WHATEVER HAPPENED TO CINDERELLA?

by Flo & Sally Rathvon Frankel ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 27, 1980

True Confessions in the aftermath of feminism: 25 women in their forties and fifties talk about their lousy husbands, their problematic kids, marriage, affairs, divorce, and survival--and from this we can just barely make out social trends we already knew about. Most of the witnesses were married young to men who treated them as inferiors, denied them emotional closeness, or didn't care whether they reached orgasm; and only after 20 or 30 years and the onset of women's liberation did they, almost to a woman, throw the bums out or demand more. At this point, most discovered some heretofore untapped magnificent potential (they went back to school to become teachers, began writing, etc.) and usually accepted aging as part of their identity. Many, too, survived unhappy childhoods (where one parent may have been lost, another a drunk, another a child batterer); but they kept on going, and one gets the impression they will keep on going for a long time. The women were chosen, however, by a highly suspect system: they were part of a larger group (of 56) who responded to a newspaper ad for interviewees (""Purpose: understanding successes and failures of passage through middle age""). In no way can 56 such respondents be considered typical; indeed, the similarities in their backgrounds and outlooks suggests that persons with extreme backgrounds may be most prone to expose themselves. And, similarly, only those at the end of their ropes will find much to identify with here.

Pub Date: June 27, 1980

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: St. Martin's

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1980

Categories: NONFICTION