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How Did I Get to Be 40 & Other Atrocities (1973)

by Judith Viorst

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1124245,770 (3.53)3
And so you've reached that time in life when you're starting to pick investments over adventure, clean over scenic, comfortable over intense; when, even though in your heart of hearts you're only seventeen, the rest of you is (how did it happen?) forty. The wise and witty lady of It's Hard to Be Hip Over Thirty is here to get you through those forty-ish years with poems that reflect our common shared experience. So let her help you take a look at that decade of sagging kneecaps and college reunions and fantasies of love in the afternoon; at Maoist kids, cholesterol counts, adult-education courses and other atrocities - which somehow just don't hurt so much when you laugh. A marvelous book filled with insight and warmth, How Did I Get to Be 40 ... & Other Atrocities is Judith Viorst at her best.… (more)
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» See also 3 mentions

Showing 4 of 4
This was delightful. I'm not sure I'd call it most masterful poetry I've ever read, but I felt deeply moved (to love, to sadness, to sympathy, to scatteredness, to panic, to delight, to jealousy and letting go), so of the best votes out there: I'll definitely be looking for more of her books in this series in the future. I want all the volumes from age 20 to age 80 now. ( )
  wanderlustlover | Dec 26, 2022 |
I guess the author didn't have as much to write about at 40 as she did at 20 and 30 :-) Still very funny and touching look at an educated woman reduced to housewife and mother. ( )
  Karen74Leigh | Sep 4, 2019 |
Judith is hard to beat, whether writing for children or those of us "beyond a certain age!" ( )
  MerryMary | Aug 13, 2007 |
And so you've reached that time in life when you're starting to pick investments over adventure, clean over scenic, comfortable over intense; when, even though in your heart of hearts you're only seventeen, the rest of you is (how did it happen?) forty. The wise and witty lady of It's Hard to Be Hip Over Thirty is here to get you through those forty-ish years with poems that reflect our common shared experience. So let her help you take a look at... ( )
This review has been flagged by multiple users as abuse of the terms of service and is no longer displayed (show).
  Tutter | Feb 19, 2015 |
Showing 4 of 4
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Epigraph
Dedication
For Joseph H. Smith and Phyllis Hersh
First words
The truth is
If I had it all to do over
I still wouldn't study Swahili,
Learn to fly a plane,
Or take 92 lovers,
Some of them simultaneously.
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(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
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And so you've reached that time in life when you're starting to pick investments over adventure, clean over scenic, comfortable over intense; when, even though in your heart of hearts you're only seventeen, the rest of you is (how did it happen?) forty. The wise and witty lady of It's Hard to Be Hip Over Thirty is here to get you through those forty-ish years with poems that reflect our common shared experience. So let her help you take a look at that decade of sagging kneecaps and college reunions and fantasies of love in the afternoon; at Maoist kids, cholesterol counts, adult-education courses and other atrocities - which somehow just don't hurt so much when you laugh. A marvelous book filled with insight and warmth, How Did I Get to Be 40 ... & Other Atrocities is Judith Viorst at her best.

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