Getting over Getting Older Book

Not everyone--not even every feminist--holds to the belief that age brings wisdom, power, and its own beauty. Faced with turning 50, Letty Cottin Pogrebin, founder of Ms. and author of several books including Growing Up Free, says her reactions ranged "from astonishment to anger, from confusion to curiosity, from denial to disgust." Using herself as a compass and adding many other well- known voices, Pogrebin's irreverent book takes on friendship, sex, love, dieting, mothering adults, the physical and emotional depredations of aging, and mortality. Rather than stubbornly toeing the line on spurning plastic surgery, for example, she thoughtfully explores "the tension between artificiality and authenticity." In the end, she concludes, one can devote one's remaining years to lamenting and running after lost youth or put that time to far better uses. Despite a glib, overly playful tone that trivializes certain issues, Pogrebin's desire to share downplayed truths is a boon. Read More