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A review by bookph1le
Why We Can't Sleep: Women's New Midlife Crisis by Ada Calhoun
4.0
"In my experience, Gen X women spend lots of time minimizing the importance of their uncomfortable or confusing feelings. They often tell me that they are embarrassed to even bring them up. Some of the unhappiest women I spoke with, no matter how depressed or exhausted they were, apologized for "whining". Almost every one of them also described herself as "lucky"."
This quote totally describes this particular Gen X woman, I can tell you that much.
And Alanis Morissette's Reasons I Drink should be the theme song for this book:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWHpIP1-kUI
This was a worthwhile read, I thought, if for nothing other than the reassurance that I'm not alone and that what I've been feeling is reflected in a lot of other women in situations similar to mine.
I think the most important issue this book raises is how women have been told for decades that they can have it all, that they're free to choose, that they can have a family AND a career if they want, and yet nothing about society has changed. I do think Gen X women were fed a false bill of goods, one that continues to be fed to Millenials. No one can have it all and maintain their sanity without some basics: paid parental leave, affordable high-quality childcare, and work environments that are more conducive to family life. We have none of these things in the U.S.--which I know because I've experienced the lack of paid leave, the outrageous cost of child care, and work environments that don't make any accommodations for working parents. Politicians are big on toting their commitment to families without passing any legislation to back that up. It needs to change, and who better than to demand that change than Gen Xers, particularly Gen X women, who know what it's like to try to manage a life without any of those supports?
I hope a lot of people will read this book, and that it will help fuel discussion that will lead to serious and substantive change. Because right now, all we have are companies trying to peddle products and services to us that don't do anything other than mask the fact that we do not have the social supports we need in this country.
This quote totally describes this particular Gen X woman, I can tell you that much.
And Alanis Morissette's Reasons I Drink should be the theme song for this book:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWHpIP1-kUI
This was a worthwhile read, I thought, if for nothing other than the reassurance that I'm not alone and that what I've been feeling is reflected in a lot of other women in situations similar to mine.
I think the most important issue this book raises is how women have been told for decades that they can have it all, that they're free to choose, that they can have a family AND a career if they want, and yet nothing about society has changed. I do think Gen X women were fed a false bill of goods, one that continues to be fed to Millenials. No one can have it all and maintain their sanity without some basics: paid parental leave, affordable high-quality childcare, and work environments that are more conducive to family life. We have none of these things in the U.S.--which I know because I've experienced the lack of paid leave, the outrageous cost of child care, and work environments that don't make any accommodations for working parents. Politicians are big on toting their commitment to families without passing any legislation to back that up. It needs to change, and who better than to demand that change than Gen Xers, particularly Gen X women, who know what it's like to try to manage a life without any of those supports?
I hope a lot of people will read this book, and that it will help fuel discussion that will lead to serious and substantive change. Because right now, all we have are companies trying to peddle products and services to us that don't do anything other than mask the fact that we do not have the social supports we need in this country.