How Your Friends are Making You Look Older and What You Can Do About It

by Beth Teitell

Short of spending every waking hour engaged in antiaging treatments, is there anything the average woman can do to shave even a few months from her appearance? Do any of the miracle creams, procedures, or magic potions actually make a person look more youthful? Does a woman have to worry about her nasolabial folds if she doesn't even know where they're located on her body? Veteran journalist Beth Teitell aims to find the answers to these questions and many more in her hilarious travels looking for the elusive elixir of youth. If you feel bad about your neck (or any other body part), if the idea of Botox-filled syringes fills you with horror, if you don't want to empty your wallet to pay for $475 serums that promise to cheer up aging skin or the hourly cost of a facial-fitness coach, or if you don't believe the claims of antiaging gummy bears or age-defying bottled water, then Drinking Problems at the Fountain of Youth is the book for you. There's not a woman in America who won't see herself in Teitell's struggles or come away feeling that the enormous amount of energy, time, and money we spend trying to restore our bodies to the way they were when we were twenty could be better spent elsewhere. With honesty, outrage, and wit, Teitell goes deep into the youth-at-any-cost culture and takes it apart from the inside out. And then she reassures us that there is hope—there are things we can do to look and feel younger, and ways we can learn to stop worrying about looking older. Drinking Problems at the Fountain of Youth is for every woman who isn't as young as she used to be—a book of wisdom and advice, and a laugh-out-loud look at our age-obsessed culture.

Genres: Nonfiction

288 pages, Paperback

First published September 24, 2008

Reviews

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

funny. sometimes over-wrought

[Tere Ligorria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall positive message

I was getting a little frustrated and disappointed around the middle of the book, it seemed superficial and materialistic but then it got so much better- funny throughout but also insightful, positive and uplifting (for spirits, not cheeks😁)

[Shauna · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's okay

While I could relate to the author in many ways, I wonder if I'm just too busy to worry about my aging self that much. The anxiety she expressed quickly grew annoying.

[Ione DeOllos · Rating 3 out of 5]

It didn't seem to be well organized. I felt like I similar material several times. This made the main points of each chapter sometimes unclear.

[Lisa Wenzel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Laugh out loud funny. Very well written. I appreciated her research - would live an update!!

[Michele Shimp · Rating 1 out of 5]

I thought it was a novel. Based on the description (which I cannot find now) I thought it was fiction. Kind of a laugh at the reality of aging while telling a story. However, it is not fiction. It is a collection of essays on aging. [return][return]Which is one strike against the book as I am not a non-fiction reader. However, I read a Nora Ephron book for my book club and told myself I could read it. But it wasn't funny. I think she's trying to be funny. Maybe too much. Strike two. The third strike came as I realized there were just as many references in the text as there were words straight from the author. Maybe footnotes would have been better for me, but that was the last chance. I am done with it.

[Madam · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wildly funny expose of the cosmetic extremes women reach for in order to preserve their youth -- or create one that never existed -- all driven by the beauty industry. Dermatologists barrage Teitell with different opinions, cosmetic companies hawk miracle elixirs, and star hairstylists promise life-changing transformations for a three-figure price (not including airfare). Reading this not only made me laugh, but cheered me about dropping out of the beauty race long ago.

[Melanie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I received an ARC copy of this book. I only read about 1/3 of the way through the book. I thought it was rather detached from reality and I did not find it funny. As a woman about to turn 50, I can laugh at problems that come along with age, but plastic surgery and not being able to wear pre-teen clothes are not problems with which I can relate.

[Jennifer Campaniolo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute memoir/cautionary tale about what to do (and NOT to do) to look younger.

[Denise · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well, I only read about 80 pages of this one before throwing in the towel. It had funny parts, but overall it didn't hold my interest.

[Darcy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hysterical and profound.

[Blecy Ong · Rating 3 out of 5]

From what I've seen so far, we don't have an eating problem, we have a drinking problem.

[Dr. Cheryl S. Vanatti]

Read my thoughts over on Many a Quaint & Curious Volume: https://manyaquaintandcuriousvolume.b...