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kathleenguthriewoods's review
5.0
Wish I could give this book six stars because it will change, if not save, lives.
This book is for women, like me, who wanted children and couldn’t have them. Day's research is compelling, her compassion is endless. She gets it. Day is blazing trails in England, working to have single, childfree women acknowledged in society and changing the way they/we define family, retire, and treat each other. If you are childfree-not-by-choice and struggling, I highly recommend this book.
This book is for women, like me, who wanted children and couldn’t have them. Day's research is compelling, her compassion is endless. She gets it. Day is blazing trails in England, working to have single, childfree women acknowledged in society and changing the way they/we define family, retire, and treat each other. If you are childfree-not-by-choice and struggling, I highly recommend this book.
loribeth1961's review
5.0
As someone who has been living without children (not by choice) for many years now, I often get questions from women whose fertility journeys have likewise ended without a baby: How, HOW, they ask, do you "get over" the disappointment of never having children (when you really did want and hope for and plan for them), and move on with your life? (DO you ever "get over it"?)
Jody Day, founder of Gateway Women, a fabulous resource for women like us, not only answers "yes" in her wonderful book, Rocking the Life Unexpected, but outlines a clearly marked route you can follow down this road less travelled.
The book's description on Amazon calls it "a mixture of autobiography, social history and self-help... a book that blends the personal, the political and the practical to support childless-by-circumstance women to move forward with their lives."
Like the award-winning "Silent Sorority" by Pamela Tsigdinos and "I'm Taking My Eggs and Going Home" by Lisa Manterfield (both books that I love and recommend highly), Jody tells her personal story in this book -- and no doubt you will find much to relate to there.
Beyond her personal story, though, Jody analyzes the role of childless women in our world, today and in the past -- how we got here -- and the implications for a society that seems besotted with motherhood at the same time that more and more women are remaining childless. She brings up a lot of great points that I didn't know about or hadn't considered before, and I hope that marketers, policymakers and politicians are paying attention to what she has to say.
Finally, Jody, who is working to become a psychotherapist, walks readers through the construction of a concrete plan for a satisfying life without children -- including creative exercises designed to help you to work through your grief, envision what a good life without children might look like (to you), and how you can create that life for yourself. The exercises were developed as part of the workshops Jody has developed & delivered to childless women in the U.K., and can be used in a group setting or privately, at your own pace.
This is a landmark book, and I can't recommend it highly enough. : )
(I originally read this book & wrote this review in late 2013; since then, an updated version called "Living the Life Unexpected" has been published, and I understand a further updated version is in the works.)
Jody Day, founder of Gateway Women, a fabulous resource for women like us, not only answers "yes" in her wonderful book, Rocking the Life Unexpected, but outlines a clearly marked route you can follow down this road less travelled.
The book's description on Amazon calls it "a mixture of autobiography, social history and self-help... a book that blends the personal, the political and the practical to support childless-by-circumstance women to move forward with their lives."
Like the award-winning "Silent Sorority" by Pamela Tsigdinos and "I'm Taking My Eggs and Going Home" by Lisa Manterfield (both books that I love and recommend highly), Jody tells her personal story in this book -- and no doubt you will find much to relate to there.
Beyond her personal story, though, Jody analyzes the role of childless women in our world, today and in the past -- how we got here -- and the implications for a society that seems besotted with motherhood at the same time that more and more women are remaining childless. She brings up a lot of great points that I didn't know about or hadn't considered before, and I hope that marketers, policymakers and politicians are paying attention to what she has to say.
Finally, Jody, who is working to become a psychotherapist, walks readers through the construction of a concrete plan for a satisfying life without children -- including creative exercises designed to help you to work through your grief, envision what a good life without children might look like (to you), and how you can create that life for yourself. The exercises were developed as part of the workshops Jody has developed & delivered to childless women in the U.K., and can be used in a group setting or privately, at your own pace.
This is a landmark book, and I can't recommend it highly enough. : )
(I originally read this book & wrote this review in late 2013; since then, an updated version called "Living the Life Unexpected" has been published, and I understand a further updated version is in the works.)
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