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A review by crystalbrarian
The Worst Kind of Want by Liska Jacobs
3.0
When reading this story of a middle aged woman’s lust for a much younger man, I find myself judging a woman’s midlife crisis more harshly than a man’s. Or is it (thankfully) that we’re no longer subjected to those as often, given the current climate? (We’ve come a long way, baby?) Maybe I’m over such self-centered navel gazing as a middle aged person myself. The whole notion is a cop out. Who doesn’t want to be young again? Who doesn’t envy those without cares? All in all, Cilla comes off as predatory and pathetic. After all, preying on youth doesn’t make you young again. It damages and prematurely ages the prey, which Cilla knows all too well.
Perhaps my biggest issue is with her shallowness. She resents not being pretty enough and wishes she was still on the scene. Her thoughts are all about appearances and she mopes about being left out of the adults’ conversation. Well, yeah, you’re not going to connect with the middleaged parents of the boy you’re lusting after.
She’s more shallow than her beautiful sister, still wondering what she saw in her nerdy husband. I did not identify with Cilla. In fact, I sort wanted to slap her. There is certainly realism here. Hurt people hurt people, after all. Yet, I’ve never counted it as some kind of feminist victory for a woman to be portrayed as a just as much of a shallow, single-minded abuser as a man can be. I was glad to be rid of Cilla’s point of view when I finished the book, and I look forward to the demise of this trend in female characters.
Perhaps my biggest issue is with her shallowness. She resents not being pretty enough and wishes she was still on the scene. Her thoughts are all about appearances and she mopes about being left out of the adults’ conversation. Well, yeah, you’re not going to connect with the middleaged parents of the boy you’re lusting after.
She’s more shallow than her beautiful sister, still wondering what she saw in her nerdy husband. I did not identify with Cilla. In fact, I sort wanted to slap her. There is certainly realism here. Hurt people hurt people, after all. Yet, I’ve never counted it as some kind of feminist victory for a woman to be portrayed as a just as much of a shallow, single-minded abuser as a man can be. I was glad to be rid of Cilla’s point of view when I finished the book, and I look forward to the demise of this trend in female characters.