BOOK REVIEW: WOMAN OF A CERTAIN RAGE - Alison

Alison, a Pause & Unite member, Shares her thoughts after reading this book.....

“My name is Alison Lacey I am 51 years old. I had got to the point of my periods being all over the place. 6 months without any. I think I started my peri-menopause around the time my youngest started school at about age 45. I was exhausted all the time. I would go to sleep on the bus on the way home and I was catastrophising all the time and anxious. If something went wrong it was the end of the world and I would have panic attacks!

I did not seek help I just got on with it believing it was what it was like to be a mum of 2 and having a Dad who needed reassurance who was on his own. Previous to the birth of my 2 children I had a still-birth Matthew and lost my mum. It's been 15 years ago now since I lost Matthew less than a year later my mum. Then 2 children followed. I have since lost my Dad.

I am now on HRT - Femoston tablets having a period of sorts once a month for the past 3 months. I think it has made me better, but it is early days.”

The Book

'Woman of a Certain Rage' is fiction, however steeped in the realities of the menopause it describes hot flushes and how it sends you a little mad! I enjoyed the story even if the symptoms described were stereotypical. It does make you feel like you are not on your own in experiencing family life, my own family are a little younger than hers although the youngest is the same age as my youngest but it is the layers of problems and what we have to deal with while our hormones are raging, that ring true.

You feel empathy with Ella Finch, as there are similarities that are common to some.
The loss of libido sex appeal being invisible, their mentions of flushes etc, things that are real, but a non fiction book does not get you to “feel” like a fiction book does.

The main thing is that it is funny and she does some crazy things, if you want something that is an easy read after finishing all the factual books but is still about what we are experiencing as a woman of a certain rage, this is the book for you.

It has inspired me to perhaps have the confidence and not to overthink too much and to be myself.! I have decided not to overthink things and do them - That things will go wrong if they are going to go wrong but worrying about them is not the way forward.

Fiction is often a good way to discuss what marriage is like in menopause and sex without someone having to give away information about their own sex life or lack of it!

Hopefully we are not invisible and we are noticed and it is ok to be Mad!"

Visit Woman Of A Certain Rage page for more information and details on how to buy this book.

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