Name: Thanks for Waiting
ISBN: 9780593156742

Doree Shafrir

"... memoir about what happens when your coming-of-age comes later than expected, from the co-host of the hit podcast Forever35."--Publisher's description.

The Joy (& Weirdness) of Being a Late Bloomer

Thanks for Waiting

An honest, witty, and insightful memoir about what happens when your coming-of-age comes later than expected “Thanks for Waiting is the loving, wise, cuttingly funny older sister we all need in book form.”—Tara Schuster, author of Buy Yourself the F*cking Lilies Doree Shafrir spent much of her twenties and thirties feeling out of sync with her peers. She was an intern at twenty-nine and met her husband on Tinder in her late thirties, after many of her friends had already gotten married, started families, and entered couples’ counseling. After a long fertility struggle, she became a first-time mom at forty-one, joining Mommy & Me classes where most of the other moms were at least ten years younger. And while she was one of Gawker’s early hires and one of the first editors at BuzzFeed, she didn’t find professional fulfillment until she co-launched the successful self-care podcast Forever35—at forty. Now, in her debut memoir, Shafrir explores the enormous pressures we feel, especially as women, to hit particular milestones at certain times and how we can redefine what it means to be a late bloomer. She writes about everything from dating to infertility, to how friendships evolve as you get older, to why being pregnant at forty-one is unexpectedly freeing—all with the goal of appreciating the lives we’ve lived so far and the lives we still hope to live. Thanks for Waiting is about how achieving the milestones you thought were so important don’t always happen on the time line you imagined. In a world of 30 Under 30 lists, this book is a welcome reminder that it’s okay to live life at your own speed.

B. K.

I listened to the audiobook, which is read by the author, and enjoyed Shafrir's warm, humorous narration. I was unfamiliar with her podcast but interested (as a 37-year-old, never-married, childless woman) in hearing what insights she might have. I'm a bit disappointed. This memoir felt sort of blandly pleasant; reassuring, but in a way where someone is only affirming things you already know. Essentially: Waiting until you're older means you know yourself more and have a better idea of what you want, and all the trial-and-error is worthwhile because it helps you identify what you don't want. I mean... no kidding. 

There's a point about two-thirds of the way through where Shafrir details what specific type of clothing she wore at different stages of her life, which I guess may interest some people, but personally was the point at which I realized how bored I was. I bumped up the listening speed to 3x so I could finish and move on to something else.

Thanks for Waiting The Joy (& Weirdness) of Being a Late Bloomer

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