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    Revenge of the Middle-Aged Woman: A Novel
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    Revenge of the Middle-Aged Woman: A Novel
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    Revenge of the Middle-Aged Woman: A Novel
    Audiobook10 hours

    Revenge of the Middle-Aged Woman: A Novel

    Written by Elizabeth Buchan

    Narrated by Joanna David

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    The coming-of-middle-age story a whole generation of women have been waiting for...poised, witty, and emotionally resonantFor twenty-five years, Rose Lloyd has juggled marriage, motherhood, and career with remarkable success. It has been a life of family picnics, books and wine, a cherished house, and her own exquisitely designed garden-sunny and comfortable. But then the carefully managed life to which Rose has become accustomed comes crashing down around her when-over the course of a few days-her marriage and her career both fall apart.Can Rose, whose anguish is barely softened by the ministrations of friends and grown children with their own problems, ever start over? Not easily. But it's amazing what prolonged reflection, the slimming effect of a lost appetite, a new slant on independence (and a little Parisian lingerie) will do. Especially when an old flame suddenly reappears.Full of humor, clever insight, and a whimsical sense of the absurd, Revenge of the Middle-Aged Woman is an irresistible and finely written fantasy for anyone who ever wondered what a certain age would look like from beyond the looking-glass-and who will find it ripe with promise that the best days are yet to come.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateJan 20, 2011
    ISBN9781101432402
    Unavailable
    Revenge of the Middle-Aged Woman: A Novel

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    Reviews for Revenge of the Middle-Aged Woman

    3.5/5

    236 ratings25 reviews

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 3/5
      fun, easy read
    • 4/5
      There were parts of this book that I really liked but I felt like the story as a whole was inconsistent and the main character wasn't fully believable to me. I did like the way the book ended and what went around came around.
    • 1/5
      Rose Lloyd, book editor for a London paper, is (she thinks) happily married to Nathan, an executive editor on the same paper, and the mother of two adult children, Sam and Poppy. Her life is probably as good as it gets, and though Rose isn’t complacent, she is certainly unprepared for the betrayals about to implode her life. Nathan announces he’s leaving and moving in with her trusted assistant, the younger and sexier Minty. Reeling, she learns next that she’s to be replaced as editor by Minty because her boss wants someone younger, with new ideas, running the book section. Her woes mount as she hears that her mother needs surgery and Nathan is no longer paying her medical insurance. Her much loved cat dies, daughter Poppy e-mails from Thailand that’s she’s married hippie boyfriend Richard, and Nathan also wants their house for him and Minty. A bitter blow, because Rose has loved fixing it up and making a beautiful garden. At first she weeps, wonders where she went wrong, can’t eat, drinks too much. But then she begins to fight back. She visits a college friend in Paris who makes her buy some sexy clothes, is given some interesting jobs, is befriended by a Cabinet Minister who’s been hurt by a scandal caused by his mentally ill wife, and meets up again with her first love, American Rhodes scholar Hal Thorne, now a famous travel writer. As she recalls how she met and parted from Hal, she learns that Nathan is finding life with Minty more complicated than he’d expected and that he misses his family. With her children making interesting changes in their lives, Rose is ready for a few herself. This book had so much potential and, being from a British writer, I had high hopes for some great British wit peppered throughout. For me, this novel fell very flat, was predictable and cliched. There must be a way to tell these types of stories that aren't: a) so predictable and b) written for the lowest common denominator. I was so divested from the story that the last third of the book was really a slogging skim-a-thon.I received this book from a friend (a hand-me-down) and, while I recognized it was outside my usual type of reading, held out hope because of the British-ness and the strong reviews I had read about it. This will teach me for reading a book that has trees on the cover (a task requirement fulfilled for the "Seasonal Reading Challenge").I wouldn't recommend this novel, even as a light, beach-read. It's just not worth it.
    • 3/5
      Predictable contemporary realistic fiction about a woman who loses her husband and her job to her assistant at work.
    • 3/5
      Even though I got lost a few times in the flashbacks, I enjoyed this book. A nice journey through the humiliating loss and betrayal that Rose feels when her husband leaves her for a younger woman. I've never been there and don't anticipate ever being there, but it reminded me how important it is to never become so comfortable that you take things for granted. Every relationship needs to continue to grow and change in order to stay strong.
    • 4/5
      Rose Lloyd, a 40-something London newspaper book reviewer, is simultaneously dumped by her husband of 25 years and has her job taken by his mistress, who also happens to be Rose's 29 year-old assistant (with the execrable name of Minty). I expected from the title that there would be some sort of revenge ala The First Wives Club, but no. Rose's revenge is more like validation, when her erring husband's new relationship is not all wine and roses. The way Rose is so wrapped up in her garden and many unfamiliar British slang words may be off-putting for American readers. I also thought the beginning was slow, it seemed like a long setup before the action started, but overall a pretty good read.
    • 4/5
      I really think this is quite a good book. It's not just chick lit - to tag it that way does give you some idea of the feel of the story, but it goes way deeper than 95% of that genre. What I like about this book is the way it gives the reader some idea of the complexity of real relationships under threat and in breakdown mode. Of course they're all different, but none is a simple case of one person being 'right' and the other 'wrong'....although we are being presented a story of a hetero couple in which the man is more 'wrong' than the woman, and the split is initiated by him. I was interested to read about how the (grown up) children responded, and it struck me that my own children could easily respond in similar ways. They correctly see that neither parent is perfect and do wish to maintain their adult relationships with both parents. And of course, they go on to repeat their parents' mistakes in some sense. There's humor here, but not the sort of humor that detracts from the seriousness of the story element. I was never bored with this book, and, despite the warnings that her follow-ups are not as good, I've started reading the sequel, which is a story from the point of view of the man's second partner.
    • 4/5
      The politer term for this would be Domestic Fiction. It's a type, but one I enjoy for some reason, and a well-done example of the genre. A book review editor in London is surprised when her husband leaves her -- and for whom is part of the surprise and shock. How she gets on with her life is the story.
    • 4/5
      A great story, based in Britian, about 2 women and how their lives are sharply desected when one of them has an affair with the other ones husband. A quirkly, chic lit that makes you want to take sides in this easy to read book by Elizabeth Buchan.
    • 4/5
      There’s a cute little used bookstore in the middle of Nebraska that I love to visit whenever I see relatives there, and I couldn’t resist picking this book up when I saw it in the shop. It looked, and was, perfect for airplane reading, and best of all, I think I only paid $2.50 for it. And, hey, don’t tell anyone, but I am middle-aged.Rose Lloyd is a woman who has lost her husband and job and is facing an uncertain future. Her mother also has health problems. She faces all her troubles one day at a time, though, and gradually her life gets back to a new normal. Meanwhile, her ex-husband is finding that a new girlfriend might not be exactly the bliss he thought it would.I enjoyed this one more than my rating would suggest, but it is a pretty lightweight read. Recommended for women facing similar crises in their lives.
    • 5/5
      Still one of my all-time favorite books!
    • 4/5
      Annie and Tom share a house in London, but not a bed. Ever since their eldest daughter, Mia, huffed out five years previous with radical boyfriend in tow, things have never been the same. Annie blames Tom; Tom immerses himself his job with the BBC; neither is willing to bridge the ever widening gap. But their silent domain is about to get a lot noisier. Tom loses his job and seems to have nothing to do but putter around the house lamenting his bad luck. Youngest daughter, Emily, lives upstairs while she attempts (unsuccessfully) to write a novel. Then Tom’s outspoken mother, Hermione, moves in when the funds to pay for care at the nursing home dry up. And when son, Jake, finds himself without a wife and solely responsible for his young daughter, he shows up on Tom and Annie’s doorstep seeking refuge. With all the bedrooms taken up, Tom is forced to move back into the spousal bedroom…and confront the separation head on.Elizabeth Buchan’s latest novel once again explores middle-age relationships, as well as parenting, with humor and insight into how love changes over time, especially if it is not nurtured. Emily, perhaps, best captures the sadness which accompanies estrangement when she muses that love “had nothing to do with reason and everything to do with mayhem, which left you sad and damaged.” But, although the book takes a hard look at love, it also allows for redemption and healing.Another major theme of the novel revolves around the recent economic crisis and the loss of security and stability. All the characters are dealing with loss of some sort, and the economic crash is symbolic of the fear and insecurity that comes with loss.I didn’t love the characters in Separate Beds – Tom was whiney, Annie almost too pulled together, Jake was weak, and Emily came off as a bit of a spoiled brat. But I did enjoy Hermione – a fiercely independent woman who must now depend on others as her health declines.Through the glass, she appeared more diminished than he remembered from the last visit. When he was small, she had always been whippet thin, but strong, and a Turkish cigarette would have been in evidence when she played her cards (smoked fastidiously down to the stub). – from Separate Beds, page 71 -The novel is not without its flaws – namely the glacially slow pace of the plot. Buchan includes the minutest of details of the Nicholson family’s lives and depends on their daily interactions with each other to carry the story. Most of the characters are unhappy or struggling with the changes in their lives, but inertia seems to claim them all – mostly they internalize their struggles and remain coldly polite with each other. There were times in the novel I wanted to see more emotion.I thoroughly enjoyed Buchan’s previous novel Revenge of the Middle-Aged Woman, so I was surprised I did not love Separate Beds, which left me oddly unsatisfied at its conclusion. That said, I think this is a novel which will appeal to women in their middle years who may see themselves in Annie, a competent woman who struggles to balance her role as wife and mother, and wonders why she is not happier.
    • 4/5
      This book was great fun! A Reading Romp for woman of a certain age.
    • 3/5
      I enjoyed this book, but it took awhile to get into it. It's the old story of a middle-aged career woman with ambitious husband and two grown children and what happens to her life when she is "traded-in" for a trophy wife and sacked at work so her department can be taken in a "younger fresher" direction. She goes through the usual mourning stages - denial, anger, etc. - and survives with the help of her friends, children and the reintroduction of a past love interest.The writing is solid. I liked the dipping back into memories to inform the present and the author's complex development of her female characters. This is more than "chicklit." The male characters are less developed and more stereotypical. Women who have gone through this will delight in the "revenge" aspect of this novel. Women who haven't will sympathize.
    • 1/5
      The best thing about this book is the title. Middle-aged woman is abandoned by her husband for m-a-w's (very youthful) assistant. I missed the revenge of the title. Don't waste your time.
    • 4/5
      At the beginning of the book is an old Spanish proverb, which reads, "The best revenge is a life well lived". This sums up the book perfectly. This book is not about getting revenge, it is about a woman whose life is shattered in many areas, and yet she manages to get through it and go on. Ultimately, she is the better for it. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and have read it more than once. Anybody who has ever been "dumped" will especially appreciate it.
    • 3/5
      I realized early on that this was a book I had previously started, then skimmed, because I didn't really like it. Amazingly, I listened to the whole thing again. It was better in audio, because the British reader's imitation of all the voices, including an American accent, was interesting. Pretty stupid story though. Another non-assertive woman.
    • 4/5
      Taken completely by surprise, Rose Lloyd lost both her job and husband to a younger woman in their office. After twenty-five years of juggling marriage, motherhood and career, Rose now is faced with the prospects of putting her life back together. Factor in an old flame from her past, complications in the lives of her children and the prospects of moving out of the house she has grown to love and she now has a lot to think about. Likable characters and a well-crafted story with good lessons learned. Despite there was no "revenge", sometimes the best revenge is merely having the good character not to demand it.
    • 2/5
      There WAS no revenge. UGH. This woman gets walker over thru out the whole book! She is way too nice and wimpy! Drives ya nuts! And way to nice to everyone! including the ex-hubby and his mistress.5/21/03
    • 5/5
      The title of this book is misleading. It makes you think you are going to read an all fluff chick-lit kind of book. What you find instead is a tender portrayal of a woman going through major upheaval in a life that she had no conscious desire to change. The book is beautifully written and thought-provoking, with a good message about how anyone can reinvent themselves at any age and thrive, even if the changes are forced as a result of something unwelcome happening. The main character, Rose, is very believable, and she grows on you as the story unfolds. The other major characters are also well-developed, with the exception of the "home-wrecker" Minty, who was a bit too one-dimensional. She works nicely as a villian though. A very enjoyable read!
    • 4/5
      What I liked about this book is that she really didn't take revenge. The revenge was serendipitous, the outworking of the consequences of the people who betrayed her.
    • 3/5
      Rose Lloyd loses her husband and her job in the same week…to the same woman…her former assistant. At first, she is devastated and angry by her losses. As her children and friends rally around her, she begins to take stock of her life and realizes that life still offers many options, even an old flame. It takes a little work to get into this due to the strong British "flavor" of the book. Once accustomed to the British jargon, readers will begin to identify with Rose and root forn her prevail.
    • 5/5
      Really liked this book alot. Listened via CD from the library. They also had a TV version which was OK, book much better.
    • 4/5
      I was infuriated at Rosie for not fighting. She didn't yell, scream, or pitch a fit about losing her husband and job to Minty. If there is one thing I hate it's a woman acting like a door mat. But Rosie didn't act like a door mat. She fought when she needed too and gave in when she felt like it. She picked up the pieces of her battered heart and went on living. In the end she became a stronger woman then Minty will ever be no matter how often she goes to the gym.
    • 5/5
      A real inspiration to women who have gone through the same, or similar, experience. Quite enjoyable reading, pleasant and well written.