I See You Made an Effort

January 6, 2014
Actress and writer Gurwitch (You Say Tomato, I Say Shut Up) offers up a rollicking collection of essays detailing the hazards encountered when a woman approaches 50. Whether she is extrapolating on the symptoms of perimenopause, attending a concert with her teenage son, assessing fashion for older women, or realizing the mistake of Googling “age-related conditions” on the Internet, Gurwitch tackles all of it all with aplomb. Her witty writing allows for deft exploration of even the most sensitive and intimate subjects while still finding the humor in her situation. She admits aging gracefully is best achieved with a bit of help, although it proves to be a zero-sum game with effects that fade quickly. “I’ve filled, frozen and ultrasounded, all in the name of what is often referred to as maintenance.” Gurwitch’s essay about becoming a member of the sandwich generation and caring for her aging parents is heartfelt and makes her aware of what the future holds. “This must be another milestone that lies ahead for me: the day when you speak to and of your doctors more frequently than your friends.” These essays contain a devilish good dose of fun and more than a dash of agita for those approaching and beyond the half-century mark.

March 1, 2014
A compendium of lighthearted, of-the-moment essays that address the many ups and downs of life at 50. The former co-host of Dinner and a Movie on TBS, humorist Gurwitch (co-author: You Say Tomato, I Say Shut Up: A Love Story, 2010, etc.) opens her new collection by lamenting the onslaught of AARP solicitations ("At a glance, I thought it might be an ad for white-collar prison uniforms") that began showing up on her 49th birthday. On almost every page, she demonstrates a dogged commitment to elevating seemingly normal, even mundane happenings, such as buying moisturizer at the mall, and other encounters with people who include her husband, writer Jeff Kahn, and female friends, into situational comedies, frequently offering jokes at her own expense. Gurwitch makes for a highly likable, albeit sometimes-crass narrator who is willing to lay all of her cards on the table for the sake of entertainment. Infused with levity, confessions of her fears about getting older mostly relate to the way she looks and the lengths to which she's willing to go to fight gravity. Her neuroses show up in abundance--e.g., a monologue questioning whether or not washing fruit before eating it may lead to her death. "Pesticides are undoubtedly eating away at my insides this very minute, though statistically speaking, I will probably be bumped off by a teenage driver texting What's up?" These obsessive, superficial fears tap into similar threads running through most glossy women's magazines. Having written for many such magazines, including Glamour and More, Gurwitch proves adept at attempting to address and soften readers' shared concerns about their own age-related changes in appearance with her aggressively personal (some R-rated) deadpan admissions ("In the light of day, our living room couch looks depressed. Literally. That sofa has seen a lot of ass"). Casual, zingy observations.

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October 15, 2013

You'll know actor/comedian Gurwitch from Dinner and a Movie on TBS and from her appearances on Seinfeld and elsewhere and as the author of You Say Tomato, I Say Shut Up (with husband Jeff Kahn) and Fired! (about working with Woody Allen). Here she considers life at 50 (probably not the new 40), as she picks through antiaging creams at the department store counter and faces the assisted suicide of a friend. Cutting in a funny way.

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 1, 2014

In the Eighties, when actor/comedian Gurwitch (TBS's Dinner and a Movie) was barely 20 years old and studying acting at New York University, an Academy Award--or at least a role on a Friends-like sitcom--was a real possibility. Now, pushing 50 and scraping for a background role as a marauding villager in a television commercial, she has lost all hope for fame. But she hasn't given up her sense of humor. In the spirit of Erica Jong's Fear of Fifty and Nora Ephron's I Feel Bad About My Neck, Gurwitch survives middle age primarily by laughing about it. How else to cope with dashed hopes and lost loves, acid reflux, a sagging derriere, and an ebbing libido? Her descriptions are bleakly honest. Although acknowledging the absurdities of chasing youth, she confesses to harboring Mrs. Robinson-type fantasies and caving in to beauty consultants and Botox. Her essays probe deeper when she reflects on the death of a close friend and her own fragile health. VERDICT In describing her insecurities and her feelings of invisibility, Gurwitch also poses important questions about how our culture treats middle-aged women. Unfortunately, she leaves these inquiries largely unexplored, and she has little to say that is positive about getting older. Still, this is a fun, compelling, and breezy read. [See Prepub Alert, 9/23/13.]--Meagan Lacy, Indiana Univ.-Purdue Univ. Indianapolis Libs.

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.