Source: From Netgalley and Penguin Press in exchange for an honest review. This in no way alters my opinion or review.
There Are No Grown-ups: A Midlife Coming-of-Age Story by Pamela Druckerman
Publisher: Penguin PressPublication Date: May 29, 2018
Rating:
Goodreads Synopsis:
The best-selling author of Bringing Up Bebe investigates life in her forties, and wonders whether her mind will ever catch up with her face.
When Pamela Druckerman turns 40, waiters start calling her "Madame," and she detects a disturbing new message in mens' gazes: I would sleep with her, but only if doing so required no effort whatsoever.
Yet forty isn't even technically middle-aged anymore. And after a lifetime of being clueless, Druckerman can finally grasp the subtext of conversations, maintain (somewhat) healthy relationships and spot narcissists before they ruin her life.
What are the modern forties, and what do we know once we reach them? What makes someone a "grown-up" anyway? And why didn't anyone warn us that we'd get cellulite on our arms? Part frank memoir, part hilarious investigation of daily life, There Are No Grown-Ups diagnoses the in-between decade when...
- Everyone you meet looks a little bit familiar.
- You're matter-of-fact about chin hair.
- You can no longer wear anything ironically.
- There's at least one sport your doctor forbids you to play.
- You become impatient while scrolling down to your year of birth.
- Your parents have stopped trying to change you.
- You don't want to be with the cool people anymore; you want to be with your people.
- You realize that everyone is winging it, some just do it more confidently.
- You know that it's ok if you don't like jazz.
Internationally best-selling author and New York Times contributor Pamela Druckerman leads us on a quest for wisdom, self-knowledge and the right pair of pants. A witty dispatch from the front lines of the forties, There Are No Grown-ups is a (midlife) coming-of-age story, and a book for anyone trying to find their place in the world.
Review:
Sometimes I like to pick up a book that I think will teach me something about life and living and when I saw the title of this one it was a visual clue about how I had been feeling. I am a thirty-something, who really loves books that are 'too young' for her, I am ok with that, but at this point in my mother's life she already had a family and was an adult. I go through my days never really feeling like an adult or a grown-up unless I am paying bills and I though this book would give me some insight into that feeling.
Based on the synopsis I expected some humor, but also that a lot of it might be over my head - again I am in my thirties and the author is using this book to write about being in your forties. There were some times when I connected with the book, but most of the time, not so much. It was a good read though.
I think my major turn off what that only about half of it seemed like a personal journey, while the rest was interviews and research about various topics. Some of those I was interested in - there was a lot of Psychology talk and I am a fan of that, but it left me feeling more disconnected to the author.
What I expected was a witty coming-of-age forty rant/ life lesson overview and what I mostly found was something way too serious and a little depressing for my liking. I know that people change as they get older but I really hope some things just stay the same.
I am happy with who I am, a reader of books that are geared to others below my age group, a nerd who will still love Harry Potter even when she hits 40, who still thinks that maybe somewhere Fairies are real (come on, people can believe in angels but Fae are off limits?! I don't get it), and someone who really believes that there are no grown-ups just people pretending all the time... that is kind of what I wanted to get out of this book, and I kind of did, but the overall tone was very different from what I expected.
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