Midlife Bites: Anyone Else Falling Apart, or Is It Just Me?

When Mann (People I Want to Punch in the Throat)—a self-proclaimed “late bloomer,” blogger, and suburban mom—hit her mid-40s, she began to wonder if she was having a midlife crisis: “is that it?”­ she asked herself, “Was watching the entire series of Friends twice really worth it?” In this snarky yet sincere account, she worries that her problems are first world in nature, but her struggles with marriage, money, health problems, and a culture that focuses on women as caretakers but then discards them when their nests become empty will ring as quite real to many readers of her set. Witnessing the self-care boom (and predictable backlash), Mann eschews yoga and meditation in favor of “reading [a range of genres], writing, and napping” as her route to becoming “more empathetic and open minded.” Mann is at her sharpest in storytelling anecdotes (such as the distracted “pat” her ob-gyn offers with the news that perimenopausal emotional dysregulation may last five to 15 years), but is decidedly less so when dispensing the flip prescriptive “Jen’s Gems” (such as “definitely try crying alone in the garage”). This lighthearted manual feels like a friend to chat with in the corner at an overwhelming party. Erin Niumata & Steve Troha, Folio Literary Management. (Jan.)