The Breaking Point: How Female Midlife Crisis Is Transforming Today's Women

by Sue Shellenbarger

In the tradition of The Second Shift , a groundbreaking work that identifies and explains the phenomenon poised to redefine our culture

When Sue Shellenbarger wrote about her midlife crises in her award-winning Wall Street Journal Work & Family column, the volume and emotional intensity of the responses from her readers was stunning. As she heard story after story of middle-aged women radically changing course in search of greater fulfillment, a trend began to an entire generation of women was experiencing the tumultuous transition of midlife in ways not seen before.

To capture this paradigm shift, Shellenbarger combines original research data and interviews with more than fifty women who've navigated their own midlife crisis. Long stereotyped as the province of men, today the midlife crisis is reported with greater frequency by women than men. Emboldened by the financial independence to act upon midlife desires, exhausted by decades of playing supermom and repressing the feminine sides of themselves to succeed at work, women are shedding the age roles of the past in favor of new pursuits in adventure, sports, sex, romance, education, and spirituality. And in the process they are rewriting all the rules.

Beyond defining a new phenomenon, The Breaking Point shows how various options women use to cope with the turmoil of midlife-from playing it safe to dynamiting their lives-have a profound impact on their families, careers, and our culture at large. Provocative, insightful, and resonant, The Breaking Point is sure to be one of the most controversial and talked-about publications of 2005.

Genres: Womens, Psychology, Nonfiction

288 pages, Hardcover

First published April 6, 2005

Reviews

[Vicki Hill · Rating 4 out of 5]

hey women in menopause...if you think you're going crazy...maybe your experiencing both menopause and a mid-life crisis....is that the definition of CRAZY? This book was really helpful to me in not feeling so alone on this "stinking journey" through mid-life...(the book was great while reading it...but your body still does what it wants to..and sometimes the mind follows:(

[Susie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sue Shellenbarger's daughter was at Catlin with David and played soccer with Emily - an incredible woman and this book is the result of interviews with "woman who had experienced a turbulent midlife transition at sometime between the ages of 38 and 55". Lots of insights.

[Sarah Buerger · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very interesting look at how women address midlife. It's more complicated than buying a sportscar and finding a young boyfriend. I think most women will find themselves on at least one of the six archetypes: The Adventurer, The Lover, The Seeker, The Gardener, The Leader or The Artist

[Lily Sun · Rating 2 out of 5]

Couldn't finish it. Feel very bored by it.

[Rick Rogers · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book ONLY because an acquaintance wrote it. The title alone would have been enough for me to regurgitate rather than read. I definitely wouldn't want anyone to see me reading it or know that I had read it! However, the book was incredible. Sue is just a spectacular writer and once you read those first few pages, she's got you hooked! I couldn't put that damn book down. I read straight through it, which is something I've never done with a book that wasn't about real estate or LIRPs or wealth building or tax savings. Anyway, it was a lot of fun to read, even for a guy, and I have to admit, I learned a few things about women... which some women might tell you I sorely needed (although I would debate that!).

Thanks, Sue,

Rick

[Candice · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was fine, though not mind blowing for me. I mostly skimmed beginning at about the middle of the book. Some may find the idea of midlife archetypes comforting but I found them more reductive than useful. Although I could identity which “type” I am, I didn’t have an aha moment regarding next steps. It could also be that child free women weren’t represented at all, which is a shame because our experience is valid.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book offered a positive spin on the idea of "midlife crisis." It offered many different anecdotes and much research and illustrated how midlife can be an optimal time in a woman's life for personal growth and positive transformation. A good read for any woman between the ages of 35 and 65 who feels sometimes like she might be going crazy.

[Kevin]

My wife asked me to read this book. We will make some time to talk about it soon. I underlined a lot of the book.

Some words and citations (in the paperback edition):
p. xiii renascent
p. 9 hellion
p. 144 Seamus Heaney poem "The Sea Change"
p. 157 languorous

From chapter 2 preface
"Rivers in extremely cold climates freeze over in winter.
In the spring, when they thaw, the sound of ice
creacking is an incredibly violent sound. The more
Extensive and severe the freeze, the more thunderous
the thaw. Yet, at the end of the cracking, breaking,
violent period, the river is open, life-giving, life-
carrying. No one says, "Let's not suffer the thaw; let's
keep the freeze; everything is quiet now." - Mary E. Mebane

[Torieqwq · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the stories, which mame me count my blessings. I am not sure that I picked up any tips on how to go through a midlife crisis, but maybe it was because I rushed through the book to get it back to the library.

[Evey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of the stories were dragging but as a whole I enjoyed the book and I found that I related to many of the stories.

[Susan Shaw]

For some reason, I read this one over and over. The women's stories were like guideposts for me as I approached 50 and beyond.

[Colleen Patricia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Provides various types of midlife crisis and why we become lost, unfilled and search for meaning in life.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very helpful descriptions of the archetypes. Turns wayward at the end.