Customer Reviews

This Day in the Life: Diaries from Women Across America

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

 

 

I really enjoyed this book. It weaves a rich fabric of true stories--diaries--of one day in the life of a variety of women. Excerpts from many women, and those whose day diaries are published in full, show humorous and poignant experiences, and a wonderful array of thoughts, feelings, fears, gratitude. It's easy to identify with many of the women, and to marvel at their strength and resiliance. Included are : a soldier in Iraq, a firefighter, a grandmother, an astronaut, a factory worker, a country singer, a medical secretary, owner of a safari company, an at-home mother, a foreign correspondent, and many others from all walks of life. There's something here for everyone!

After reading this book, I felt I had acquired almost 500 new friends, who shared the joys, tribulations, boredom and routines of a typical day in their lives. I was pleasantly surprised by the high degree of apparent honesty and intimacy.

Particularly interesting (I thought) were the stories of women who have chosen to serve in the military, including several on active duty in Iraq; immigrants; and English-speaking women living abroad.

If you're a particularly harried person, this is easy to pick up and put down without losing track, as you simply move from excerpt to excerpt, with a few full-day entries included. My reason for four instead of five stars was that I felt myself unrepresented - a childless, single, high-achieving, professional woman of 53. As I know many women of the same type (BTW, roughly 15% of US adult women are childless), I found this a serious oversight. Also unrepresented were women of extreme poverty.

(You might say this last group is illiterate. Well, in a few cases the authors allowed a diarist to dictate her entries for the day to another woman.)

Nevertheless, buy the book for the lives it does show.

Now I know what I'm getting every woman on my Christmas shopping list! I just finished reading This Day in the Life and couldn't put it down! I started by reading the day diaries I was most curious about--the famous shoe designer, the nun, the stripper--but by then I was addicted and just kept reading. Even though the book featured 35 completely different diaries and hundreds of shorter entries from other women (soldiers, new moms, refugees, TV stars, college grads, nursing home residents, you name it), my only complaint was I wanted more! I'd recommend this book to anyone who is curious about other women's lives and wants a fun, fast read (or a great idea for holiday gifts!)

I heard about this book on a podcast, and I bought it not really knowing if I'd like it. I was pleasantly surprised: I'm really enjoying it! I'm not reading it cover to cover; rather, I dip into it each night before bedtime. It's fascinating to read what the lives of women are like all over America - so different, yet so similar. I would recommend this book highly to everyone!

We're all in this book --- somewhere. No matter what your title, marital status or race --- you can find yourself in this book. It allows us to see how other women cope with day-to-day triumphs and tragedies.

Great book. It was interesting to see the similarities and differences in all the diary entries. Some were funny, some sad. Very interesting!