war protests. Having engaged in only periodic communication over the decades, they suddenly receive an invitation to reunite for an extended weekend. Struggling with whether to go, each of them has divergent qualms and expectations for the proposed gathering.

During their three days together, they confront their inner demons, each other, and their future. Does Rebecca, the prime mover of the event, find solace after losing her wife and career? Can Malaika regain her sense of self after stepping down from her successful law practice? Mourning the loss of her youthful athletic prowess and attractiveness, what happens when Deanna faces her old friends?

Struggling with two divorces and a failing marriage, can Russell attain peace of mind? How will Max, an expat living in Canada, manage with his incipient dementia? Will the demoralized Keith recover his idealism?

Wrinkled Rebels is a story of how six people achieve meaningful lives through the struggle for social justice. It is also a tale of love, the bonds of friendship, and growing old positively.

Genres: Fiction, Historical

306 pages, Paperback

First published July 23, 2024

About the author

Laura Katz Olson, AGF Distinguished Professor of Political Science, has published nine nonfiction books focusing on healthcare and aging. Her novel, Wrinkled Rebels, will be released by Vine Leaves Press on July 23, 2024.

The Politics of Medicaid received Lehigh University’s Williamson Book Award in Social Research (2012). Elder Care Journey: A View from the Front Lines, which relates her personal experiences as a caregiver for her mother, won a Gold Medal in the Ninth Annual Living Now Book Awards (September 2017). Ethically Challenged: Private Equity Storms U.S. Health Care (2022) won a gold medal in both The North American Book Awards and the Axiom Business Book Awards. The book was also a finalist in the American Book Fest Best Book Awards. In 2009, she won the Charles A. McCoy Lifetime Achievement Award and, in 2022, the Joseph A. Dowling Award for Excellence in Research and Teaching.

Reviews

[Marianne · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5★s
Wrinkled Rebels is the second novel by American Distinguished Professor of Political Science, Laura Katz Olson, who has won awards for her non-fiction works. Six friends, all in their eighth or ninth decades and feeling it, civil rights and anti-war activists from the sixties and seventies, get together after a hiatus of fifty years, when one of them decides they need a reunion. Her invitation has each of them recalling how they met and what they did during their college years, and beyond.

They are a diverse group: a Jewish boy from Brooklyn who went on to become an academic sociologist; a Catholic girl from the Bronx whose teen abortion led her become a gynaecologist; a poor black girl from Brownsville who became a lawyer for the disadvantaged; a musician from Queens who wrote, played and sang protest songs, and got very involved in the environmental cause, now debilitated by Parkinson’s; a boy who fled to Canada to escape the Vietnam draft, going on to be an architect and now with incipient dementia; and the lesbian daughter of wealthy Chelsea parents, who worked tirelessly for worker’s rights.

Six separate alternating narratives give the different perspectives of the protagonists, and the backstory to the vignettes of their current lives is revealed as they decide whether or not they’ll attend, and which they share when they eventually do get together. It’s quite a slog to get through multiple demonstrations, sit-ins and other activities as they protest war, racism, sexism, abortion law and workers rights, even if they are vividly described. The disappointment of some in their offspring, and their frustration at their perceived irrelevance, is realistic; their potential solution, hopeful.

Much of the story will resonate with readers who were born immediately post-WW2, thus now in their late seventies or early eighties, who spent their teens and early twenties in America, during the sixties and seventies. Those with a taste for the political movements of the era may find also find it interesting. Perhaps ninety-five-year-old males with late-stage prostate cancer will identify with the lawyer’s husband, whose main concern is the impotence side effect from his therapy. (Seriously? Get over it!) Wider appeal is less likely, and readers outside these demographics may find themselves skimming.

Katz Olson unfortunately does more “tell” than “show”, tries to cover rather too much, and her characters lack depth and appeal, making them hard to connect with. Trump gets a few mentions, but there’s no sense that he’s once again president at the time of their June 2025 reunion, something the author clearly couldn’t have predicted before the July 2024 publication date. Not for everyone.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Vine Leaves Press.

[Annalisa Crawford · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spanning six decades, this is an epic journey of six friends, from their idealistic college days to their 80s, when life has dragged them down. From their emersion in the civil rights movement of the 60s and the activism that followed, to their regrets they couldn't do more.

Alternating each of the six POVs, we follow them on their adult paths - the continued activism in various fields, the loves and divorces and increasingly jaded outlooks, until a reunion reminds them who they truly are.

This is a timely novel, reminding us that people have always fought for justice and the desire to help people in need, that many issues can be fought at the same time, that life evolves but our core values remain albeit hidden on occasion. Laura Katz Olson has created strong, passionate characters and a wonderful, uplifting story.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Debbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a wonderful book. Beautifully written, an immersive story travelling back and forth in time about a group of colleague friends. I loved the richest of the contemporary stories of the characters in their eighties. A must read and look forward to more from this author. Thank you to # netgalley and the publisher for an ARC.

[Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Laura Katz Olson, Wrinkled Rebels, Vine Leaves Press, July 2024.

Thank you, NetGalley, for providing me with this uncorrected proof for review.

I loved reading this absorbing account of the young women and men who developed their political ideas and responses while at university. Now in their eighties they are to meet again, and the youthful narratives provide the background to that meeting. Each character’s activities are a detailed account of the ideas, movements, agreements and disagreements, challenges faced, and successes won by individuals and groups. These detailed accounts provide a thorough history of the period in a narrative I found engrossing because of the detail and thoroughness with which the period was covered.

However, I have reservations about the success with which the narrative provides an engaging story about their activities. Rather than introducing her material using fictional strategies that draw the reader into the narrative, Katz Olson ‘s account uses fictional characters in an account that seems to rely more heavily on non-fictional devices. The information becomes more important than the characters’ feelings and stories about their activities. They are interesting enough, but the real strength is the information that is imparted.

The story begins with an invitation to Deanna, who hobbles to take her mail, including the purple envelope into her Victorian home with a splendid rose garden. Deanna is a former athlete, but there is little evidence of her past in this depiction of her present. Deanna and Russell’s story of their youthful ambitions, political activities, and thwarted relationship is recounted. Russell also receives a purple envelope, opened by his wife, the contents detailed.

The letters are from Rebecca, her partner having died, she has organised the reunion. The invitation suggests a reunion of the six former friends for a weekend together, excluding anyone other than the group whose political activism was central to their lives. Maliaka, whose career as a lawyer has ended with her aging is unsure about attending; Kieth whose life expectancy is shortened by Parkinsons, his revolutionary musical days largely over is keen to attend but concerned about his frailty. Max is in the early stages of dementia and resentful of the patronising attitudes surrounding him. He has been secretive about his political past and the invitation will enforce his return to the United States from Canada. Rebecca has retained her political activism until her retirement at eighty.

The narrative’s movement between the vulnerabilities of old age and the activism of the politically motivated young, highlight the vulnerabilities of both youth and age. The characters’ gradual openness to acknowledging that the limitations of old age need not that fully control their present is an effective reflection on age and possibilities. The detailed history of the political environment in which the six first met and worked together is also a valuable resource. Although I would have preferred more engaging characterisation this is a significant reflection on aging and an important political past.

[Whatithinkaboutthisbook · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book Review. Wrinkled Rebels by Laura Katz Olson.
ARC provided by @booksirens for an honest review.

6 Friends meet in college during the 1960’s during tone of the most vibrant time in our history for political activism. The main characters of bond over their shared passion, idealism and desire to get involved and change the world. Fast forward 50 years and the group gets together for a reunion.

You will really enjoy this book if you are curious and interested in the political and social activism of the 60’s and early 70’s. The author does an amazing job describing the civil rights movement, women’s movement and the Vietnam War protests. This portion of the book was super interesting in terms of the range of activities that college students and different organizations orchestrated. I thought it was fascinating that even in organizations aimed at social change women and people of color still felt de-valued and excluded. It reminded me of comments made by Maya Angelou where she described the exclusion of women living in poverty and women of color from the women’s movement.

I was really struck by how much political and social activism was embedded in the identity of the characters, and this generation. I don’t feel that my generation have been involved and committed to action. It made me wish that I could have experienced a college environment like this and made me question whether I can be more involved in our current issues.

As the chapters are organized with each character narrating a chapter I didn’t feel that the characters were as well developed as I would have liked. I didn’t feel connected to them as individual characters and I would have liked more dialogue between the characters rather than descriptions of their activities. I feel like the author tried to cover every area of civil rights and social activism which I think resulted in a dilution of subject.

The second half of the book focuses on the characters examining what they have accomplished in their lives. As I didn’t feel connected to the characters this section dragged a bit for me. Although I did love a granddaughter being shocked that they were all “old” people and not what she imagined these activists she had heard so many stories about would look like.
This is a good read for anyone who is curious about the activism in that time period or enjoys books about social activism.

[Laurie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started reading this book a week before my 70th birthday, and boy, did the story resonate with me as I often look back while savoring the present and yes, thinking ahead! The turbulent 60s (particularly the activities at UC Berkeley, where I became a student in the early 70s) have always fascinated me. The six friends, aka Wrinkled Rebels, came to life for me. They are all well-written and well-drawn, and what initially brought them together, and keeps them bonded, is their commitment to social justice. They are all complex and very interesting individuals. I have to say that it helped that my own beliefs match well with these six Rebels. Someone with an opposite political slant or ideological beliefs may not feel the kinship.

I was initially concerned about six POVs because, in the wrong hands, there can be way too many fits and starts that disrupt the flow of the narrative. That was not the case with this book. I really enjoyed “sitting in” and listening to the friends not just relive their pasts, but also share their lives after leaving the often-theoretical bubble of college and embarking on the realities of “real life.” Although I avoided my 50th high school reunion, I can understand the impact the Rebels’ reunion had on each of them, as they, now in their 80s, came together for the first time in years. In many ways, this book felt more like a multi-memoir, and I liked that, too. The writing flowed beautifully, and I looked forward to what was coming next—a sure sign that the author had indeed reeled me in. Thank you to Vine Leaves Press. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wrinkled Rebels tells the story of 6 social justice activists, following their lives from the peak of their activism when they met in college right through to their reunion 50 years later.

I was immediately interested by the description of the book. It uses fictional characters to tell the real-life story of activism in the 60s which was a novel format for me and one which I really enjoyed. I learned so much about the political movements in the 60s and 70s which was fascinating, and the author effectively portrayed the lives of activists at that time.

Each chapter is told from the perspective of one of the 6 friends which allowed us to get to know them, their beliefs, their upbringing, and their role in the group. I personally loved how that changed at the reunion to a third-person narrative about all the group which showed their togetherness after living very separate lives.

While I am very interested in political activism, I didn't always find the book particularly compelling - sometimes it was a bit of a struggle to motivate myself to keep reading it. I'm not entirely sure why, but I felt this improved a lot at the reunion. This part of the book was much more emotionally involving and heartwarming.

Overall, this was like nothing I've ever read and I really enjoyed the mix of politics, friendship, and the realistic portrayal of ageing which you don't often see

Thank you to BookSirens for my advance copy - all opinions are my own.

[Susan McAulay · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were things I really enjoyed about this novel. When I first started reading it, I was on the subway on my way to work at a public high school right across the street from City College, where the six characters in the book met and spent their youth protesting. This was ironic, given recent protests at the school.
The novel felt very authentic; I have no doubt that the author did a great deal of research into what happened during this time period and accurately represented what CCNY was like during this time period and how the campus looks (I was a student there in 1980-1984). The characters felt very realistic as well.
I loved the premise, especially since I am getting older and the undercurrent of what getting older feels like internally and externally is prominent.
However, this feels more like a collective memoir than a novel. This is fine, but it is not exactly what I expected. It makes me wonder if the author has more than one book in her because this feels like something that comes from her life (I could be wrong).
There was not really a plot per se, unless the reader considers the question of whether these six friends who went on to have different lives after college could find common ground when they come together as older folk to be a plot. I am not going to give away the ending but the conclusion, had one really been fleshed out, could have provided a plot but it wasn't. Perhaps the author was afraid that tying up the ends would have felt a bit too neat, and it might have but I think it would have been more satisfying. As it was, it made the thin plot more amorphous. I think I also would have preferred that more of the book occur in the present than in the past.
Thanks to NetGalley and Vine Leaves Press for this advance reading copy in exchange for my honest review. This review will also appear on the blog, The Book Review Crew.

[Ann Epstein · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cross-Generational Appeal – Wrinkled Rebels by Laura Katz Olson, is a nostalgia trip for those who, like me, were “Children of the 60s.” In fact, in an uncanny match, I’m the exact same age as the novel’s six New York City protagonists, entering college in 1963, becoming immersed in the anti-war and women’s movements, vowing to remain engaged as we graduated into the “adult” world. For readers of later generations, Olson’s book offers an entertaining survey course of that tumultuous era, told through the stories of its diverse cast of characters, three women and three men, who bond as freshmen and stay in sporadic touch during the ensuing decades. As a novelist myself (see my Goodreads author page https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...), I admire how Olson achieves a fine balance between detailed historical context and generous character development. The book is driven by the protagonists’ impending 50th reunion, prompting each to recall the past, assess the present, and evaluate how they shaped one another’s lives. Building toward the reunion, readers eagerly turn the pages of this skillfully written narrative with cross-generational appeal to those who reflect on life’s heady mix of predictable and unexpected outcomes.

[Alex · Rating 2 out of 5]

I struggled with this novel and stalled at about 40% read. The premise of a group of friends as they enter old age and revisit their friendships as young activists was interesting but meeting the characters later in life meant a lot of catching up on the past in long descriptions that were productive but felt like everyone was treated from a distance and without feeling. Everything felt stiff. Dealing with characters of different races and during challenging political times in interesting material but in several places the characters felt like tropes bordering on stereotypes and the descriptions felt too careful (e.g. describing the African American experience). A lot of the language also felt very trite - I cringed at the comparison of an orphan "after mommy and daddy are gone," as one example. I think I would have appreciated another round of editing that emphasized where readers were meant to feel something vs just understand a fact. I needed more of a connection to the characters and less attempting to recap such a tremendous amount of history.

[Barbara Bryant · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the 1970s I learned the truths of "the personal is political." This book, alternating between the 1960s and present day, seemed more like "the political is personal." The historical context was accurate, but it seemed like a documentary, not a novel.

I enjoyed "Wrinkled Rebels," but I kept wishing the six friends would have revealed themselves and these times through their own stories and dialogue, rather than simply stating facts and issues. For example, I would have loved to have seen Keith's lyrics for "We Knew Each Other at the Start" (pp. 221-222). I'm sure it must have captured "images of their years together...the civil rights and the camaraderie they had forged together.... He [ended] with an ad hoc tribute to their enduring communitarian spirit."

This left me wondering not just about these six wrinkled rebels, but also about the stories behind other 80-something women and men today. Ultimately, that's a good thing.

PS: The cover design is brilliant, with its fine lines of red, white, and blue, and the subtle women's symbol. Those piercing blue eyes are ageless.

[Barb · Rating 4 out of 5]

A novel of lifelong friendship of six students that met in college and cemented their bond through political activism in the 60’s-70’s. Now 80 years old and having lived separate and very different lives with little contact between them, they come together for an extended weekend to see if their earlier close bonds can be rekindled. Told through six POV starting with their college years, early adult life and now where they find themselves at 80. Due to my age (75), I thoroughly enjoyed this novel because it reminded me of the political issues we faced back in the day…and the issues we continue to face today….and the issues we face as we age. This may not be a book for everyone due to its political slant but I found it very interesting with recognizable characters. I want to thank NetGalley and Vine Leaves Press for the ARC.

[Kym · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was intrigued by the description of this book, Wrinkled Rebels, by Laura Katz Olson, which is due to be published later this month. A book about 80-year-olds looking back on their lives was intriguing to me – and when you throw in a social justice lens, well . . . I was hooked!

The characters were well-drawn and authentic, and the situations were interesting and compelling. I enjoyed reading a book featuring characters in their 80s. The book felt very much more like a memoir than a piece of fiction to me.

Thank you to Vine Leaves Press and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on July 23, 2024.

3 stars.

[Laurie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I truly enjoyed this story and could relate to each of these characters as they grow up and become friends during the sixties. This was a time of country upheaval, protests, sit-in and war.
Now- these friends get together and they have suddenly grown old.
How fast it happened. How do things change and yet some things never really change.
There is love, friendship, care, remembrance and fear within these pages!
I loved it! I have lived a lot of it and I remember!
Anyone who wants to learn or remember the sixties should definitely open this novel and sit.

Thank you to @NetGalley and to @Vine Leaves Press for this ARC and allowing me to read and provide my own review.

[Ruth Setton · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you want to experience the 60s in all its mad glory, read Laura Olson's Wrinkled Rebels. It captures the rise of civil rights, women's lib, anti-war protests, communes, great music, and people on the streets fighting for what they believed in. When six 80-something former activists reunite, they discover that though their faces are wrinkled, their minds unreliable, and their bodies aging, their hearts still burn with passion and the desire for social justice. This is a wonderful, very relatable story about the need to live a life that has meaning and purpose -- no matter how old you are. Highly recommend it!

[Terry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wrinkled Rebels starts as a spellbinding fictional retrospective look at the sixties through the lives of six well-defined characters. I was aware of sixties radicals, after all they shut down my college campus in 1970, but I did not actually know them. Pages later these six characters come together again and open a window into today’s fearful world of aging and politics which I am not only aware of but also experiencing. When I bought Wrinkled Rebels, I thought it would be a mindless romp back into the Sixties. It was not. I found a connection with characters I had not known in the sixties who became my like-minded friends in a familiar time and place and age.

[C. Gonzales · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this. The content was well-written and researched. I am drawn to historical fiction and learning about the past and then seeing how it plays out today.

I was hooked by the second chapter and looked forward to reading each time I picked it up.

I loved the historical content, the lovely truth that is told of the amazing minds.

I enjoyed the characters as well. The fact that they were older and not cookie cutter characters. They were set in their beliefs and they fought for what they believed in.. It's a great read!

[Gina Stamper · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, this was a very involved read.

The storyline is true to life with a great story attached. I loved the fact that we followed older characters, but also got a look into their pasts and what made them who they are.

It's historical and well-researched about Civil Rights and the 60's with a lot of detail while also being fast-paced.

[Patsy Lavinia · Rating 5 out of 5]

For all of the "wrinkled rebels" out there this is a MUST READ. I really enjoyed meeting each of the six characters and following them on their journey through college in the 60's and beyond. Their strength, compassion and passions for what they believed in during this time brought back so many memories of my own time in the 60's.

I highly recommend.

[Norrin Ripsman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Laura Katz Olson is a wonderful writer! The characters she creates in Wrinkled Rebels – six longtime friends committed to social justice issues – come alive, with all their glory and human foibles, as she takes on a journey with them from college to a mysterious reunion in their eightieth year. A delightful read!

[R.K. Emery · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this to be an extraordinarily special book that I enjoyed immensely from start to finish.

The characters are both bad a** and well developed and three-dimensional.

Outstanding writing that is vividly descriptive really pulls the reader in completely. I was sorry to see it book end.

[Samantha Turley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was very humbling to read. The story is good and gripping at points.

I found the plot to be filled with heart, drama, and much more along the way. Wonderful beautiful words.

The dialogue was well done and really added an element that made it that much more entertaining. Nice read

[Mitch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simply wonderful

Olson has written an amazingly nostalgic book, filled with love and friendship and social justice. The characters are all wonderfully drawn and their strong bond is ever apparent. An incredible read.

[Susan Schneider · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very fun novel about friendship that lasts through the ages and the passion of activism that is a life force.

[Deb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Intriguing!

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book in a Goodreads giveaway. It follows the life of 6 college students through the years. They have a friendship that lasts despite the years that they are apart. Although there are six main characters, each character's story is described equally in depth. I enjoyed learning about the 60s and the protest movement.