Customer Reviews

Younger

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

 

 

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.

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.

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

I picked up this book for a couple different reasons.

One, I am 44 years old, just like Alice. Two, people usually think I am much younger than I am. Three, I tend to date younger men who have no idea how old I am when they begin the pursuit (who am I to tell, anyway?) and Four, I liked the first few paragraphs and figured, "Why not try out a new author, I haven't read any novels lately.. so.... Just go for it!"

I wasn't disappointed.

Pamela Redmond Satran creates multi-dimensional, interesting characters in situations the reader can both relate to and want to find out more about as well. I was fascinated (in an odd way!) about the Alice's new best friend, Lindsey... and wondered if young women like her are truly out there? I am guessing yes...

I also enjoyed being a part of Alice's choice making... and the miracles in Maggie's life, too... and regeneration of the relationship between Alice and her daughter.

So yes, there is romance (and unconventional romance, which I appreciate...) there is career, there is friendship, there is parenting... there is art...

A thoroughly enjoyable, engaging read - I will read more of Pamela Redmond Satran's books after discovering this one.

I starting reading this book while waiting for my hair appt, just a way to pass the time. It didn't take long for me to start enjoying this book. Alice wanted a chance to correct some of her mistakes from the past and an opportunity to re-do her life based on her life experiences. Overall, the book was very good and a quick read. This is the first book I've read by this author. I'm looking forward to reading her previous novels.

I'm a big fan of Pamela Redmond Satran's work. I loved her first two novels, The Man I Should Have Married and Babes in Captivity, but Younger is my favorite so far! The heroine Alice is completely believable and sympathetic, and I loved reading about how she navigated the world of younger women, and younger men. This was a funny, engaging, thought-provoking book that kept me reading late into the night. I recommended it to all my friends and you will too!

Younger is a page turner! I loved the characters and couldn't put the book down until I found out what happened to Alice Green's career and romance. Full of fun details and moving stories. I can't wait for Pamela Redmond Satran's next novel.

This is a really entertaining book. So entertaining, in fact, that I read it in a few hours. I would say that it's a coming of age novel, in a different way. Even though it didn't quite end how I thought it would, I was still happy with the many possibilities Alice Green has to offer the world. Go Pamela Satran. Thanks for a great novel.

I am 29 and I appreciated the young and older perspectives in this book. It was much more entertaining than I had anticipated. Great beach book!

If you had the chance to do it all over again, go back ten or fifteen years and make different choices...would you take it? That is the opportunity the heroine in Pamela Redmond Satran's novel `YOUNGER' is offered and not only does she take it she revels in it. When stay-at-home mom of twenty years, Alice, finds herself alone and heartbroken with little prospects for her future she wishes that she could be younger and do something's differently. With the help of her best friend Maggie that wish comes true in the form of a fabulous make over that makes her look about fifteen years younger than she really is. Now with her daughter five thousand miles away and her ex-husband shacking up with his dental hygienist, Alice decided to give this new opportunity a try and lands a job at her favorite publishing company and a much, much younger man.

While `YOUNGER' was a pleasant and quick read I felt that it lacked some of the excitement that this story could have had. It seemed to me that Alice should have embraced this opportunity a little bit more than she did. Instead of completely reverting back to her younger days (which it seemed to me she did) she should have been a bit bolder having the knowledge of a forty-four year old and the body of a twenty-nine year old. I give `YOUNGER' three stars for being a good effort but not great one.