Not Well Rounded (A Round-Heeled Woman - Jane Juska)

Member Name: IainWear

Product:	A Round-Heeled Woman - Jane Juska
Date:	05/01/06 (543 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Well Written

Disadvantages: No Story

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 just a fictional character, were all relatively young. In only one of the books was the main character over 30 and then only just. Maybe the older generation don’t have sex or they’re a little more prudish about telling the world when they do.

That was what I believed, anyway. Until I discovered Jane Juska’s “Round Heeled Woman”, which explains the difference between her book and these others by being subtitled “My Late-Life Adventures in Sex and Romance”. This could either prove to be a more mature outlook, or slightly unnerving in the same way that you don’t like to think about your parents still having sex.

Jane Juska is a California resident and semi-retired English teacher. Finding herself no longer working full-time, her mind turns to the one thing she missed out on for a lot of her life, having been divorced for thirty years or so and celibate for much of that period. Now in her mid sixties, she decides that it is about time she returned to the world of sex and puts an advert in the New York Review of books, wondering if any man would want to have sex with a woman of advanced age.

What follows is essentially the story of Jane’s life from this point on, mixed in with bits about her past life and how she came to be in the situation she finds herself in and describes. She tells us of her upbringing in a small town, her adult life and her love life up until and including her divorce. Looking forwards, she covers her present life from before placing the advert, the replies she received and what she then did about them.

It’s a very well written book. As an English teacher for many years, I suspect that Juska has been exposed to many examples of fine writing and has quite possibly learned from many of them. There are some very poetic phrases dotted about here and there and some well thought out descriptions. It’s a fairly simply written book, but it’s a joy to read. Or it would be, were it not for one thing.

For all the pretty words, it’s not a story worth telling. The sub title of the book is misleading, as there is little sex and even less romance here, despite what has been hoped for. The parts about her past read very much like Juska is trying to settle a score against her past. The feeling is less that she is looking to the future, more trying to dispel her past and drag herself out of something of a rut after so many years trapped in it.

This really is therapy for the author down on paper. Whilst I’m sure she got something out of it, I certainly didn’t. Maybe, having read so much about other people’s sex lives up until now, I was expecting more than someone of the author’s age could deliver. Equally, however, some of the choices made were unwise and it appears that the author is quite a weak character who is so eager to find something other than what she has that she’ll do just about anything to improve the situation. It’s a case of believing the grass is greener elsewhere and setting off to have a look, but only checking the edge of the field and not heading out to the middle to see if it’s any different out there.

Whether the author found the satisfaction she sought is something best left for the reader to find out. The reader themselves is unlikely to end up satisfied, however, as there is such a trial to get there. It’s nicely written, but nicely written nothing is still nothing. This is a book that can bring unexpected delight in bits and pieces – a phrase here and a sentence there, but the novel as a whole is hardly worth reading for them, as they are few and far between.

I fail to see quite who might get any joy from a book such as this. It’s a disappointment for anyone who, like me, has been reading this kind of real life sex novels and biographies, as there’s not enough of either life or sex for this to be worthwhile. It’s not for those who like chick-lit, as Juska seems too old and too tired to be a chick and it doesn’t have the same level of activity and excitement that many chick-lit novels have. Even those who generally like biographies will be disappointed, as it’s not enough of a life to be worth writing about. The only admirable thing here is the bravery of a sixty something woman to write about her life and to even place the advert in the first place. If you feel you can admire that, then maybe this would be for you.

Unlike many, “A Round Heeled Woman” doesn’t even have the saving grace of being dirt cheap and so you can read it without feeling you’ve wasted money. Although copies are on the Amazon Marketplace from £1.00, even eBay has a cheapest of £4.49 and Green Metropolis a price of £3.75. The prices elsewhere are heading upwards towards the WHSmith price of £6.39 and Amazon’s £7.99, which are ridiculously expensive for something so lacking.

The writing shows how books like this should be written. The contents show why many of them should never be published.

Summary: Sex Lives of the Over 60s