''Why We Can't Sleep: Women's New Midlife Crisis'' is a 2020

non-fiction Non-fiction (or nonfiction) is any document or content (media), media content that attempts, in good faith, to convey information only about the real life, real world, rather than being grounded in imagination. Non-fiction typically aims to pre ...

book by

Ada Calhoun Ada Calhoun (born Ada Calhoun Schjeldahl; March 17, 1976) is an American writer. She is the author of '' St. Marks Is Dead'', a history of St. Mark's Place in East Village, Manhattan, New York; '' Wedding Toasts I’ll Never Give'', a book of es ...

. It builds upon her essay for ''

O, The Oprah Magazine ''O, The Oprah Magazine'', also known simply as ''O'', is an American monthly magazine founded by talk show host Oprah Winfrey and Hearst Communications. In 2021, Winfrey and Hearst rebranded it as ''Oprah Daily''. Overview It was first pu ...

'', "The New Midlife Crisis for Women". Calhoun interviewed more than 200 women and studied social trends to identify new roadblocks for

Generation X Generation X (often shortened to Gen X) is the Demography, demographic Cohort (statistics), cohort following the Baby Boomers and preceding Millennials. Researchers and popular media often use the mid-1960s as its starting birth years and the ...

women. The book was published on January 7, 2020, by

Grove Press Grove Press is an American publishing imprint that was founded in 1947. Imprints include: Black Cat, Evergreen, Venus Library, and Zebra. Barney Rosset purchased the company in 1951 and turned it into an alternative book press in the United S ...

Overview

''Why We Can't Sleep'' is a book by Calhoun about Generation X women and their struggles, sometimes leading to a

midlife crisis A midlife crisis is a transition of identity and self-confidence that can occur in middle-aged individuals, typically 45 to 65 years old. The phenomenon is described as a psychological crisis brought about by events that highlight a person's grow ...

, including divorce, debt, unstable housing, and career development. It builds upon her essay for ''

'', "The New Midlife Crisis for Women". Calhoun interviewed more than 200 women across America about their experiences as the generation raised to "have it all." She found that many felt exhausted and overwhelmed from financial and housing stress, under or over-working in their careers, caregiving, and parenting. She learned how Generation X women responded and coped with these struggles physically and mentally, incorporating research from the

Center for Economic and Policy Research The Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) is an American think tank that specializes in economic policy. Based in Washington, D.C. CEPR was co-founded by economists Dean Baker and Mark Weisbrot in 1999. Considered a left-leaning orga ...

and

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

's Equality of Opportunity Project. After the book's release, she expanded on some foundational arguments of the book in online editorials, including

caregiving A caregiver, carer or support worker is a paid or unpaid person who helps an individual with activities of daily living. Caregivers who are members of a care recipient's family or social network, who may have specific professional training, are o ...

and

menopause Menopause, also known as the climacteric, is the time when Menstruation, menstrual periods permanently stop, marking the end of the Human reproduction, reproductive stage for the female human. It typically occurs between the ages of 45 and 5 ...

Reviews

''Why We Can't Sleep: Women's New Midlife Crisis'' has received generally favorable pre-publication reviews. ''

Library Journal ''Library Journal'' is an American trade publication for librarians. It was founded in 1876 by Melvil Dewey. It reports news about the library world, emphasizing public libraries, and offers feature articles about aspects of professional prac ...

'' said, "Her research offers women ways to look at but not devalue their own experiences; she addresses the fact that women often minimize their own struggles instead of recognizing how their lack of sleep, along with other physical and mental pressures, constitute legitimate crises in their own right..." ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...

'' said, "Calhoun persuasively reassures Gen X women that they can find a way out of their midlife crises by 'facing up to our lives as they really are'. Women of every generation will find much to relate to in this humorous yet pragmatic account..." ''Vogue'', '' Real Simple'', ''Parade'', ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', and ''O, The Oprah Magazine'' highlighted ''Why We Can't Sleep'' as one of the most anticipated books to read in 2020. Post-publication reviews were mixed. ''

The New York Times Book Review ''The New York Times Book Review'' (''NYTBR'') is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times'' in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely rea ...

''’s Curtis Sittenfeld called Calhoun "a funny, smart, compassionate narrator…taking women’s concerns seriously" but also "wished Calhoun had included fewer women’s stories but gone into those stories in greater detail." ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

s Emily Bobrow gave the book mixed reviews, finding "many of its grumbles reassuringly familiar" but calling the book "a little whiny" and stating that Calhoun is "not above cherry-picking statistics." The book had a 3.86/5 rating on Goodreads .

References

External links

We Can't Sleep: Women's New Midlife Crisis'' at Grove Atlantic (official book site)

''Why We Can't Sleep: Women's New Midlife Crisis'' at Author's official website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Why We Can't Sleep: Women's New Midlife Crisis 2020 non-fiction books Grove Press books American non-fiction books Books about women Midlife crisis Generation X