More News on Confessions of a forty-something f##k-up by Alexandra Potter

I make no apology for returning to this book for midlife women. It is the brightest light into the world of midlife women and their difficulties that I have come across – ever!

It doesn’t set out to apologise for the midlife transition, tell you how to improve it, or even see it more positively. Instead, its motto would be ‘Tell it As It Is!’, so that other midlife women can see that their challenges are shared by most women in this age group.
For those who missed my last post on the book ‘Confessions of a Forty-something f##k=up’ by Alexandra Potter, the story is of a 40-something-old woman who comes back to London after having a failed romantic relationship and business in the US, with no accommodation, no money and no job. She finds her friends and contemporaries have moved on and now have husbands, children and nice homes, while she feels inadequate because she has none of these.

However slowly it emerges that these dream lifestyles are not so great beneath the surface, The women particularly face the pressure to keep up appearances to meet the expectations of their peers and social media. Meanwhile, they are having to deal with demanding children, work pressures and absentee husbands.
At one point the comparison is made with ducks who appear to swim serenely along but under the surface are paddling away like mad. Everyone feels their peers are doing better than they are when the reality is, nearly all of them feel inadequate and would say (I quote) ‘I don’t know what the f**k I am doing!’
The story is told in a series of podcasts which are beautifully crafted and will have you laughing and crying in equal measure. The story itself may not be true but what is true is the portrayal of the incidents and feelings that most midlife women experience during this turbulent period of their lives.
What is also refreshing is the way Alexandra Potter includes the candour and blueness of the conversation between the women which only happens in real life when there are no men around to be shocked or offended.I listened to the audio version from Audible on my phone while driving and exercising and found it very enjoyable. I would strongly recommend it to any midlife woman who feels their life is not as good as she expected it to be once they reach 40 plus.Here is the link direct to Amazon