The Big M: 13 Writers Take Back the Story of Menopause

Novelist and memoirist Yuknavitch (Reading the Waves) presents moving essays on the many shades of menopause from a blockbuster lineup of writers, including Julia Alvarez, Roxane Gay, and Cheryl Strayed. The pieces highlight the secrecy and shame typically associated with the end of one’s reproductive years, position the biological transition as a rite of passage that signals a new stage of life, and critique the pressure put on women to keep the signs of aging at bay. Strayed delivers a meditation on living longer than her mother, who died at 45, reflecting that, throughout the hot flashes, brain fog, and insomnia brought on by perimenopause, “I never forgot my luck. What a gift it was, to simply be there.” In “Finding Meno: Little Clowns,” Monica Drake juxtaposes the indignities of divorce court with the discomforts of menopausal symptoms to illustrate how patriarchal systems cause women to loathe their bodies and themselves. Yuknavitch caps off the collection with “Transmogrify,” in which she compares aging to the magical transformations that happen to characters in fairy tales, encouraging readers to view menopause as a “portal” to a place where “we can be anything.” These penetrating and lyrical reflections bring serious cultural analysis to a historically taboo subject. Readers experiencing menopause will find solidarity and hope. (Jan.)