Customer Reviews

Up For Renewal: What Magazines Taught Me About Love, Sex, and Starting Over

5 star:		(33)
4 star:		(69)
3 star:		(46)
2 star:		(31)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

I absolutely enjoyed this book - but will you? Key facts about this one that might help you decide:

First off, you need to know that it is written by a woman who details how she coped with a period of time when she was trying to get past a divorce and felt unhappy, deeply so. By her own admission, she was making some poor choices and she is open about the details of her mistakes. Dating the wrong people. Eating poorly. Just generally...bumbling along.

Then she has a moment of inspiration and decides (however crazy it sounds) to use magazines as a path to self-improvement. She chooses to follow the advice she finds in those magazines, focusing on various aspects of her life, one part at a time - from choosing jeans to learning how to be happier.

Although I was skeptical and expected this book to be a rather superficial and light read, similar to many glossy magazines out there (all surface but no substance) I was surprised to find Up for Renewal to be far more charming and engaging than I expected. There were genuine nuggets of wisdom in the book - as well as plenty of humor and insight.

At the same time, I do feel obligated to note that Up for Renewal will probably appeal primarily to female readers, particularly those going through a crisis...and perhaps those drawn to rather gossipy, self-help books. Would it have been my first pick of a book to read? Probably not. But it was well worth the time spent reading it.

What is more annoying than a twenty-five year old who is trying to find her self? That would a forty year old who thinks and acts like she's twenty-five and wonders why her life is spinning out of control.

What seems like a semi-autobiographical peek into the insecurities of a big city girl, Alter shares her life. A divorce, bad relationships and overall bad choices lead her to wonder if the large display of shinny flashy women's magazines know something that she doesn't. So she plans to live the life that the magazines tell her to for one year and see what happens. Each month she picks a new topic and decides to work on it. And coincidentally, that month the magazines address her specific issues. Funny how that worked out.

I don't know if I got used to her antics and anxieties, but by the end of the book I was actually laughing along with her. I wouldn't recommend this to everyone, or even most, but if you have any tolerance for women that are slow to grow up and overly anxious about the world in general give it a try. Other wise, just know that magazines are designed to entertain and make you insecure and if you're wise enough you don't live your life according to what other anxiety ridden writers tell you is important.

Up For Renewal is a wonderful, hilarious book that asks the question is it possible to change your life in just one year? Using the improbable guide of women's magazines, Cathy Alter transforms her relationship, her job, her body, even the color of her living room. I was on the edge of my seat, laughing. I could not put this book down. I even read it in just one day. I hardly noticed my kids screaming and the milk on the floor. It was a great escape. I will soon start changing my life one day at a time. Thanks for the inspiration.

Really, I do. She's my cousin. But that's not why I love Up For Renewal. Cathy let loose with this one year memoir. It's detailed, intimate and funny. Clearly some people think it's too detailed and intimate (sleazy?!) If a frank discussion of sex is sleazy then I live in the sewer. Cathy has guts, the guts to write about office sex (most of us have either done it or fantasized about it,) the guts to publish personal conversations with her mother, the guts to reflect on her behavior and change it.

Changing your life while living it (as opposed to going to Italy, India and Bali on vacation) is something any of us can do. While Cathy gives us a prescription/subscription for doing so the magazines are not central to her tale. They do provide for amusing anecdotes though, especially when she tries out Cosmo sex moves.

Don't think it's all about sex. It's really about how your behavior affects your relationships with others, dating, friends, family. I've known Cathy for a long time, but I know her much better through this book. Great writing is personal. You will want to get to know Cathy Alter.

(I am adding this, because I forgot to the first time, this is a hardcover book, very nicely done and pretty!) This is my review from the Vine Voice reviewer program. When I first scanned down the list of books...I was like "where is the chick lit, where is the chick lit!"and VIOLA! HERE is is..except it is much deeper than your average chick lit..Perhaps it was just a little deepeR for ME, I have alot in common with Cathy, Im Divorced,we are close to the same age,AND I DEFTELY HAVE A PERFECIONIST, OVERBEARING MOTHER! Im 34 and shes 37, she inserts so much of herself into this book, that it almost feels like a BIOGRAPHY! All she wants to do is improve her life, and instead of turning to the magazines she loves so dearly, she needs a support system and a therapist! This lady is addicted to magazines, and their covers...she wants instant gratification, she wants great sex, a great booty, a boyfriend and so much more. She already has what most women REALLY want, shs is smart, successful, and has a great job. This is really a funny and good book. I admire the character in this book and if you are looking for a light,easy read, this is a perfect book. I can sooo relate to buying those magazines that promise you all these results and how to be a better lover,etc and it NEVER happens. There were several reviews already written, the very same day they ordered the book...so Im not sure if the book was actually READ or not, but this is an honest version of my point of view on Up For Renewal!

At 322 pages, this book is about 200 pages too long. The book starts out with a very interesting summary of the newly divorced author's toxic romantic/sexual relationships and other self destructive behaviors, and describes her interesting plan to improve her life. Unfortunately, my interest waned rapidly as the book progressed. The writing style was inconsistent. Brilliant in places, incredibly boring in others.

Borrow this book from the library if you feel you must read it.

In our media-saturated and self-improvement obsessed times, a novel (or is it an autobiography--an annoying confusion here) predicated on applying all the advice given in beauty, fashion, "lifestyle," and other material pushed into the "women's magazine" genre seems like a natural for a dryly amusing look at the influence of pop culture on one's psyche and interpersonal life. Cathy Alter had an absolutely inspired idea when she decided to subscribe to a glut of these magazines, apply them to her own messed-up social, dating, and work domains, and let us in on the results. Do all those promises of better money, unbelievable sex ('10 Pleasure Secrets Sure to Drive Him Crazy!'), and glass-ceiling crashing promises really work?

Unfortunately, I don;t think we get a really honest answer here. Rather than the mixture of cynicism and hope that one might expect, Alter too often glosses over the inherent non-plausibility of the one-size fits all solutions, and dismisses from the outset any possible "feminist" objections to the consumerist, please-your-guy pretext. I had the feeling that Alter, a free-lance writer, did not want to alienate any future patrons, and so we're not treated to the kind of hilarious insights (laced with a certain venom) that a David Sedaris, for example, would write.

Indeed, sometimes we don't even truly get the promised experiment. Each month, Alter plans to work on one problem or barrier, using advice culled from the magazines. However, sometimes she only introduces idea cullded from certain articles, then riffs on experiences, insights, and solutions only tangentially related to the magazines.

It's a talky, chatty book, and scans easily: Altman writes smoothly and there are some very funny lines. Still it's a little difficult to know what to make of her. How much is autobiograhy, and how much is fictionalized episodes that she knows will get the reader's attention (did you really have sex in your open work cubicle?). I'm not sure why she needs to remind us that she's Jewish, as if this has some uniform explanatory value, and the voice is, frankly, often derivative of the very familiar "Sex in the City." Furthermore, the premise that her life is so horrid is not very convincing, she's got a lot going for her even when she's whining about her almost desparate need for self-improvement.

I suppose my unmet expectations biased me against the book; others may find her more likeable than I did. She does present some trenchant observations on contemporary society (her description of shopping for some trendy jeans in a hip shop filled with women 15-20 years younger is right on and very funny, for example), and her reader-friendly style and self-deprecating humor are endearing. However, it just didn't have the bite that this brilliant idea deserves. Those who are more favorably disposed to the media-consumerism nexus will probably enjoy the book more than I did.

In the mood for a frivolous book, I chose Up for Renewal. The premise is invitingly goofy. A writer in her late thirties, dissatisfied with her life, turns to women's magazines to turn her life around. It's being advertised as a humor book.

Up for Renewal started out less than humorously. Author Cathy Alter is in a dysfunctional office affair. (I was going to say "romance" but there's nothing romantic about it.) She's not that crazy about her job or the people she works with. She's recently divorced and not entirely convinced that the breakup wasn't her fault. She's in long-term therapy which may or may not be helping her.

Alter is ready for some changes in her life, but is unsure how to start. She enjoys looking at the women's magazines when she goes to the salon, and admires the way they seem to have the answers to all her questions. She subscribes to a dozen of them and decides to tackle a different aspect of her life each month for the next year (the length of her subscriptions.)

Looking for guidance to sources such as Cosmo, Glamour, Jane, InStyle, and Real Simple seems pretty ditzy, but in the same way that it doesn't really matter which diet you use as long as you stick to it, it seems to work for Alter. She wanted to change, she took action, she stuck to her resolutions. And it worked.

Up for Renewal wasn't exactly the lighthearted, humorous book I was expecting, but after sticking out the rather depressing first half, it was nice to see things work out for Alter. Recommended only for those who enjoy Marian Keyes-type chick lit and magazines such as Marie Claire, The Oprah Magazine, and Self.

Unfortunately, the PR dept for this book has more talent than the author. It sounds promising. A dissatisfied woman decides to rework her life following the advice in primarily superficial women's magazines. This could have been a lot of fun... maybe... if someone else had written it. The whole book is a muddle. It seems to be thrown together with a few paragraphs about this and a few more about that with very little holding it all together

I should admit that I gave up around page 60. It's possible it got better, but I doubt it. I'd kind of like to say that I was shocked by her obscene lifestyle or even depressed by her situation, but nothing in her writing left me with that much emotion. It was just boring. If you think reading about putting plastic wrap on a sandwich is boring, try reading about someone reading about putting plastic wrap on a sandwich.

This is one of a prevalent type of memoir out there where the author tries to do something for a year -- "My Year of ..." avoiding shopping, saying yes to all date offers, reading the encyclopedia, living biblically, cooking with a cookbook by a great chef, traveling to countries whose names begin with the letter "I," etc. In Cathy Alter's year, she tries to straighten out her insecurities by subscribing to women's magazines. She's got a divorce to get over, which involved an ex-husband who gained 100 pounds while they were married (!), as well as junk-sex with the office Lothario.

The unsung hero of the book is Karl, her friend then lover then fiancee and now husband. He's the real answer to her problems, not the magazines that sometimes help Cathy and sometimes continue to feed her insecurities. An intriguing subtext is that he is a decade or so younger and part-Chinese, part-Jewish (a "Chew," he notes amusingly). The attentions of an accomplished and handsome younger man who sincerely tells Cathy "you deserve better" when she tells him of her problems will cheer many women readers, especially as the pair manages to find each other in oft-unromantic Washington, D.C.

While "Up for Renewal" might be written off as part of a overdone trend or lighter-than-air chick lit, Alter is a friendly and sympathetic figure whose story somehow compels the reader right along. When I finished this, I thought of one word: "Cute," in a non-derogatory sense if that is possible ...and that I would recommend this to my sister who loves reading "Glamour."