The Comeback: Seven Stories of Women Who Went from Career to Family and Back Again (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

From The Washington Post

From The Washington Post's Book World/washingtonpost.com Missing from the last decade's worth of books about motherhood and work -- whether denouncing women for having children too early or too late, for working too much or too little -- has been the fact that most women with children change or redefine their careers as their children are born and grow. Unlike the straight and logical career path we may have imagined for ourselves as children, the road most mothers walk is crooked and non-linear. For the women profiled in Emma Gilbey Keller's The Comeback, the journey from career to children and back to work again involved just such meanderings. Keller, wife of New York Times executive editor Bill Keller, is a journalist and author of a biography of Winnie Mandela; she is also the mother of two daughters. For her new book, she talked with seven women from diverse fields -- a doctor, a furniture designer, an occupational therapist among them -- and chronicles how each first left the world of paid work, then came back. Although every woman has her own story, all returned to the working world fundamentally changed, and each in turn made changes: She shifted her career's focus or entered an entirely new field; she lobbied for and won an agreement to job-share or work part-time; she chose a new job for its easy commute or child-friendly environment. These working women need the intellectual challenges that motherhood alone can't supply, yet they can never go back to "just" working as they did before babies (and as most fathers seem remarkably able to do, year after year, feminist wave after feminist wave). They bring with them a new skill set honed by years of playgroups and preschools -- as Keller writes, "telling mothers to network is a bit like telling them to breathe" -- a crucial insight all too often forgotten by women who find themselves worried about resumé gaps. Still, The Comeback speaks of, and to, a subset of women who have so benefited from feminism that they can afford to be agonized by an array of choices. The women Keller describes, who can (mostly) afford not to work at all, face crises of confidence, but they do not face starvation if they choose to return to work a bit later than originally planned. Keller offers a compelling set of individual solutions to a common problem; one of these days, though, it would be interesting to hear about schemes hatched by women without top-notch academic degrees and well-placed friends.
Copyright 2008, The Washington Post. All Rights Reserved.

From Booklist

Keller immediately loses the objective third-party position of journalist, her previous career, to actively comment on her seven subjects’ lives in this collection of life stories so personal that readers wince with pain at the challenges and cheer with real glee for the successes. Although it’s not a new genre, this persona of participatory ego–reporter brings a candid yet gentle tone to the recaps of these women’s careers, marriages (with one divorce), and families. Not all hail from Manhattan’s Upper East Side, and they do not all enjoy 100 percent unfettered and nonpainful lives. Meet Lauren Jacobson, South African media lawyer who moved to England to escape fear of violence—and became a well-known charity’s managing director; or Maxine Snider, with a design career that morphed into ownership of a furniture manufacturer (much to the consternation of her retired-lawyer husband, until he found his second passion in photography). All talk about choices, balance, and trade-offs. --Barbara Jacobs

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Bloomsbury USA; 1 edition (September 2, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1596912235
• ISBN-13: 978-1596912236
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #595,858 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fun to Read, October 6, 2008

By	T. K. "naama's mama" (easton, ct) - See all my reviews

This book shares some wonderful stories about women who took time off from the work force to take care of their children-and made it back. It is somewhat inspirational, but mostly just interesting biographies of vastly different proffessional women and their experiences.

5 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars wrong book to write, April 10, 2009

By	SR (San jose, us) - See all my reviews

The book reads like any other book written by indulgent socialites with plenty of time and rich connections. Ms. Keller, You are probably better suited to offer advise on being a home-wrecker and social climber, given that you ensnared the esteemed NY Times editor Bill Keller by getting yourself pregnant at the ripe age of 40 and getting him to walk out on his wife and son in the process. Women could sure use some tips on that.