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Thanks for Waiting: The Joy (& Weirdness) of Being a Late Bloomer
by Doree Shafrir
Shafrir is a charming narrator, and this was a quick, engaging read. I don't want to fault a book for not quite conforming to the brief described by the marketing hook, but it seems like the author is leaning pretty heavily into the "late bloomer" schtick in her own social media and promotion of the book, so I think it's fair to note that Thanks for Waiting didn't hit the mark for me.
Ostensibly the story is about Shafrir's struggles to find herself professionally and personally, but it essentially kicks off during her first magazine internship at age 29, with almost no mention of how she actually spent her 20s or what decisions brought her to that point. After landing on online journalism, she basically sees a meteoric professional rise (her Gawker layoff is immediately followed by a high-status role at Buzzfeed), and a series of promotions and successes that culminate in a senior staff writer position with a huge amount of autonomy and creative control. She makes much ado about leaving this role, but it's hard to feel the stakes when her departure is facilitated by both the success of her podcast, the revenues of which supposedly match her staff salary, and her new husband's income. Rather than being a so-called late bloomer, it seems like Shafrir settled on a career path in her late twenties and achieved rapid, consistent success.
On the personal side, while the tales of dating adventures and misadventures are fun, if a little rote, the resolution is simply that she eventually meets someone and, after several years of infertility struggles, has a much-desired child. While I'm pleased that she found happiness and was able to build the family she wanted, there isn't nearly as much introspection or vulnerability as I would hope for. Compared to a memoir like Glynnis MacNicol's much richer and more emotionally complex No One Tells You This, book felt only surface-deep.
Ostensibly the story is about Shafrir's struggles to find herself professionally and personally, but it essentially kicks off during her first magazine internship at age 29, with almost no mention of how she actually spent her 20s or what decisions brought her to that point. After landing on online journalism, she basically sees a meteoric professional rise (her Gawker layoff is immediately followed by a high-status role at Buzzfeed), and a series of promotions and successes that culminate in a senior staff writer position with a huge amount of autonomy and creative control. She makes much ado about leaving this role, but it's hard to feel the stakes when her departure is facilitated by both the success of her podcast, the revenues of which supposedly match her staff salary, and her new husband's income. Rather than being a so-called late bloomer, it seems like Shafrir settled on a career path in her late twenties and achieved rapid, consistent success.
On the personal side, while the tales of dating adventures and misadventures are fun, if a little rote, the resolution is simply that she eventually meets someone and, after several years of infertility struggles, has a much-desired child. While I'm pleased that she found happiness and was able to build the family she wanted, there isn't nearly as much introspection or vulnerability as I would hope for. Compared to a memoir like Glynnis MacNicol's much richer and more emotionally complex No One Tells You This, book felt only surface-deep.