How Did I Get to Be 40: & Other Atrocities

Fine poetry this is not, but Judith Viorst hits another home run by applying her piercing sense of humor to the sundry atrocities involved in turning forty: having your children grow up, wondering about your husband, feeling left out, misunderstood, underappreciated, uncomfortable dinner parties, seeing the marriages of your friends break up, and so on. This all sounds like very much a downer, but Viorst manages the neat trick of turning it into funny stuff, as in "The Truth":"The truth isIf I had it all to do overI still wouldn't study Swahili,Learn to fly a plane,Or take 92 lovers,Some of them simultaneously . . .The truth isThat I'll always want to bePure enough to hate white bread,Deep enough to admire Patagonian folk art,Thin enough to go swimming in the nude,Mature enough to outgrow Erich Fromm,Nice enough to be nice to my Uncle Bernie,And secure enough to not need getting married."Viorst raises issues that come up as you get older, and takes her readers with her by acknowledging the down side while seeing the humor it all brings as well. This is a terrific gift for a "newly forty" pal or for any married mom with kids.

Judith Viorst is my favorite author! I loved discovering her books on age. She hits the mark more times than not on the feelings that we have at a given age! I find that I reread her books often when I need a lift or a laugh! Makes a wonderful gift for a good friend.

For a decade that begins with being "Over the Hill," there is a negative connotation comes with being forty. It implies that 40 means "old". You may often be asking yourself, "Where did the time go?" Instead of looking ahead, as for the previous years, you may find your self searching back. Lonely and Confused you may wonder, "Does anyone know how it feels?" By reading Viorst's Book, I was motivated to look ahead instead of searching for the past. She made it feel as though there is still a hike to hump of the hill. Entusiastic about being forty instead of being depressed about middle-age, she explains how to cope with the every-day experiences of being forty. To best put it she makes you feel OKAY about middle-age!