A Round-Heeled Woman: My Late-Life Adventures in Sex and Romance

"Before I turn 67 - next March - I would like to have a lot of sex with a man I like. If you want to talk first, Trollope does it for me". So reads the eye-catching & intriguing personal ad Jane Juska put in the New York Times.

This is a memoir, not only of those dates, some good, most absolutely dire. But Jane intersperses her search for a man who will stimulate her mind as well as body (and offer accommodation while she falls for New York culture) with recall of her childhood, years as an inspired teacher, in school and prison, and her lousy mothering skills.

She is a talented, funny, self-deprecating writer, brutally honest and rather vulnerable, and seemingly a glutton for punishment flying from California to her New York dates and show more pursuing terrier-like some very odd guys.

I would be interested to find out what her analyst makes of her (and yes, she'd like a date with him too). show less

I bought this book on a whim because I thought it sounded light and I was in the mood to laugh. I mean, the misadventures of a retired grandma going on lots of blind dates? Shouldn't that be comical? Like, the female version of Grumpy Old Men or something? In actuality, this is a pretty heavy book and not for the reasons you might think (or not JUST for those reasons). The author had a rough life and a good portion of the book is spent documenting her most painful experiences.

So, not the beach read I thought it was. A better title for this book would be: A Round-Heeled Woman: My Late-Life Adventures in Sex and Romance AND My Mid-Life Adventures in Alcoholism and Depression.

An enjoyable, fast read; not as scandalous as the title might suggest. It's a memoir about a woman realizing her life had not be lived fully, and how she set about doing so.

An interesting look at sexuality from the point of view of an adventurous woman approaching 67. Frank and thoughtful, although I think the author gets a little naive about other people's reactions toward the end.

At age 66, after decades without sex the author runs a personal ad soliciting sex. This book is an honest, wide eyed and sometimes naïve look at what happens before and after the ad runs. This is not quite a full biography, but it is a memoir that covers the author's entire life with the order dictated by events, not chronology. Sometimes the discussion of sex is fleeting, and sometimes it is in explicit detail, but the book is best at the romance the author encounters both in both in the men she meets and in her interests in life. Her teaching, her singing, her discovery of New York are so beautifully described that I am jealous not to have such a passion for something. The honesty of the title gives you an idea of how open the show more discussion is within the book. show less

Not quite the book I'd hoped to read, alas. I thought I was gonna get a randy romp without a care. Instead I have to read about a failed marriage and a son who ran away to be homeless, as well as all the hurt feelings that can get bruised out there in the dating meat market. Ouch. All that quite quashed my randy for this read.

So the adventure (when she got to describing it) was fun, the writing was pretty good. Off to the Goodwill with this one.

I would never have actively searched for this book but I found the subject intriguing and it kind of fell into my hands. Fast read, a bit sad, poor woman wanted sex and a relationship but she got a lots of sex but no real commitment. Kind of funny in parts.