Unfortunately, while Ephron is a good writer, I was disappointed in the content - it feels REALLY dated, with a lot about how aging is terrible and being a woman mean being thin, etc. I'm sure it made sense for her, but isn't really what I want to be reading as a modern woman.

CW: Racism, Classism in quotes from the book:

Peak rich white feminism. Redeemed to a two star because the last couple of chapters in particular felt very touching, as well as there being a decent amount of humour throughout the book.

A lot of this however boils down to whining over her money and privilege. She constantly whines about the amount she has to spend on maintaining her appearance into her old age. She whines that she eventually had to move out of her New York 8 bedroom apartment because rent was hitting $10.000 a month (in the NINETIES - that would be about double today). She whines that you're no longer allowed to pass your trauma onto your kids. There was a bizarre chapter about her obsession with Bill Clinton (war criminal).

Honestly even the introduction by Dolly Alderton was as pointless as a chocolate teapot. The majority of it is just quotes from the book that you'll be reading again in 20 minutes because they're in the book. 

There are like 3 really fantastic essays and the rest are uh mediocre at their best and detached and offensive at their worst. Perhaps unsurprisingly, I don't really relate to much of her experiences since I absolutely can not afford a 3k starting rent while she is able to let it ride out to 12k before she has to tap out

Not for every woman, shows a level of rich, white privilege but it is memoirish so it’s about her own problems but not always relatable. Not the type of feminist centered writing I expected but instead looked at the more mundane “issues” Ephron reflected on like how she “had to get her hair and nails done twice a week to feel good.”

Despite the above, it was nice to have a lighter, funny approach to the ideas of womanhood compared to the serious often dark tragedies that comes with being a woman.

Short quick read and quite enjoyable despite some moments of privilege and fatphobia.