I See You Made An Effort

I love funny books, and I just found a great one called, I See You Made An Effort – Compliments, Indignities, and Survival Stories from the Edge of 50, by Annabelle Gurwitch.  She’s like a kindred spirit guiding women through the minefield that is middle age.

Annabel Gurwitch. Photo by Jason Frank Rothenberg
Annabel Gurwitch. Photo by Jason Frank Rothenberg

The book opens with her fantasy about hooking up with the cute guy at the Genius Bar who is fixing her hard drive.  But, as she is 49, the fantasy also incorporates finding a location for sex that doesn’t have kid pictures from her son hanging on the wall, and includes a mandatory pause to lube up due to her menopausal-induced dryness.  In short, I was laughing my ass off.

Topics range from trying to figure out a wardrobe that suddenly looks too young, to dealing with her son going through puberty at the same time she’s dealing with hot flashes, and feeling like a second class citizen as an actress of a certain age in Hollywood.

But it’s not just a funny book; she also writes about her best friend dying of pancreatic cancer and dealing with ageing parents living in another state with stark honesty.  As my own mother recently started chemo it felt like Annabelle expressed many of the feelings that I’m dealing with right now:  guilt, stress, sadness, and trying to laugh through unbelievably difficult situations.

Annabelle was the co-host of Dinner & a Movie, is a comedian, and co-wrote You Say Tomato, I Say Shut Up, a self-hurt marital memoir, which is now a national touring play.

Once upon a time, I was once an actress.  I did classical theatre Off Broadway, did back-to-back national tours playing Anne Frank and Scout in an adaptation of To Kill A Mockingbird, and had a costar role on one episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer before I called it quits and got my real estate license.  In the back of my mind I always wondered, “what if I hadn’t quit acting?”

Now I don’t have to wonder.  Clearly a successful actress in her youth, she is now struggling to find any roles she can play.  She writes with great humor about being reduced to beg for a glorified extra in a commercial where she’s huddled in an unheated trailer until 4 a.m. and is chased by an imaginary dragon.  (P.S. – the commercial never made it to TV.)  So I guess don’t feel so bad about doing real estate now!

book-cover-final

Anyway, it’s a really good read if you are looking for something beyond the latest YA teenager-saves-the-world type books.  (I love those too, but it’s nice to hear a voice from someone on the other side of the hill.)

The book is $25.95 in the U.S. and is on the NY Times Best Seller List.  FYI – I wasn’t paid to do this review, just got a free copy to read. I just like the book and wanted to share.  For those of you going to the Prevention R3 Summit, Annabelle will be one of the speakers.

How about you?  What are you reading these days?

Lisa ;)

ShesLosingIt.com (c) 2014 Lisa Traugott. All rights reserved. No portion of this blog, including any text, photographs, and artwork, may be reproduced or copied without written permission

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