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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Seems implausible, but the story works, November 30, 2005
This review is from: Younger (Paperback)
Alice Green has had a really bad year. Her husband left her for his much younger dental hygienist, her mother died, and her daughter has dropped out of college and joined the Peace Corps. Despite having the luxury of looking younger than her 44 years, Alice has never really taken advantage of it. Her pal Maggie helps her enhance those looks to start the new year off to a good start. Soon, she catches the eyes of many younger suitors at a New York City bar.
Armed with her new appearance, and newly acquired confidence, Alice has changed places with herself, so to speak; she is living the life she lived prior to settling down and getting married. Suddenly, the job she applied for months earlier and was considered too old for is hers for the taking.
But now Alice is finding it difficult to live her lie, as she grows ever closer to her new boyfriend Josh, a man young enough to be her son. Josh assumes she is an older woman - he is thinking 29 - he is just now aware of how much older she is. As she and Josh delude themselves into thinking that they are a casual couple, both find that they are falling in love, which causes more pressure on Alice's over-burdened nerves, and their seemingly insurmountable 19-year age gap.
"Younger" works not only because of the great writing style of the author, but also because it does not portray either age as ideal - each has its own ups and downs and troubles and triumphs. It is really interesting to see a 40-something woman masquerading as a 20-something woman, and feeling the age discrimination issue from both ends when she is assigned to work for a jealous 30-something who treats her like the child that she thinks she is.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent, engaging book, August 17, 2005
This review is from: Younger (Paperback)
I read Pamela Redmond Satran's "Babes in Captivity," and enjoyed it, but I thought this was even better. For one thing, the plot was much tighter, and filled with fun twists and surprises.
This is the story of Alice Green, a dowdy, 44-year-old housewife in suburban Homewood, New Jersey. Alice has always looked young for her age, though she hasn't bothered with her appearance for a long time. She's married to a dentist, who leaves her for his hygienist. Then Alice's daughter leaves for Africa, leaving Alice alone.
In the year following her husband's departure, Alice whips herself into shape by working out for a couple of hours a day. When she tries to re-enter the workforce, she is less successful. She tries to get a job at the publishing house where she worked before she had a child, but they dismiss her as dried-up and middle-aged.
After Alice tells a gypsy that she wants to be "younger," Alice's best friend gives her a makeover. With her gray hair dyed blonde and her newly fit body on display in tighter, more fashionable clothes, Alice decides to give the work thing another try. She returns to Gentility after taking all the dates off her resume and omitting the years she spent as a stay-at-home mom. She also goes to a bar and meets a young man named Josh.
What makes the novel work is not only the riveting plot, but Satran's careful look at the ups and downs of being young and old. She doesn't portray youth as a perfect haven, but instead shows how the "young" Alice must deal with an overbearing boss who doesn't take her seriously. She shows the pressure that the young women at the publishing company feel to get married and have kids before they're 35.
Alice's relationship with Josh is a little less plausible. After he sees her naked, he still thinks she's 29, and can't tell that she had a kid! It's hard to believe that after having a child she wouldn't have stretch marks or something.
However, Satran follows Alice's deception mostly smoothly from beginning to end, and it makes for very engaging reading.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
intriguing thought-provoking drama, July 23, 2005
This review is from: Younger (Paperback)
Her husband dumped Alice for a younger model. With the encouragement of their daughter, Alice crosses the Hudson from New Jersey to Manhattan where she meets her best friend Maggie. One look at her middle aged pal upsets Maggie so that she decides a total make over is needed to convert the suburban mom into a hot urbanite. The years come off and forty-four years old Alice looks like she is in her twenties.
At a New Year's Eve party Alice meets Josh, who is much younger than her. Though their personal definitions to what are a couple shows the age gap, both insists they are not interested in a relationship. As she continues to see a man old enough to be her son, Alice also obtains her first job. However, pretending to fit in as a fellow twenty-something at work and in her "non-relationship" with Josh proves overwhelming as Alice wants to climb back out of the rabbit hole and confess to being a fortyish mother.
YOUNGER is a deep character study that looks at age discrimination especially in the workplace, but to a lesser degree in relationships. The story line centers on Alice who finds lying about her age difficult to keep up with, but knows the truth will not set her free as it probably would cost her job, the friends she has made at work, and Josh. Pamela Redmond Satran writes an intriguing thought-provoking drama.
Harriet Klausner
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