Breaking Free: Women of Spirit at Midlife and Beyond

by Marilyn Sewell (Editor)

Overview

In twenty-seven personal and daring essays, some of our finest women writers examine the second half of their lives. They grapple with what age and life have taught them, contemplate their experiences, and reflect on where they have arrived. These are writers who get down and dirty, who have looked at themselves as they are, and at life as it is, to discover not only what time has taken from them but also the powerful gifts that only come with age and experience.

Contributors include: Isabel Allende, Maya Angelou, M. F. K. Fisher, China Galland, Vivian Gornick, Germaine Greer, Erica Jong, Audre Lorde, Grace Paley, Alix Kates Shulman, Gloria Steinem, and Terry Tempest Williams.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780807028254
Publisher:	Beacon Press
Publication date:	09/23/2004
Pages:	228
Product dimensions:	6.02(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

The Rev. Dr. Marilyn Sewell is the editor of Claiming the Spirit Within, Cries of the Spirit, Resurrecting Grace and Breaking Free. She is senior minister at the First Unitarian Church in Portland, Oregon. Find her online at www.marilynsewell.com.

Table of Contents

	Introduction	1
Part 1	Necessary Losses
	from Fear of Fifty	9
	Facing	15
	Sink or Swim	19
	What This Old Hand Knows	23
	from Fierce Attachments	26
	from A Good Enough Daughter	38
	Baking Bread with My Daughter	42
	Viriditas in Vinci	45
	Scars: In Four Parts	54
	from The Cancer Journals	61
	Saying Yes, Yes, Always Yes	69
	from The Woman Within	77
Part 2	Breaking Free
	from Aphrodite: A Memoir of the Senses	87
	A Song to Sensuality	93
	from Revolution from Within	96
	from The Change	103
	On Being a Rebellious Old Woman	109
	Upstaging Time	113
	Nana I Ke Ku ... Looking to the Source	123
	The Calling	129
	Mopping the Floor	139
	from The Measure of My Days	150
	Wrestling with My Angel	153
	Fearless	167
	Death of a Mouse	178
	Santa Teresa	183
	In the Hollow That Remains	190
	Acknowledgments	205
	Contributors	207
	Credits	214

Editorial Reviews

As the average age of Americans slowly rises, libraries will need responsive collections. Herrick (Boise: A Global Community in the West) celebrates the collective joys and hard-learned wisdom of femininity in lush, poetic prose that often borders on precious. Although confident ("I am nothing but adrenaline and exuberance"), she does not provide how-to. The final chapter should have come first, as it explains that Herrick can't have children. Bolton used to write jokes for comedic greats Bob Hope and Phyllis Diller; her riffs on life for seniors wouldn't be out of place in the Catskills. Though packed with funny quips and one-liners (e.g., use menopausal hot flashes as an energy source), her book mainly consists of monologs, the last couple of which grow mawkish. On the whole, however, this favorably recalls Erma Bombeck's irreverence. Mayne, the author of several thrillers, has collected the autobiographies of five women who came of age in the 1950s and 1960s. Some were particularly abused, and the flood of misery that their stories unleashes only serves to document how awful life could be for women at that time. Unfortunately, themes of life lessons learned are lost in the mire of broken love stories, childhood horrors, and drunken, philandering husbands. Sewell's anthology is more incisive by comparison, revealing how 27 middle-aged women writers just "be" (as opposed to how they once were and what they took for that). While some of the essays pack a punch, most tend toward mundane, e.g., Dorothy Walls's poignant essay about masking beauty lines behind plastic surgery. Maturity has netted these authors grace, courage, and "meaning deeper than skin," but their messages are all too familiar. There is no lack of feminista-writers-on-writing books, including Jocelyn Burrell's compilation Word: On Being a (Woman) Writer. Geriatric psychologist Solie does an excellent job of debunking the myth that our elders are merely older versions of ourselves. Seniors are undergoing a developmental transition akin to adolescence; practical, effective communication methods are presented to help minimize generational conflict. This, in turn, paves the way for the important work of advocating for (instead of marginalizing) elders, who face a daily struggle for control. Though an age group isn't numerically defined (it's more a life stage), this makes an important contribution to our cultural understanding of "seniors" and is highly recommended for public libraries and professional collections. Bolton's, Herrick's, and Sewell's books are optional; Mayne's is not recommended. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

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