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A Round-Heeled Woman - Jane Juska

Description: ISBN 0099466708 / Author: Jane Juska / Genre: Biography / 'Before I turn 67 - next March - I would like to have a lot of sex with a man I ... more

A Round-Heeled Woman - Jane Juska ... like. If you want to talk first, Trollope works for me.' - Small ad in the New York Review of Books'Round-heeled' is an old-fashioned term for a promiscuous woman of easy virtue. It's a surprising way for a respectable English teacher of a certain age, with a passion for the novels of Anthony Trollope, to describe herself, but then that's just the first of many surprises to be found in this poignant, funny, unique memoir. Inspired by Eric Rohmer's film Autumn Tale, Jane Juska, a smart, energetic divorc-e, decided she'd been celibate too long, and placed a personal ad in her favourite newspaper, The New York Review of Books. The response was overwhelming, and Juska took a sabbatical from teaching to meet some of the men who replied. And since her ad made it clear that she wasn't expecting just hand-holding, her dates zipped from first base to the full monty in record time. Juska is a totally engaging, perceptive writer, funny and frank about her exploits. It's high time someone revealed the fact that older single people are as eager for sex and intimacy as their younger counterparts. Jane Juska's brave, honest memoir will probably raise eyebrows and blood pressure, but it will undoubtedly appeal to the very large audience of grown-up readers who will be fascinated and inspired by her daring adventure.

Newest Review: ... is old slang for promiscuous - think about it, if your heels were round, you'd always be falling over backwards! It has been ... more

... marketed very much as a sex memoir, which is a shame as it is the romantic and sexual elements of Juska's story which are the most disappointing. Juska's adventures with men are the least compelling elements of her story. It's beautifully written, interesting, and emotionally involving, but any excitement I felt about Juska's love life was dwarfed by the other stories she tells. I was most interested in and found the most memorable her experiences teaching creative writing to men in a prison, and in New York City. ...more

Read Reviews for A Round-Heeled Woman - Jane Ju...

A Round-Heeled Woman - Jane Juska: Falling over backwards, but a lot about books (272 words)
by - written on 17/09/08 (Very useful, 51 readings)
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This is the memoir of Jane Juska's experiences after she placed a personal ad in The New York Review of Books that read as follows: "Before I turn 67 - next March - I would like to have a lot of sex with a man I like. If you want to talk first, Trollope works for me." Round-heeled is old slang for promiscuous - think about it, if your heels were round, you'd always be falling over backwards! It has been marketed very much as a sex memoir, which is a shame as it is the romantic and sexual elements of Juska's story which are the most disappointing. Juska's adventures with men are the least compelling elements of her story. It's beautifully written, ... Read the complete review

Sex for the over Sixties? Not a Lot! (966 words)
by - written on 31/08/07 (Very useful, 445 readings)
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“Before I turn 67 - next March – I would like to have a lot of sex with a man I like. If you want to talk first, Trollope works for me.” So ran Jane Juska’s personal ad. in her favourite journal, “ The New York Review of Books” and it is here that her tale begins. The term “ round-heeled woman” apparently means a woman of easy virtue. This together with the subtitle, “My Late–Life Adventures in Sex and Romance” suggests a titillating read, especially for ladies of a certain age, but does this live up to such a promising opening? A friend handed this book to me as a gift after she had felt unable to get to grips with it and I was more than happy to take ... Read the complete review

A Round-Heeled Woman - Jane Juska: Not Well Rounded (1064 words)
by - written on 05/01/06 (Very useful, 531 readings)
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I don’t know whether there are more books around about people’s sex lives, or if I’m just running into more of them than I used to. (I nearly put “coming across” in that last sentence, but that would have provided an unpleasant and totally inaccurate image, so I thought better of it). In the last twelve months I have read supposed biographies and one work of fiction about women working as prostitutes in both London and New York, a male prostitute in 1970s Los Angeles and a woman who hadn’t had sex for three years. Whilst these books were varied in quality, explicitness and enjoyability, they all had one thing in common. The people involved, whether real or ... Read the complete review