Steamy: A Menopause Symptomology

by Susan Holbrook

Hot (flash) takes, symptom by symptom, of The Steamy is a raucous menopause memoir.




Steamy explores the cascading list of symptoms people can face when going through The Change (including 2. Hot Flashes, 21. Anxiety, and 45. Fewer Shits). In this comic memoir, Holbrook opens up an experience still constrained by cultural silences and myths. Steamy is honest, vulnerable, gross, and might just be the funniest book you’ve ever read about menopause, or anything else (see 37. Bloating).




With bonus tear-out fan!

128 pages, Paperback

Published April 1, 2025

About the author

Born in 1967, Susan Holbrook is a Canadian poet and professor. Holbrook received her B.A.from the University of Victoria, and her M.A.from the University of Calgary. She teaches North American literatures and Creative Writing at the University of Windsor, in Ontario.

Susan Holbrook’s teaching, research and writing is propelled by her interests in contemporary poetry and poetics, Canadian literature, American Modernism, gender studies, and creative writing. She is poetry editor for Coach House press. She is currently working on a poetry manuscript (Throaty Wipes, forthcoming in 2016), and an edition of Daphne Marlatt’s collected poetry.

Reviews

[Erika Hunter · Rating 4 out of 5]

this memoir contains the sharpness to satisfy my female rage, but also an ambivalence that motivates me to push beyond that rage, an ambivalence that I would without a doubt call feminist

[Amyj]

Menopause…..You gotta laugh or you will cry!

[Mike Broderick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to the publisher and Edelweiss for the advance copy of this book. Not my usual book, but this is a book every man should read. Understanding the women in our lives and what their bodies are doing is good for every relationship. This is a 3.5 for me.
The way the author put this together was interesting and funny. I like how nine of the chapters are long and drawn out. I also like the connections she made to her own life and history when discussing each of the symptoms.

[Nichole Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book made me laugh (out loud) and cry. Really enjoyed being immersed in it. Thank you for this beautiful memoir and resource!