Sorry, I’m just resurrecting this as I’ve just read the book. I just wanted to say that I thought it was a self-indulgent piece of nonsense. Firstly, I hated the way she was so circumspect about what she did for a living - we were given hints it was artsy/creative and that she had a level of ‘celebrity’ but were never told what it was - it irked me all the way through because I couldn’t see the rationale for being so vague other than a laziness about writing about it? The way her child was portrayed and their sex never revealed led to me having to reread several sentences when she used ‘they’ instead of him or her - there were times when I thought she was writing about her child AND her husband - and it didn’t make sense.
I liked the potential of the motel room and her decorating it and existing there in an alternative life world. And some of the observations about female sexuality and desire were interesting.
But oh my God - the dancing. Cringe. His dancing. Her dancing. I kept thinking of that clip of Boyzone appearing and dancing for the first time on the Late Late Show in Ireland (it’s hilarious, look it up)
And then towards the end it turned into an Oprah-like series of revelations about speaking with her other female friends and acquaintances - ‘interviewing’ them almost. So many shocked at what happens to women during the menopause.
Maybe it’s only in the UK that the menopause is so talked about and discussed but I doubt there’s many women on MN who aren’t aware about the effects of Peri- Menopause and Menopause - who are at least aware that it’s something they should be looking into (Davina? Kirsty Wark?)
And as I closed the book after reading the last page my first, and overriding thought was, PLEASE PLEASE DON’T EVER LET ANYONE MAKE A FILM OF THIS BOOK!!