Book Review

How Did I Get to be 40 and Other Atrocities

by Judith Viorst

This is a book that's been sitting on my shelf for just over a year after turning 40 in 2010. It seemed an appropriate enough book to get at that point. After reading it, I wished I had gotten it sooner since I can long relate to so many of Viorst's poems.

The first poem entitled "The Truth" starts out,

"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."

It ends with,

"But the truth is
That the next time around,
I still wouldn't."

The less ambitious among us, myself included, can definitely relate to this sentiment!

My other favorite poem is called "Mid Life Crisis" and ends with this stanza,

"While I was thinking I was just a girl,
My future turned into my past.
The time for wild kisses goes fast and it's
Time for Sanka.
Already?"

I really love the line, "My future turned into my past." It's so haunting and so true.

Those of us who struggle to stay thin can relate to "Eating my Heart Out."

"Misery knocks me off my feet,
But never off my feed.
And the lump in my throat is concealed
By my double chin.
Misery piques my appetite.
Such help I didn't need.
I only wish that happiness
Made me thin."

There are more wonderful examples in this treasury of poetry that I can't recommend highly enough to my sisters out there - both young and old.