The book was adapted into a film released in 2017, directed by Björn L. Runge, written by Jane Anderson, and starring Glenn Close, Jonathan Pryce, and Christian Slater.

Joan describes her husband as "one of those men who own the world...who has no idea how to take care of himself or anyone else, and who derives much of his style from the Dylan Thomas Handbook of Personal Hygiene and Etiquette."

"[3] Publishers Weekly also provided a positive review: " Wolitzer's crisp pacing and dry wit carry us headlong into a devastating message about the price of love and fame.

"[4] Booklist's Donna Seaman raves that The Wife is "a diabolically smart and funny assault against the literary establishment and the tacit assumption that only men can write the Great American Novel."

She describes as "shrewd" how Wolitzer "choreographs [Joan's] ire into kung-fu precision moves to zap our every notion about gender and status, creativity and fame, individuality and marriage, deftly exposing the injustice, sorrow, and sheer absurdity of it all.