Midlife Crisis at 30

March 1, 2004
Successful, high-energy media professionals Macko (a CNBC producer) and Rubin (a CNN producer) sensed there was a problem plaguing women of a certain age--the early 30s. So many of them were wondering, in the midst of lives that were supposedly on track, why they felt"so miserable." In Part One of this volume, the authors attempt to identify and label the components of 30-something angst, which include changing career parameters, the question of when (or whether) to get married and have a family, and how to find real fulfillment versus a great-paying job. Then anecdotes from real women comfort readers by helping them realize that they aren't alone in their difficult-to-define struggles. Even better, however, are the stories from well-known women in Part Two,"The New Girls Club: Your Dream of Mentors." In this section, women like Judy Blume, fitness guru Denise Austen and Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison explain how they dealt with the issues facing them in their 30s and, in many cases, tell readers how they completely re-vamped their lives to become hugely successful, personally and professionally. These triumphant stories should inspire women in their 30s, and anyone else contemplating a serious life overhaul.

February 15, 2004
Macko and Rubin (both television news producers) eloquently capture the bewildering stresses and strains that middle-class American women aged 25 to 37 face in managing the often mutually exclusive arenas of career, kids, husband, and body. The authors maintain that women must move beyond the cultural expectations associated with contemporary "success" and achieve their own personal balance. In an intense, sometimes edgy tone, they focus on whether women can realistically "have it all," all at once. Mentoring is provided via the personal stories of notable women; stories like Judy Blume's cogent discussion of balance will have wide appeal, but others are rather unrealistic, as when Mary Matalin talks about her nanny. Read in conjunction with Sherene Schostak and Stefanie Iris Weiss's Surviving Saturn's Return: Vital Lessons for Overcoming Life's Most Tumultuous Cycle, this book provides much food for thought. The only drawback: it's unnecessarily long. Essential for women's studies programs and recommended for all public libraries.

Copyright 2004 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.