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| View Larger Image | Midlife Crisis at 30: How the Stakes Have Changed for a New Generation--And What to Do about It
by Lia Macko, Kerry Rubin
| | List Price: | $23.95 |  | | 26 New starting at: | $0.59 | | 45 Used starting at: | $0.43 | | 1 Collectible starting at: | $23.95 | | | | | Sales Rank: | 158716 | | Studio: | Rodale Books | | | Binding: | Hardcover | | Number Of Pages: | 304 | | Publication Date: | March 18, 2004 | | Publisher: | Rodale Books |
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EDITORIAL REVIEWS |
Product Description
At 30 ...
Former vice-presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro was a stay-at-home mother. Founder and CEO of Oxygen Media Geraldine Laybourne was working at a public interest think tank for teachers. Political strategist Mary Matalin was a first-year law student-- and about to drop out. And months prior to her thirtieth birthday, financial strategist and best-selling author Suze Orman was working as a waitress, making $400 a month.
Decades later, these Boomer women and many others have reached the pinnacles of their professions. So why do Gen-X/Y women feel such pressure to have the perfect career, body, husband, and kids by the time they are at or around 30? Why has 30 become such a make-or-break moment?
As the generation that came of age after the most visible glass ceilings had been broken, Gen-X/Y women were raised to believe in futures without limitations. Yet, as journalists Lia Macko and Kerry Rubin reveal in their fascinating investigation, many women have distorted the well-intentioned empowerment messages of their youth and are quietly blaming themselves when they fail to overcome the very real obstacles that still exist in our society. Though many Gen-X/Y women are hitting the same roadblocks at the same time, instead of questioning what's wrong with the system-- as Boomer women did in their twenties-- they're questioning their own "choices."
Searching for solutions, Macko and Rubin have enlisted the aid of the New Girls' Club, a group of successful, satisfied women who've lived through their own crossroads moments, earned their battle scars, and now share their stories and strategies. While today's young women may indeed be a generation in the middle of a Midlife Crisis at 30, they now have a dream team of mentors to help guide them through it.
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CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.0 based on 25 reviews)
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perpetuating stereotypes? 
we need to be careful not to perpetuate or buy into the stereotypes or crises, particularly, about women approaching 30. some authors over-exaggerate the negative aspects in the attempt to stand out, make their research appear more meaningful and/or purposeful- to become a hero- at the subject's expense. there are TONS of 25-35 year old women who live in the moment, enjoy life, and are not filled with this "angst". this is how these self-fulfilling prophecies are fueled. 30-something women begin to believe they should worry because society expects them to.
it seems that there is some envy of this age group that is motivating this negative analysis as well. as a 29 year old woman i do not appreciate the larger society's expectation that somehow i should be fearful or apprehensive of the future in any of these ways. this book, released into the larger society, reinforces those expectations. it is not appreciated. i love my life, my age, and my positive outlook on life and most importantly, my gratitude for living, attracts positive things into my life.
i remain thankful for these blessings. i would encourage people who are having doubts to practice gratitude. it helps me immensely.
March 04, 2008 | |
30 is the New 50... 
My daughter, not yet 26, suggested that her Mom, not yet 55, should read the book to understand some of her concerns and issues. I laughed when she said the words "mid life crisis", although now that I think back nearly 3 decades and recall that at 26, I was seriously questioning my life's path also.
I raced through the book in one weekend as if it were a homework assignment. The authors struck a chord with their comments on the lessons that we Baby Boomer moms taught our daughters: "Anything is Possible", "You Can Have it All", "Waiting to Marry is the Divorce Insurance Policy", etc. We feminists burned our bras, rallied for change in the corporation, assaulted the glass ceiling, brought home the bacon and fried it up in the pan.
But not all of us had it all, and the unachievable goal of having a Perfect Life has created Alpha Moms, Martha Stewart-esque Domestic Goddesses, pervasive anxiety, and, according to the authors, melt-down among this striving generation. Achieving education, career, marriage, and children doesn't happen for everyone at the right time in a strictly linear fashion (or at all).
Part One of the book defines why this generation is so stressed, redefines the new glass ceiling, discusses how "happily ever after" needs to be revised, and describes how all of this change is affecting men. This section of the book was most useful and interesting to me, and can best be summed up by "each woman will have her own definition of having it all".
Part Two offered profiles of successful women at 30 and later in life, with the suggestion that their experiences could be used as a sort of virtual mentoring. The subjects of the profiles were many high-achieving women in medicine, publishing, entertainment, politics, law and business. While the stories of each woman's journey through career, marriage and children (or the decision to not have children) were interesting, laudable and inspirational, they didn't seem particularly applicable to the typical middle-class young woman. There just isn't enough room at the top for every striving young woman to find a place there.
The value of this book will be its contribution to the ongoing dialogue that young women need to have among themselves, with their spouses and bosses, (and even with their Baby boomer moms...), to help them chart a course to success and happiness through the years that are filled with challenges and choices.
September 03, 2007 | |
Wow - Has the Pressure Cooker Ever Amplified!! 
30 is the new benchmark of where are you in life. This places enormous pressure on people as young as 17 or 18 to get into gear before they even know who they are. With the average post-secondary graduating age around 22 ... that is less than a decade for women (more pressure than men) to begin having something to show for themselves. Life can be navigated but there are factors beyond one's control. No wonder the rat race is so compelling to teenagers.... you are behind before you even get started. Isn't life something to enjoy at least some of the time. Excellent analysis of why the world (at least in the West) has only gotten more unrealistic and disregarded the need for young people to just be happy some of the time that they are alive and well.
May 31, 2006 | |
Good book if baby-making is your main goal in life. 
This book is for women who have or want to have children. Period. I am 29 years old, and do not hear a biological clock ticking. In fact, the older I get, the less I want children. I knew the book would touch on motherhood, but I was hoping it wasn't the main drive of the book. Instead I read page after page of women whining about how to juggle a career and a family. If that is something you're struggling with, then by all means, get this book. If you're not thinking about motherhood, and especially if you are child-free by choice, don't waste your time.
April 11, 2006 | |
More of a Sociological Study of Women in their 30s
I loved this book, but the title is really misleading. Makes it sound like a self-help book and I really don't think it is. A friend recommended this otherwise I probably wouldn't have picked it up based on the title.
Provided a lot of interesting perspectives on the struggles both women AND men go through in our society when trying to maintain a work/life balance. Doesn't really provide any guidance, but does make you realize that this is a social problem, not just a personal problem. I've recommended it to many friends.
December 30, 2005 | |
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