Why We Can't Sleep - Ada Calhoun

Non-Fiction

Rating: 4/10

Bracing, empowering, humorous, reassuring, searing, enlightening; these are just a few of the endorsements quoted in other reviews of this book.  I found it to be absolutely none of these things.

This is a scattershot exploration of a universal burden in the life of human beings, struggles of mid-life. Being in this unenviable demographic I was hoping for some in depth narratives of others that might somehow provide inspiration on how to manage it.  What I got instead was a deluge of facts and references to other sources that skated over the surface without ever really taking a deep dive.

This book focuses on the particular struggles that Gen X women, those between 40-54 years of age, face in middle life.  Which begins with the illusion of being able to have it all and ends with us buckling under the weight of just having some of it. As noted above, this book is drowning in stats but possibly none more important than this; happiness has declined in those reaching middle age, particularly among women. In large part due to us squeezing our needs into the spaces that exist on our massive to do lists and our constant battle for equality.

Trying to follow all the references left me more tired than when I started, which given the subject matter is just a bit on the counterintuitive side.

Footnote: I wish someone would have told me at age eleven, when I proudly put on my “Girls Can Do Anything Boys Can Do” T-shirt that as a life plan, that mission will leave me exhausted.