My quest for inclusive information about the menopause continues. This book started well, as you might expect from a journalist Mariella Frostrup opens with a thorough and detailed description of what menopause actually is, including the difference between peri-menopause and post menopause, as well as detailing the hormones whet they do for us and how their changes affect us. It then began to lose its way a little and became much more of her own particular experience of the menopause and whilst that was helpful in understanding more about her particular issues insomnia, hot flushes and brain fog, there was less space for understanding the other numerous symptoms although some are mentioned, I would have welcomed an equally deep exploration of the full range of symptoms.
In terms of finding what helped her, she is very much based in the medical model, there is an interesting and much needed defence of HRT, although again I would have liked some balance of the natural alternatives. I also disagree with her approach to the changes in her weight, where she said that diets don't work 'because women don't stick to them' as if women are the problem when there is vast evidence to show that diets don't work because they are designed to fail. Perhaps she could read The Body is not an apology by Sonya Renee Taylor, which would also help her with the changes in the way she is having sex. I know she is heterosexual, (she tells you enough times), that doesn't mean accepting a limited view of what is possible sexually.
My other disagreement is her insistence in several places of equating gender with genitals, which was just unnecessary and hugely problematic. Off course she can write from her own perspective but when writing about others in this way it is exclusionary and off-putting.
Overall I would say the beginning of this book is a helpful exploration of menopause but for details of the full range of symptoms and an inclusive way of managing them, I would suggest you look elsewhere, although our search for that may be continuing.
With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC