Messy Midlife in Books
A divorced middle-aged woman on a cruise featuring a once popular teenage boy band; a man resolved to leaving his wife driving cross-country playing pickup basketball; and a newly divorced writer traveling Italy with her teenage daughter, all wondering: What is next?
Midlife is ripe with dilemma, twists, drama and a deeper understanding that makes for the perfect content for novels but yet was once rarely their focus. These new releases have no shame in sharing the debacles of those in midlife trying to find their footing. Maybe making readers feel a little less isolated or defeated knowing that there are others likely experiencing similar circumstances. The end of a marriage, career or empty nest brings forth a complete transformation wholly unique to midlife. Publishers may have caught on that readers are hungry for them to continue stories of characters experiencing messy midlife.
American Fantasy by Emma Straub
Annie does what maybe most of us only read about board a cruise bound for the Bahamas with her teenage favorite boy-band without her sister who originally planned it. We learn that even those idolized boys of our teens experience the midlife upheavals of every-day-people. But most important we learn that even in midlife it is possible to reconnect to the fever frenzy fun that you may have once experienced dancing your heart out to your favorite boy bands. If anything this is what this book does best, it hands readers the knowledge that the fun ain’t over, yet, even in midlife.
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Straub nails it when she writes:
She was also used to the things that wouldn’t pass—being an aging woman, being a divorced woman, being a woman whose child had grown up and left the nest. When Annie was young, she often wanted to push the fast-forward button—there were so many things she’d wanted to get to—but now she didn’t see anything ahead. There was nothing between here and the end, only time.
Annie may start off the cruise with these sentiments in mind but she quickly gets swept up in the hoopla not allowing for any of her negative feelings to permeate the massive core demand for the teenage fun all the midlife fans once knew. While she isn’t sporting the t-shirts with the boy band’s faces or initially understanding certain crazed fans and the look in their eyes she can’t help but feel the magic of being in the physical presence of her and her sister’s teen crushes. And that is the simplicity of this book. It simply asks the reader to remember that magic.
The Rest of Our Lives by Ben Markovits
Tom is at a crossroads. He resolved to leave his wife who had an affair after his daughter leaves for college. He longs to write a book as opposed to continuing teaching. After dropping his daughter off at college, he is closing the chapter to the hardcore responsibility he once knew of being a parent which was once seemingly the only thing holding their family together. This is a refreshing look at a man in transition recalling his yesteryear dreams that he might not be willing to forget. Yet, when Tom gets sick maybe what held together the family was more complicated than he initially understood. Yes, midlife and aging brings about health issues too.
After being forced to face some serious health issues, Tom seems to redefine his perspective. Maybe he redefines what he needs in a marriage at this point in time. Maybe realizing what that once was is now maybe entirely different. It is a reoccurring theme for characters in midlife to be faced with lots of let downs be it marriage or career. Mostly these main characters experiencing these let downs and transformations are women. Hence it is refreshing to see this novel with a man as the main character experiencing similar circumstances in midlife as well.
Beginning Middle End by Valeria Luiselli
I enjoyed going on a mother-daughter roadtrip with this book but felt the plot a little lacking as have others. It gave me a cozy feeling that I wanted to crawl into but at the same time I guess I also wanted more of a story in the present. The mother in this book is likely the youngest of the main characters within these three books maybe in her 40s newly divorced and dealing with writers block. She takes her daughter on a road trip throughout Europe including a stop in Scilly wherein her great-grandmother was from before migrating to Mexico. All along she is attempting to write a book but is vague about the storyline.
The book looks at midlife from the perspective of family history with the children coming of age but grandparents coming to the end of their lives. The author questions where does the story begin and where does it end. She herself doesn’t necessarily transform instead the reader is taken on a challenging philosophical journey of attempting to define time different than we know it to be. If only we could time travel as the daughter likes to pretend.
Midlife it seems can be one of the most chaotic times in life. I am happy to see publishers get behind more novels exploring its challenges. Whether you think the fun is over, or you’ve yet to accomplish something you haven’t been able to get to yet, or are trying to understand where the story starts and may end these novels ask all the right questions and may assist in inspiring you next path. However, for those in similar midlife transitions you will need to supply your own answers.
