Barbara H

Psychologist Mary Pipher shares observations and insights from her career of working with women, especially dealing with sexism, ageism and trauma. As a female exactly Pipher's age, I found much of this book's content to resonate with my life experiences. Filled with anecdotal examples from women she knows well and has interviewed extensively, the book tells of many women who have managed to survive some pretty serious illnesses, family dramas or life tragedies. I wanted to like this book more than I actually did. There is really very little new or surprising in these pages, and I can't imagine that reading this book in our senior years will have any lasting change on our life patterns. Most of the women I know are making the best of it, despite the difficulties that come with aging. They already know that maintaining their faith, their friendships, their family and a sense of purpose are the only ways to remain sane and relatively happy, as they row against the current. It's good to reflect on the things for which to have gratitude at any stage in life, and if Pipher's book reminds us of this, it's a good thing in general. I do think that women's book clubs will find a lot to discuss using this as a springboard.