Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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4.0 out of 5 stars
An Imaginative Writer Actively Combats Aging at 65 . . . with Self-Deprecating Humor, 25 May 2007
I think Nora Ephron could write about the telephone book and make it entertaining (one brief section in this book about parenting proves the point). Here's an example. Most writers don't want to think about aging. If they do, they want to prescribe "solutions." Nora Ephron has a different idea: Simply describe aging as something we foolishly try to stave off (pretty unsuccessfully) by sharing her own experiences.
That concept is best captured by her essay "On Maintenance" that describes in detail the time, money, and effort she puts into trying to look as good as she can. I'm reminded of a conversation I had with my cousin (who in her more naive days was a beauty queen) who always looks terrific. When I complimented my cousin on her appearance once, she replied, "You have no idea how much more effort it takes every year." Now, I do!
The essay "I Feel Bad About My Neck" is very funny. I don't think I ever look at women's necks . . . but now I know that some women do. Apparently it's all downhill after 43. The essay ends with the irony that Ms. Ephron cannot do anything about her neck without a facelift, and she's not a good candidate for a facelift.
I also liked her essays about how we fall in love with concepts, places, and people . . . for no particularly good reason. But that temporary embrace is soon replaced by another one that will probably be even more satisfying. Although not described that way, you get a sense that she views her prior two marriages much in the same way. This concept is beautifully explored in "Serial Monogamy: A Memoir" (about her affection for various cookbook authors), "Moving On" (about her 10 year delight in a large apartment in New York), "The Lost Strudel" (her desire to recreate happy experiences through food that's no longer easy to find), and "Me and Bill: The End of Love" (about her feelings about Bill Clinton as a leader).
Some of her essays border on being rants. I found those the least appealing. These include "I Hate My Purse" and "Blind as a Bat."
Vignettes are powerfully shared. I loved her humorous take on probably being the only White House intern JFK didn't make a pass at and her expert explanation about why typing was irrelevant as an intern in the JFK White House in "Me and JFK: Now It Can Be Told." She also does vignettes brilliantly in "The Story of My Life in 3,500 Words or Less."
She ends with thoughts about dying, and humor fails her. But "Considering the Alternative" is the section where you see the real woman most clearly.
Writers will love her mother's advice: "Everything is copy." The older I get, the more I realize that's true.
Those who like to fall asleep with a smile will find it makes sense to read one essay a night before turning off the light.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An Imaginative Writer Actively Combats Aging at 65 . . . with Self-Deprecating Humor, 25 May 2007
I think Nora Ephron could write about the telephone book and make it entertaining (one brief section in this book about parenting proves the point). Here's an example. Most writers don't want to think about aging. If they do, they want to prescribe "solutions." Nora Ephron has a different idea: Simply describe aging as something we foolishly try to stave off (pretty unsuccessfully) by sharing her own experiences.
That concept is best captured by her essay "On Maintenance" that describes in detail the time, money, and effort she puts into trying to look as good as she can. I'm reminded of a conversation I had with my cousin (who in her more naive days was a beauty queen) who always looks terrific. When I complimented my cousin on her appearance once, she replied, "You have no idea how much more effort it takes every year." Now, I do!
The essay "I Feel Bad About My Neck" is very funny. I don't think I ever look at women's necks . . . but now I know that some women do. Apparently it's all downhill after 43. The essay ends with the irony that Ms. Ephron cannot do anything about her neck without a facelift, and she's not a good candidate for a facelift.
I also liked her essays about how we fall in love with concepts, places, and people . . . for no particularly good reason. But that temporary embrace is soon replaced by another one that will probably be even more satisfying. Although not described that way, you get a sense that she views her prior two marriages much in the same way. This concept is beautifully explored in "Serial Monogamy: A Memoir" (about her affection for various cookbook authors), "Moving On" (about her 10 year delight in a large apartment in New York), "The Lost Strudel" (her desire to recreate happy experiences through food that's no longer easy to find), and "Me and Bill: The End of Love" (about her feelings about Bill Clinton as a leader).
Some of her essays border on being rants. I found those the least appealing. These include "I Hate My Purse" and "Blind as a Bat."
Vignettes are powerfully shared. I loved her humorous take on probably being the only White House intern JFK didn't make a pass at and her expert explanation about why typing was irrelevant as an intern in the JFK White House in "Me and JFK: Now It Can Be Told." She also does vignettes brilliantly in "The Story of My Life in 3,500 Words or Less."
She ends with thoughts about dying, and humor fails her. But "Considering the Alternative" is the section where you see the real woman most clearly.
Writers will love her mother's advice: "Everything is copy." The older I get, the more I realize that's true.
Those who like to fall asleep with a smile will find it makes sense to read one essay a night before turning off the light.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Its great if you have a dry sense of humor , 17 Aug 2007
okay i am not a woman of a certian age but i fell in love with this lady's works of art a couple of years ago when i read her blog ,then heartburn and the essay from the 70's about boobage... really liked the essay on the purses (i am a disaster with purses and used to have a backpack purse)
i adored the one about the being entranced by a book and putting everything else in life on the back burner to finish it...
her best one was my life in 3500 hundred words or less..and how her mother said everything was copy....
and there's one about Bill Clinton.... that kinda made me sad because its so true
i like how this book was written in stream of consciousness style and how she has a smart ass sense of humor,,,,
she was on the craig ferguson show and she did a monologue about the essay me and jfk .. and how she was an intern at the jfk whitehouse when she was very young, and how her whole job consisted of autographing pictures of jfk and there was no place for her to sit(and she had to sit on the carpet next to the bathroom) so she would just get up and leave and roam all around the whitehouse and see what was happening, and how she was lil miffed back then that jfk never get tried to get with her ... (if you don't read anything else read this one... I could relate and the exact reason Johnny Depp and I will never get it on..
i didnt realize she as petite and tiny as she is... she looks like a grown up version of ramona quimby from the beverly cleary books..
Everything was good except for the one on serial monogamy(i was totally puzzeled) and maintenence it was really gross..esp the part about excess body hair and waxing(waay too much share)
when i read her blog i thought she was alot younger than 65......
anyway rent the book on tape its very easy to listen to.. she sounds like she is from New Jersey and tries to cover it up by overpronouncing everything
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by Nora Ephron
by Nora Ephron
by Nora Ephron
by Nora Ephron
