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Revision as of 11:01, 27 August 2020
, 11:01, 27 August 2020no edit summary
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When you open a package and find a bright pink book which proudly proclaims 'Fifty and Fabulous: the best years of a woman's life' you can be forgiven for wondering if this is going to be another of those books which recommends recommend strenuous exercise regimes, strict diets and just a little nip and tuck under the chin. Personally, my heart sank because, er, well, I'm no longer fifty. Were my fabulous years behind me?
In fact, the book is quite the reverse on both accounts. Far from recommending a regime of pushing back the years and ruthlessly working to ensure that no one could guess your age the message is one of acceptance of the aging ageing process and enjoying the freedoms which it brings. And whilst this maturity might begin at about the age of fifty, there's the potential for them to go on forever.
Jaki Scarcello refers to these years as the 'harvest years' when women have a wealth of experience to give back to the community and vehemently refutes the idea that women of a certain age should feel invisible. The benefits of changing attitudes to aging ageing are clearly spelled spelt out and difficult to argue with but I found the book less convincing on how one should attain this state of serenity.
The book is written with humour and is based on Scarcello's interviews with women in their mid-forties to those who've scored their century. The case studies are fascinating and it was interesting to realise that most of the women with this positive attitude to aging ageing were still feisty and forthcoming no matter what their age.
The book is quite slight. It weighs in at 224 pages but you need to take account of the fact that on most double-page spreads parts of the text are reproduced in a larger font (which I found particularly annoying as I kept losing the thread of the argument) and each chapter is preceded by a plain black page. There's a spiritual depth to what Scarcello has to say, but I'd love to have read more about the women, or Scarcello's thoughts about them rather than having the padding.
