Reviews for Flux: Women on Sex, Work, Love, Kids, and Life in a Half-Changed World

The average rating for Flux: Women on Sex, Work, Love, Kids, and Life in a Half-Changed World based on 2 reviews is 5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2009-12-22 00:00:00 Cal Larcombe Fantastic book about women in post-feminist America. The author did lots of really great interviews with women at all stages of their lives and gains a lot of insight into how the work-family balance is playing out for them. I found myself sympathizing with so many of the stories, goals, and challenges, and I feel I learned a lot just hearing about their experiences. Really fascinating to see what sort of trade-offs each woman decided to make along the course of their careers. I highly recommend this book for any and all women trying to steer their way through their careers(of course, it provides men with some good insight into things, too!).

Review # 2 was written on 2008-07-30 00:00:00 Robert Lambert When I first read this book in 2005, it was a complete lifesaver. I was in my early/mid 20s, living in NYC, struggling with trying to figure out the next step in my career, while balancing hopes and dreams of finding a partner and starting a family, all of which seemed so far out of my reach in that crazy city. In short, I was having my quarter-life crisis. I fell in love with this book because it discussed all of the things the people (really, the women) I knew weren't discussing -- how to balance work, life, family, and friends, deciding on whether to have kids, finding success, or even just contentment. Peggy Orenstein collected her thoughts through interviews with women from a variety of backgrounds, though as another reviewer pointed out, she mainly talks to people who have achieved some degree of career success or who have decided to take time away from the workplace to raise their children. There are no profiles of women who are struggling, who are unable to make ends meet, who have had an unplanned pregnancy, etc. That said, the most important takeaway from this study is that it's very difficult to have it all and there are a number of people who have made alternative choices and had happy lives. That the ideal we're encouraged to attempt to achieve is neither ideal nor necessarily worth achieving. I found this exceptionally reassuring during a difficult year. I decided to reread this book in early 2010 because I'd recently made another batch of big life changes and wanted to remind myself of how conflicted other people felt about their choices. On the reread, with a few more years of experience under my belt, this book did not quite earn the five stars I originally gave it, but it was still a good reminder that life takes a lot of different directions and they're all okay ones. There are still many changes that need to be made so that women can have the chance to pursue demanding careers, and who knows when we'll get there. The best points I took from this book is that women of all generations need to speak more openly about their experiences, including their joys and their disappointments. Most importantly, young women need to stop buying into the myth that romance and children are the panacea for all their problems, and build their careers and their friendships so that they can have options if they do end up single for a time, something that is more likely given the rates of divorce and widowhood. For me, that was the biggest lesson: we need friendships and relationships that will help sustain us through all the challenges life will throw our ways. I'm keeping my rating at five stars because I think it does what it says and that was my initial impression. Peggy Orenstein is a fantastic writer and I recommend checking out her other work. This book is best for women really feeling the state of flux of their lives, and anyone who wants to better understand and support them. But we could do even better and talk to one another! :)