“A funny, seasoned take on dashed illusions.”—O Magazine “I love everything Meredith Maran writes. She is insightful, funny, and human, and the things she writes about matter to me deeply. Her memoir, The New Old Me, is a book I don’t just want to read—I need to read it. So does everyone else who’s getting older and wants to live fully, with immediacy and enjoyment, which is to say, everyone.”… enjoyment, which is to say, everyone.”—Anne Lamott, author of Hallelujah Anyway
For readers of Anne Lamott, Abigail Thomas, and Ayelet Waldman comes one woman’s lusty, kickass, post-divorce memoir of starting over at 60 in youth-obsessed, beauty-obsessed Hollywood.
After the death of her best friend, the loss of her life’s savings, and the collapse of her once-happy marriage, Meredith Maran leaves her San Francisco freelance writer’s life for a 9-to-5 job in Los Angeles. Determined to rebuild not only her savings but also herself while relishing the joys of life in La-La land, Maran writes “a poignant story, a funny story, a moving story, and above all an American story of what it means to be a woman of a certain age in our time” (Christina Baker Kline, number-one New York Times–bestselling author of Orphan Train).
Praise for The New Old Me:
“High time we had a book that celebrates becoming an elder! Meredith Maran writes of the difficulties of loss and change and aging, but makes it clear that getting on can be more interesting, more fun, and a lot more exciting than youth.”—Abigail Thomas, author of the New York Times bestseller What Comes Next and How to Like It
“By turns poignant and funny, the book not only shows how one feisty woman coped with a ‘Plan B life’ she didn’t want or expect with a little help from her friends. It also celebrates how she transformed uncertainty into a glorious opportunity for continued late-life personal growth. A spirited and moving memoir about how ‘it’s never too late to try something new.’”—Kirkus
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What a gutsy, intelligent, curious, loving woman to travel the far corners of civilization with a backpack filled with the children’s books she wrote to share along the way. She is the polar opposite of a “tourist” in foreign lands, staying and helping in strangers homes, in remote villages, long enough to be considered family.
my favorite book in a LONG time — couldn’t put it down and i actually wish I were RL friends with this woman — a rarity for me ~
Fun to read!
I am over 50 and it was nice to see a woman “of a certain age” reinventing herself. My daughter lives near her and I could really imagine myself in the main characters point of view. I have walked down some of those streets. Sometimes life throws you a curve ball. It’s nice to hear about someone who keeps swinging at it.
The writing was good. While I admired the author’s openness & honesty; her neediness and self-involvement got tiresome.
Somewhat self-indulgent, but as the author describes herself as a bit of a narcissist, it was not surprising. I enjoyed her writing, just couldn’t relate to much of her angst and neediness. It sounded like she had a pretty enviable life- lots of friends, creative successful career, lovely home. I found myself rolling my eyes and noting how she should be counting her many blessings. So her “one true love” didn’t work out. Boo hoo. Women in general need to start growing more resilience and strength and quit dwelling on some romantic ideal that rarely materializes or lasts.
I’m recently starting over after a divorce and I am also in my later years. I shared many of her thoughts, emotions, fears and challenges. It was nice to feel like I’d found a friend that “knew” how I felt. It made me think about my choices for the future and my acceptance of the presence.
Aging lonely woman professional in new location/job/relationships is a great theme to explore but the ever-present heavy LGBT slant narrowed its perspective too much; the author is a talented writer who strikes a great balance between serious life themes and lighter day-to-day moments, but her somewhat late in life (post-husband and children) sexual preference shift seemed to predominate her every action nd thought
Boring and whiney. Stopped after 15 pages
I would not recommend this book. Not interested in reading about the trials and tribulations of lesbian relationships.
Interesting to read a different kind of memoir. Very hopeful that she was able to reinvent herself and find herself again. I think a lot of women could relate to her story.
Enjoyed, but for a select group.
Pedestrian thoughts, uninspired writing. No wisdom or charm, just the journey of a woman who breaks up and then starts exercising and making friends and carrying on with her life. A little humorous now and then but mostly banal, no real insight to be found except fairly obvious and hardly universal moments of discovery about herself. Name dropping, LA worshipping, doesn’t hold a candle to the bittersweet personal writings of someone like Abigail Thomas. And the constant mention of “my wife” gets a bit old., makes her ex-partner sound like more of a lost possession than a dearly missed person. Didn’t finish the book out of indifference–didn’t hate it, just didn’t care. Hopefully it ends with her finding a job, a lover and a place to live just like the vast majority of sentient beings strive to do.
Great ideas about how to jump start your life
True life story of an aging 1960’s generation writer
It wasn’t at all what I thought it was going to be. Just not for me so I didn’t finish but I could see where others might like the book