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Inventing the Rest of Our Lives: Women in Second Adulthood [Hardcover]

Suzanne Braun Levine (Author)
4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)


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Book Description

December 29, 2004
The first generation of women to have tasted social, political, and economic empowerment-some thirty-seven million strong-has reached a new frontier that is unexpected and unexplored. Nearing their fifties and entering their sixties, they have fulfilled all the prescribed roles-daughter, wife, mother, employee; yet with longer life expectancy and better health they do not intend to retire from the world. They want to experience more. Inventing the Rest of Our Lives is an evocative and eye- opening road map across this uncharted terrain.

Suzanne Braun Levine, the first editor of Ms. magazine and a long-time journalist, has been reporting on the lives of women like herself throughout their tumultuous first adulthood. Here she draws on personal stories, cutting-edge science, up-to-date trend analysis, and her own struggles to show that Second Adulthood women are simply not the same people they were, only older; they are changing-both inside and out. The latest research she has uncovered proves it: Certain areas of their brains are undergoing a growth spurt very similar to that in adolescence, their sexual and emotional rhythms are readjusting along with their hormones, and their priorities are shifting dramatically.

From work to love, self-discovery to civic duty, health to economics, Inventing the Rest of Our Lives examines every aspect of their lives, offers solutions, and shares stories-sometimes touching, sometimes joyous-of women who have found insights and answers to the three crucial questions that each confronts: What matters? What works? What’s next?

Inventing the Rest of Our Lives is a bold, honest, and sharp-witted guidebook, companion, and source of inspiration for every woman entering these uncharted waters.


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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Levine has a message for aging boomer women: if you're feeling out of sorts, confused, in a rut, there's nothing wrong with you: you're just entering your "Second Adulthood," a time, she says, when women can remake themselves. Levine, Ms. magazine's editor for 17 years and now a contributor to More magazine (and author of Father Courage: What Happens When Men Put Family First), draws on the latest research on hormonal and other physical changes women begin to go through in their 40s, and draws on 50 in-depth interviews she conducted with women in their middle years to show how they can improve their lives. Levine's subjects describe a time of confusion (the "fertile void") that led them to re-sort their lives, revise priorities and make new decisions about work and intimate relationships. Samantha, for example, left an alcoholic husband after decades of marriage. Joanie, a traditional wife and mother, renegotiated her marriage and bought herself an apartment in New York City, becoming a fund-raiser for a dance company. Although Levine did interview some women with fewer economic resources and she discusses the importance of financial planning, much of the self-discovery stories will resonate best with women who are financially comfortable. Her gung-ho go-rappelling-off-the-mountain tone may grate on some women while inspiring others.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

Nothing could be more overdue, needed, and filled with hope than a vision for the last and most productive third of life. (Gloria Steinem) Levine made me understand why I always envied older women....No grudges, no waiting, no bleeding, no apologies. (Eve Ensler) [Levine] implores and empowers us to chart a satisfying and meaningful course for the second half of our lives. (Susan L. Taylor) If you want to be inspired, just read this book. (Marlo Thomas) Rich in vision, intelligence and heart, this valuable book...helps each reader forge her own unique path. (Harriet Lerner, Ph.D., author of The Dance of Anger) Practical, unsentimental, and inspiring, this book illuminates the way forward. (Carol Tarvis, Ph.D., author of The Mismeasure of Woman)

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 272 pages
  • Publisher: Viking Adult; 1 edition (December 29, 2004)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0670033111
  • ISBN-13: 978-0670033119
  • Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #662,940 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

21 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.4 out of 5 stars (21 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

91 of 94 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Not the Same Old Spin on Middle Age - Thankfully!, January 13, 2005
This review is from: Inventing the Rest of Our Lives: Women in Second Adulthood (Hardcover)
If you charted your 20's, 30's and 40's with Gail Sheehy's "Passages" and found nothing to help you through the next part of your life except books on menopause and others telling you that gray hair and an expanding waistline are better than youth and beauty, you'll love this realistic, empathetic and, yes, inspiring book! Like the journalist she is, Levine has interviewed hundreds of women, and many scientists and other experts, to understand what really happens to us, psychologically as well as medically, as we navigate these years. She makes a good case for her thesis, which is that not only our bodies are changing - our brains, needs and priorities are, too. The "fertile void" is a brilliant and spot-on description of the chaos and confusion of second adulthood that plunges every woman who's defined herself up to now by her obligations to others or the demands of her career (and often both) into a sometimes painful reexamination of her life - what's in it that we treasure, what's missing that we need or want, what possibilities still exist for making a difference in the world as well as in our own lives, and where the energy will come from for for realizing them. My book club just started reading it, and we've been burning up the phone wires to discuss it even before our next meeting. A must-read for every woman who reaches a landmark birthday still wondering, "What am I going to be when I grow up?"
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68 of 71 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Smart Women Think Ahead, January 13, 2005
This review is from: Inventing the Rest of Our Lives: Women in Second Adulthood (Hardcover)
This is one of the most inspiring books I've read in a long time. For those of us in our 50s and 60s, there's more ahead than retirement and taking care of aging parents, aging men, and growing grandchildren. Levine gives us stories of regular women who have tackled brand new careers, learned skills they always wanted to learn but never had time for, renegotiated their marriages and renewed their love-lives. And she also gives us scientific research that shows women's brains have a growth spurt in the 50s that renews our strength and our intellectual curiosity. Keep this book by your bedside and read it every night and your morning will be brighter.
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76 of 87 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointed., August 30, 2005
By 
Robin (LORIENT, France) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Inventing the Rest of Our Lives: Women in Second Adulthood (Hardcover)
I was very much looking forward to reading this. I'm approaching my 40th birthday, and wanted to hear how others had dealt with this transition. In all fairness, Ms. Braun does interview many women on their transitions. However, the language is superificial, sometimes to the point of being annoyingly "cutesy". For example her term "Fertile Void" which is defined once, is used as a critical thread throughout the work, as though it's a sociological phenomena. If the book had been written about that term specifically, maybe things could have been interesting.
OK, there is a period of time where one doesn't know which path to take, but I hate labels, especially cute ones, especially when applied to grown-up women facing serious challenges. I need to lead myself into new terrain, and find my own voice, and I don't need cheerleading and labels. I found the "rah-rah" attitude really lame.
Worse still, the term "F-You Fifties"...I'm sorry, but I got over that language a long, long time ago. I don't think it's amusing.
One of the "success stories" was from a woman who, when she lights up her joints (marijuana) today, has much more pleasant trips. Frankly I felt offended and patronized, and I am no prude...I grew up on Ms. magazine, I went to a Seven Sister school, and I'm from NYC.
I was truly expecting More, as in that wonderful magazine for which Ms. Braun works...
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Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
My first step into Second Adulthood was backward off a ninety-foot cliff. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Fuck You Fifties, Recalibrate Your Life, Facing Your Fear, United States, Outward Bound, Redefining Intimacy, Rediscovering Your Passion, Gloria Steinem, Carole Hyatt, Ellen Gilchrist
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Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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