Title: 30 Isnt Old
Author: Colette Petersen
Publisher: Outskirts Press, 2007
157 pp $16.95
ISBN: 978-1-4327-3264-6
Wherever today's late-twentysomethings look, we hear the dire warning that The Big Three-Oh is the end of the world, or at least the beginning of the end. Start worrying about wrinkles! Land that promotion! Find a husband quick - OR ELSE! Colette Petersen's 30 Isn't Old dares to ask, "Or else WHAT?"
Unlike most pop-culture "solutions" aimed at women nearing thirty, 30 Isn't Old starts from the premise that thirty is not the beginning of the end, but the end of the beginning. The book follows the choices of several different women who are approaching age thirty, offering glimpses into their lives and collecting the wisdom these women have gained by staring thirty square in the eye. Rather than scaring its readers with horror stories about dead-end jobs and unremitting spinsterdom, 30 Isn't Old uplifts its audience by presenting what, on some level, most of us already know: that "success" is in the eye of the beholder, and that approaching age thirty offers us a prime chance to name our dreams and plant both feet on the path that leads to them.
To explore the meanings of success for real live near-thirty women, 30 Isn't Old divides into five sections: success, marriage, motherhood, career, and spirituality. Within each section, the reader meets a woman who shares her life choices, her fears about turning thirty (if any), and her personal definition of success in each category. Although their backgrounds and positions in work and life varied, these women are surprisingly more alike than different. And not one parroted the dismal prophecies so common in women's magazines. Instead, most of the women described success as enjoying one's life and being proud of one's choices, and most saw themselves already engaged in success as a process rather than an endpoint.
This book is not without its minor faults. The text is packed densely on the page, making for a thin book but one containing a great deal of information. In addition, information from women who live deeply "alternative" lifestyles, particularly women who are homosexual, transgendered, or who hold counter-mainstream religious, social or political beliefs would have enriched this book still further and made it speak to a much wider range of near-thirtysomething women. Nevertheless, Colette Petersen has created an indispensable comfort for any woman about to wave her twenties goodbye.
Author: Colette Petersen
Publisher: Outskirts Press, 2007
157 pp $16.95
ISBN: 978-1-4327-3264-6
Wherever today's late-twentysomethings look, we hear the dire warning that The Big Three-Oh is the end of the world, or at least the beginning of the end. Start worrying about wrinkles! Land that promotion! Find a husband quick - OR ELSE! Colette Petersen's 30 Isn't Old dares to ask, "Or else WHAT?"
Unlike most pop-culture "solutions" aimed at women nearing thirty, 30 Isn't Old starts from the premise that thirty is not the beginning of the end, but the end of the beginning. The book follows the choices of several different women who are approaching age thirty, offering glimpses into their lives and collecting the wisdom these women have gained by staring thirty square in the eye. Rather than scaring its readers with horror stories about dead-end jobs and unremitting spinsterdom, 30 Isn't Old uplifts its audience by presenting what, on some level, most of us already know: that "success" is in the eye of the beholder, and that approaching age thirty offers us a prime chance to name our dreams and plant both feet on the path that leads to them.
To explore the meanings of success for real live near-thirty women, 30 Isn't Old divides into five sections: success, marriage, motherhood, career, and spirituality. Within each section, the reader meets a woman who shares her life choices, her fears about turning thirty (if any), and her personal definition of success in each category. Although their backgrounds and positions in work and life varied, these women are surprisingly more alike than different. And not one parroted the dismal prophecies so common in women's magazines. Instead, most of the women described success as enjoying one's life and being proud of one's choices, and most saw themselves already engaged in success as a process rather than an endpoint.
This book is not without its minor faults. The text is packed densely on the page, making for a thin book but one containing a great deal of information. In addition, information from women who live deeply "alternative" lifestyles, particularly women who are homosexual, transgendered, or who hold counter-mainstream religious, social or political beliefs would have enriched this book still further and made it speak to a much wider range of near-thirtysomething women. Nevertheless, Colette Petersen has created an indispensable comfort for any woman about to wave her twenties goodbye.
