Customer Reviews

Over the Hill and Between the Sheets: Sex, Love, and Lust in Middle Age

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Books that are compilations of essays run the gamut -- this one happens to be excellent. Despite the title, the book is much more about relationships in middle age than it is about sex. Sure, there's plenty of sex in the stories, but in the context of middle-agers dealing with divorce, death, illness, friendship, keeping long-term relationships going, etc. All the stories are windows into the private lives of people who seem remarkably like your own friends and neighbors, but now they're fessing up to their erectile dysfunction and penchant for sex toys! A great read.

I paused before buying---Cosmo like title, with feet sticking out from under bed sheets. But buy I did and while some disappoint---especially the ones about sex("Sex and the Younger Man" has a made up feel, a post hoc essay on why what happened, happened), the rest are first rate and deal with middle age and fear, whether it is Cameron Strachert's incisive essay on what it means to be a man who has not measured up to his expectations or the success of his buddies or Joyce Maynard's honest(no other word for it) statement that women are always measured by their looks and so, yes, she will use Botox("Wrinkles in Time") or the paired essay from husband and wife Wilkinson and Crandell on the removal of his prostate, how that made his penis smaller and what they did about it. Also, crack me up funny essay by Lian Dolan, "Too Much inofrmation" on how our culture encourages people to yak away to all who will listen on their sex. Lots of hard truths in these essays but knowing that we do not go it alone is the saving grace.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading each and every one of the stories told in this book. It was incredibly hard to put down. The various perspectives shared by the contributing authors are simultaneously heartwarming, shocking, fascinating, exhilarating, AND enlightening!

You'll laugh, you'll cry, (you may even blush a little) and you will certainly relate....if you are of a certain age. Essays from women and men that are touching and insightful...and sometimes laugh out loud funny. Makes a great birthday gift.

Excellent book...obviously the more years that you have been in a relationship the easier it will be for you to relate to this book. Very honest, funny and true. It's so real that sometimes it leaves you wondering if one of the stories was about yourself? Basicly twenty or so people share their lives with you and you end up saying either "I need to do that too in my relationship" or saying "Geez I've done something like that before too". Everyone can learn from this book...this book will not disappoint you !

The title intrigued me as I speculated about middle age. A WONDERFUL READ at any age. As one way over the hill this book struck me as interesting, poignant and a humorous read. Each essay a peek into a life led and person revealed. So true to life, so varied in content, so real for any age.

This is a good read, with a good sprinkling of belly laughs, plenty of insight, and a few really good writers. No editor is perfect, and Gail Belsky has made one glaring error by including the contribution of Crispin Sartwell. It sticks out like a sore thumb for its lack of reality. Admittedly it breaks the flow of sense that precedes and follows it, and reminds the reader that not everyone is as admirable as the other contributors, but I didn't need it.

Quote, "...the Western woman, overall, is, in her deepest personal identity, an exhibitionist." He's living in dreamland. There is no such thing as "the Western woman". All women are individuals, but he doesn't get it. And he thinks they are all exhibitionists, but can't see that levels of confidence and modesty are infinitely variable. I think his opinion is much more about his own predilictions and how he justifies them to himself - that he can't stop looking rather than they can't stop showing. He goes on and on about "women's desire to expose themselves". I think he has issues he needs to address, but currently can't even identify.

But enough of the (minimal) bad. To give yourself a taste of the good, type "Two children and a divorce" into the "Search inside this book" feature, click the top entry, and read three pages. If you have not laughed after reading those pages, disregard my review. But I'm sure you will never view the phrase "Man Versus Machine" in your original understanding of it (whatever that might be) ever again. And I sincerely thank Kate Meyers, the writer of this essay, for that.

I was looking forward to reading this book for possible insights into my own marriage but I found all the essays disappointingly similar in tone and content. It boiled down to men writing ironically about their prostate operations and women congratulating themselves on finding young lovers or autumnal resolution with their husbands. There were no embarrassing details or raw feelings, nobody put themselves on the line. It was as if the editor asked all her upper west side professor friends to contribute.

What a wonderful book!! I very much enjoyed this book :) I gave it five stars for a reason.

Had been looking for this title a long time. Happy to see it on Amazon at a reasonable price