I Feel Bad About My Neck: And Other Thoughts On Being a Woman (Vintage)

I Feel Bad About My Neck: And Other Thoughts On Being a Woman (Vintage)
by Nora Ephron

I Feel Bad About My Neck: And Other Thoughts On Being a Woman (Vintage)
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Book Summary Information

Author: Nora Ephron
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2008-04-08
ISBN: 0307276821
Number of pages: 160
Publisher: Vintage
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Book Reviews of I Feel Bad About My Neck: And Other Thoughts On Being a Woman (Vintage)

Book Review: Ephron is Funny and Honest
Summary: 5 Stars

Nora Ephron's book of humorous essays about growing older (and other assorted topics), "I Feel Bad About My Neck" showcases just what it is about Ephron's writing that is so compelling. She speaks the truth. Sure, it's funny, but underlying the humor is a stark look at the world and what its expectations are. As humans, particularly aging ones, we just can't measure up. Life is oriented toward the young, and once a person (particularly a woman) moves past a certain age, it's all about maintenance, and the things you just can't age-proof, like a neck.

Not all her essays are about aging. Indeed, my favorite essay in the book is about the "rapture" of reading (Ephron's words, not mine, although I agree completely that a book you truly love can make you swoon, it's just that powerful).

Still, the majority of this slim book of humor essays are written from a particular point of view, a very interesting one at that. Nonetheless, a younger person could not have written some of these stories. It takes a lifetime of living to learn some of these lessons, to know yourself and your flaws (and assets) so well that you are not afraid to put it all out there. Ephron is in that place where she knows exactly who she is, that she is not going to change, and that the sum of her experience is valuable, despite her regrets. And, while it may be poetic to say, "I have no regrets about the life I have lived," for most of us, it's just not true. We have all made mistakes, and not regretting some of those blunders just doesn't make you human, or maybe honest.

Ephron comes by her stories honestly. She lays out the glamour-less experience of being in the Kennedy White House as an intern. So unimportant was she that she didn't even merit a desk. The highlight of her internship was having JFK speak to her as he boarded the helicopter for Hyannis Port (which of course, she couldn't hear, due to the rotary blades of the helicopter). Some things are just not cracked up to what we expect of life.

This doesn't mean that life is without its pleasures, without things that we truly love. For Ephron, that certainly is her home, New York City, whose praises she sings. Even if you don't particularly like New York, she enables you to see just what it is that holds such an attraction to it for her. She also talks a lot about food, and very little about her career. She's had a brilliant career, but she is more willing to talk about her failed marriages than her Oscar nomination or the films she's directed.

There are too few people in the world like that. More people are interested in singing their own praises than telling you where they went wrong in life. Being able to laugh at ourselves, our mistakes, and life is a rare gift, and Ephron has it, in abundance. That's why you really should read this book, for the sheer joy of celebrating a life well lived.

Summary of I Feel Bad About My Neck: And Other Thoughts On Being a Woman (Vintage)

With her disarming, intimate, completely accessible voice, and dry sense of humor, Nora Ephron shares with us her ups and downs in I Feel Bad About My Neck, a candid, hilarious look at women who are getting older and dealing with the tribulations of maintenance, menopause, empty nests, and life itself.

Ephron chronicles her life as an obsessed cook, passionate city dweller, and hapless parent. But mostly she speaks frankly and uproariously about life as a woman of a certain age. Utterly courageous, uproariously funny, and unexpectedly moving in its truth telling, I Feel Bad About My Neck is a scrumptious, irresistible treat of a book, full of truths, laugh out loud moments that will appeal to readers of all ages.

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