No matter what I did, I couldn't get into it. And I know it's a memoir so it's a matter of her life just not being relatable enough for me personally. The writing was good. I just couldn't connect with the material. I've now tried a half dozen times to read it, and it just never quite got there.

Meredith Maran is having a rough time. She’s sixty-something and pining for her ex-wife. Her best friend dies. Her father is in the process of dying. She has no money. And she has no idea how to deal with any of it so she can move on. But move on she does, and this is her recollection of a three-year period when she is basically forced to take stock and rebuild her self and her life from the ground up.

* * * * *

Good Lord, there is a lot of grief and loss in this book. Thank goodness for the few moments of neutral and sometimes even funny asides or else The New Old Me would be an overwhelming downer. I know that this is life. We are born to love and to lose. But this memoir is hit after hit, and it got to be a bit much. By the time I started reading about Maran’s dissatisfying (but, from my perspective, not really so bad?) relationship with her new girlfriend, I was emotionally spent.

Don’t get me wrong, Maran is a wonderful writer—insightful and bracingly honest—and I appreciate her willingness to put it all out there. I only wish there had been a little more joy included in her stories. I am certain other readers will feel differently, but, for me, this book was just so depressing.

I have always enjoyed books by Meredith Maran. They are compulsively readable; oftentimes fun, engaging, full of empathy and pizazz. The New Old Me has all of these characteristics with a heap of sadness and rawness to it given that it was written about her divorce and move to another city. Ms. Maran allows us to see how she makes her way through the anxiety and terror of being on her own again, away from her friends and the comforting rhythms of her life in San Francisco. Not only as a single woman but also as a older woman looking for work in a town that prizes youth. One of the best parts of the book is her quest for new friends. It was a hoot reading about her conscious decision to find friends through other friends and acquaintances and, wow, was that brave. I have recently moved to a new town and though slowly meeting people this gave me an entirely new way to look at friendships and companionship. I hope I have the nerve to follow in her footsteps.

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to review this book for an honest opinion.

This is my first time reading this author but it will not be my last. What a great book. This book can and will take you through a few emotions. Life does not have to end at a certain age and this book so brilliantly demonstrates. Life is what you make it. This book is a testimony to that. What a spunky woman who did not let society or anything hold her back from doing what she felt she needed to do for self. This is a must read for any woman wondering " can i do this at this age"? Per this book, the answer is YES!!! Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for the advanced copy of this book in return for my honest review.

Meredith Maran's newest book, a fresh-authentic-inspiring biographical memoir, was released today, The New Old Me: My Late-Life Reinvention. It talks about life's biggest themes: friendship, divorce, marriage, love, healing, human rights, loving the place you live, aging, plastic surgery, alcohol, grief, happiness, and never being too old to try something new. I laughed, I cried, I devoured this novel in half a day. I was sent a DRC copy of this book by PENGUIN GROUP Blue Rider Press & Plume for review. Because I have an advanced copy, I cannot share my favourite quotes -but I will say there were many. I loved the many different characters we met, and Meredith's journey through her trip from glass empty to the glass half full.

A lusty, kickass post-divorce memoir, one woman's story of starting over at 60 in youth-obsessed, beauty-obsessed Hollywood. After the death of her best friend, the loss of her life s savings, and the collapse of her once-happy marriage, Meredith Maran whom Anne Lamott calls insightful, funny, and human leaves her San Francisco freelance writer's life for a 9-to-5 job in Los Angeles. Determined to rebuild not only her savings but herself while relishing the joys of life in La-La land, Maran writes a poignant story, a funny story, a moving story, and above all an American story of what it means to be a woman of a certain age in our time. (via Goodreads)
I received an eARC courtesy of the publisher, Blue Rider Press, and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Meredith Maran opens this story on blood and heartbreak, with the end of a marriage and a wedding ring.

This story is one that will be familiar to readers - divorcee moves to a new city, starts a new job and tries to find a new life, and also themselves. However, Meredith makes herself and Los Angeles shine, despite the hard circumstances that she finds herself in throughout the novel.

I loved that Meredith recognized in the narrative that a relationship was good, but that it wasn't what she really wanted. She never takes herself too seriously, which was nice. It's very different to see what it's like moving to a new city in your sixties, compared to me doing it in my twenties.

However, I'd like to add a trigger warning for some biphobia, because one particular thing really bothered me throughout the book, and I'm feeling a little weird about it. The female author is very recently divorced from her unnamed wife at the beginning of this book, but she has previously been in long-term relationships and a marriage with a man.

The author advertises herself in the newspaper as a bisexual woman, though


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she notes that she generally prefers women, which is fine because bisexuality is almost never a 50-50 preference. You can't control your preferences, and I absolutely understand that she was still hurting from losing her wife as a partner, so this is not where I have the issue at all. Where I have the issue later is that she identifies herself as a lesbian literally everywhere else in her life, and then she says this.


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Calling herself "opportunistic" struck me as internalized biphobia, and the fact that even in her own memoir, she wouldn't identify herself as bisexual anywhere else.

I did otherwise enjoy the novel, but the more I thought about it, the more this bothered me, so this is probably a 2.5 star novel for me, but I don't do half stars, thus the two star rating.

The New Old Me is the story of a sixty something woman whose life gets flip turned upside down by the breakdown of her marriage. Broke and homeless, she finds a job in Los Angeles, working for a hip new clothing brand. In an office full of twenty something career girls where you’re expected to take part in company workouts and in a town obsessed with youth and beauty, this novel is a great example of how it’s possible to tear up the rule book and start over – no matter what circumstances you find yourself in.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. I found the story really inspiring and I loved the attitude of the author who just kept going for it, despite many setbacks. I loved hearing about how she made a home for herself and how she built up a network of friends after knowing hardly anyone in the area.

It was also really interesting to find out what it’s actually like to live in LA. I thought it would be incredibly glamorous but instead it seems to be one big gridlock, with smog and pollution ruining the environment.

Possibly the best thing about this novel is the way that it’s written – it’s immediately apparent that the author is very gifted. She has a lovely turn of phrase, provides insightful anecdotes and really makes the story come alive.

My only criticism would be that although it was a very thought provoking and interesting book, not a huge amount happened. Yes, the detail given to the events that did take place was great but nothing really shocking or unexpected happened. It is the power of the writing that really saves the novel from heading into the mundane.

Overall, I thought this was a great, inspiring read. I loved how the author acknowledged her depression and insecurities but didn’t dwell on her negative feelings, and ultimately overcame her problems to find a different sort of happiness. A great read.

I love a good memoir and since I have met Meredith Maran, I am already personally invested in her story! I also enjoy the transformation of a person and in The New Old Me, Meredith talks us along for the journey of her love and loss.

Check it out:

After the death of her best friend, the loss of her life’s savings, and the collapse of her once-happy marriage, Meredith Maran—whom Anne Lamott calls “insightful, funny, and human”—leaves her San Francisco freelance writer’s life for a 9-to-5 job in Los Angeles.

Determined to rebuild not only her savings but herself while relishing the joys of life in La-La land, Maran writes “a poignant story, a funny story, a moving story, and above all an American story of what it means to be a woman of a certain age in our time” (Christina Baker Kline, number-one New York Times–bestselling author of Orphan Train).

At age 60, Meredith Maran's life is over. Her marriage has fallen apart, her bank account is empty, and she's forced to leave the Bay Area for Los Angeles. There, she enters a glossy new world, where her colleagues are a fraction of her age and a fraction of her weight; where driving two miles takes two hours; and where fitness programs, plastic surgery, and $2,200 studios run rampant.

Her writing is compulsively readable, a healthy mix of snark with the self-pity, whether she's detailing a gruesome trip to the ER, her first day in gridlock traffic, or the pain of couchsurfing at a stranger's. It's her witty, yet emotional narration that kept me engaged in the story for over 300 pages.