A review by terrimarshall
Flash Count Diary: Menopause and the Vindication of Natural Life by Darcey Steinke

3.0

I really wanted to like this book. It's hard to find anything written about menopause that's not some medical book about hormone replacement. I really just wanted to read a memoir by another woman who was struggling like me. Darcey is definitely struggling, and I respect her for putting her thoughts down on paper. She had many thoughts that resonated with me, like how our culture devalues older women, how body changes are hard to adjust to, the weirdness and discomfort of hot flashing all the time, etc. But Darcey is a little more intellectual than me, and some of her writing was a little over my head. And I really couldn't relate too much to the whole tangent with the whales. I understand where she's coming from in admiring whales because older females are leaders in their pod, but I just wasn't into all the whale stuff that much. So as much as I want to support and encourage Darcey in her own struggle to come to terms with menopause, I didn't relate to a good bit of what she says here.