Younger

I won't lie - I read this book solely because I love the t.v. show and haven't been able to watch it. And very clearly, that was a bad idea.

If you're like me and want to devour all media relating to your favourite things, beware! Not every book to t.v. adaption will be similar, so you may be left disappointed (like I was!). The television show has expanded wildly on the plots and characters in this book, so you will absolutely be left disappointed if you wanted a beat by beat replay.

Either way, this book was still cute and a very quick read.

Alice is a 40-something year old woman who gets mistaken for a 20-something year old woman and plays it up. She gets her old dream gig, gets a sexy man and tries her best to keep this secret. She show more meets the absolutely wonderful Josh - a young guy with a passionate dream and a life. She also has a best friend (who is a lesbian) who is wanting some babies in her life, while Alice has a 20-something year old daughter living her best life. With all this in mind, Alice has to figure out what she wants with her life and needs to figure out if she can continue living with this lie.

I found this book heavily focused on lying and the portrayal of older women. Are women discriminated against? Yep, absolutely! But I found that this book almost made light of it in a somewhat negative way. The way Alice talked in her head sat wrong with me, because she was agreeing with the comments she didn't agree with. I think this book is a step in the right direction for discussing some of the major issues about women, society, ageism and fertility, but I think it could have been done a little bit better.

I really wanted a happily ever after sort of book, but this book is not the romance you might hope it would be. It's definitely more of a commentary on what women should look for in life. You don't always need to get the guy, you need to make sure you're living your best life and being an honest person. Yadda, yadda, yadda. Yes, it's important... but can't we get a little happily ever after sometimes? I felt like this book just made me more depressed about getting older than excited for the adventures age can bring. Maybe the book was intended to leave us wondering or making our own ending, but I didn't enjoy it.

Since I've ranted about what I don't like, it's probably time to list some of the awesome qualities of this book:
1. This book moves fast and has an addicting writing style. I enjoyed Pamela's voice and wanted to continue reading.
2. Josh is an absolute gem and is written to be an absolute dream boat.
3. I liked that a lot of women's issues was brought up in this book. The more visibility, the better.

Overall, this book was a nice read to get my mind away from reality for a while. It might have made me a little sadder about the world, but it could definitely be enjoyed by other readers.

Although, I'll still take the television show over the book any day of the week.

Two out of five stars. show less

Review: Younger Younger is about a woman who is in her forties and wants to be younger.  I’m 30, but this book definitely hit home for me.
Alice wants to be able to get back into the publishing workforce.  She kept trying and they shot her down.  After her makeover she actually starts getting some attention from employers and guys.  I think the Satran did an amazing job of showing how age effects how others see you.  You are judged on your ability to do things and it works both ways.  Those that are younger seem like they don’t have a clue while those that are older don’t stand a chance in some situations.  I’ve definitely been on the receiving end of the young crowd.  I had a child young, and people assumed I wouldn’t show more be able to handle it.  Things didn’t work out with my child’s father and putting myself back out there was just as terrifying as the emotions Alice feels when she puts herself back out there as a “younger” self.  You wonder if you will be attractive because let’s face it, having a child changes your body.  Will anyone else find me attractive? Will they understand that you have other responsibilities besides dating? It’s freaking scary.  So many of the emotions that Alice goes through in this book, are ones that I have gone through as well.  I think the author did a fantastic job of making the problems Alice has relateable.
I did like the friendships Alice has with both Maggie and Lindsay.  Both play a role in her finding who she is, and helps her realize that nothing is wrong with being 44, and also having a life outside your children.  Especially when that child is grown.  I didn’t really care for Alice’s daughter, Diana.  She acts so bratty most of the time, and uses her parent’s divorce as an excuse.  It drove me crazy.  I also wish we had found out some things that happened with Diana and her sudden reappearance.
All in all, I think if you want to read a book that deals with the emotions of getting older, and trying to have fun at the same time, this is definitely a book that fits that.  I’m also super excited to see the show that will air on TVLand on March 31st.  I want to see how the book translates to television. show less

I usually read the book first before a tv adaptation or movie adaptation to the book, this time however I had watched the whole series of younger to find out later that it was based of a book. I've had this book for a while and after binge watching the show for a second time I figured it's time to read the book.
I won't see here and compare the two except to say both were fun for me to watch and read.

In younger we meet Alice a forty something divorced mom who gave up her career that had barely begun to be a stay at home mom. Now divorced and her daughter living half way around the world Alice tries to get back to what she loved to do and that is work for a publishing company, however after being turned down numerous times her friend show more Maggie convinces her to let people assume she is young as she appears to be and just go with it and basically enjoy being in her twenties since she didn't get to do so the first time around at least not as a single career minded woman.

I enjoyed the book, as a mom myself also in my forties I could relate to a lot with the exception that I am not a stay at home mom. This was a fun and cozy read for the most part but also gives you moments of deep thought into your own life at least it was for me. It was cute and quirky.
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So I watched the show first, and I think that makes me quite biased. There are two TV shows I've watched in the last ten years and let's not talk about the other one and instead say it takes a lot to get me invested in something on a screen (seriously, how do you sit still?) So the book was already standing up against a good thing.

And it didn't hold up. It was novel, but I think it was novel due to having seen the show and finding the differences, but this almost read like someone was writing an overarching plotline and telling us what would happen. There were few real scenes with dialogue and momentum, and a lot more telling and explanation of how Alice felt.

I also made the mistake of reading the author notes and learning that the show more author decided to make Maggie a lesbian because that would be an easy way to explain her lack of husband and kids. Um... no. Lesbians can fall in love. Lesbians do fall in love. Lesbians have serious life partners and get married. Lesbians have kids. Just saying. Oh, how publishing has changed in 13 years; an editor would call her out on that today. I hope.

It was an extremely quick read though so there's that! show less

This book (or audiobook) is chic lit at its best: funny, warm, insightful and with quirky characters. This is a cozy read so not detailed sex stories but still has a really fun love story. This is a twist on a coming of age story - at 44. I am not sure how much 20somethings would love it but any woman over 35 I think would really enjoy it. I watched the TV program of this story and I was surprised at the choices of things to change in the characters. It was a good interpretation of the overall story but description of Terry in the book is not very much like the one they chose to play her. Fun read!

The TV show is actually better then the book.

I had seen the first season of the television show and really enjoyed it, so when I saw this audiobook on sale for $2.95 I bought it. It was a quick, fun listen but I would describe it as just OK. The TV show is more exciting but the book is more realistic. I don't want to give too many details because I don't want to spoil it, but I will say that the relationship between the main character and her daughter is quite different in the book. It was one of the things I didn't like. If you like the TV show you might want to check out this book, otherwise I'm not sure it is really interesting enough to recommend.

Rating: C

There was way more to that summary about her telling her lies and will she get caught? Obviously. You know the climax going in. The only thing you don't know is, Why would I care? I picked this book up as an impulse buy at the store as I was browsing, I was hungry and the cake caught my eye, and I skimmed to the part about when she meets Josh (I thought the 44 year/25 year relationship was far-fetched) and wanted to see how it was written. Not well, but Josh was a nice character, so I picked it up. Josh is what kept me reading. I found I skimmed a lot of the rest of it (Are those the worst words an author can hear?), I didn't care about her daughter, kind of liked her friend (although I knew the outcome of all her baby-wanting show more before it even happened).

It was really formulaic and Alice was fine, but the pitch was just so-so for me. Maybe I wasn't in the target demographic. Being 30, I'm too old for the stuff about partying younger people, and too young for the stuff about the older generation. Maybe other people might like it, it just wasn't for me. (Plus, the oft-repeated references to how women in their 40's are at their sexual peak seemed like over-compensating to me.)

There was an interview with the author at the back of the version I bought that I read part of, and she said she'd been kicking the idea for this book around in several different forms. One of which was, "I saw Alice as a rich shallow woman on the brink of killing herself who decides to spend her last hour of life reading Vogue--and therin discovers a miracle-working plastic surgeon whom she gets to transform her into someone who looks young." Sure, it's surreal, but it actually sounds more innovative than this story was.

I've read worse, but I've read better... that gets you a C. show less