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A review by dublinsue
On Being 40 by Lindsey Mead
3.0
This was well written with some occasional interesting insights. I enjoyed some of the essays individually (in particular Same Life Higher Rent by Meghan Daum which was witty and self effacing, and Soul Mates: A Timeline in Clothing by Catherine Newman which was really moving with a different and interesting approach). Some I found a little preachy and others I really didn't warm to at all.
My main gripe with the book was the narrowness of the perspective overall - while purporting to represent "all walks of life" it was hard to avoid the common theme of university educated, middle class privileged feminist. Given that I fall into that bracket and am also a recently turned 40 working mother I expected that this collection would speak to me a little more than it did. Maybe a wider range of perspectives might have made it a bit more engaging and reduced the whiff of "First World Problems" that came from many of the essays.
My main gripe with the book was the narrowness of the perspective overall - while purporting to represent "all walks of life" it was hard to avoid the common theme of university educated, middle class privileged feminist. Given that I fall into that bracket and am also a recently turned 40 working mother I expected that this collection would speak to me a little more than it did. Maybe a wider range of perspectives might have made it a bit more engaging and reduced the whiff of "First World Problems" that came from many of the essays.