Over the course of her fortieth year, which chronicles, Glynnis embarks on a revealing journey of self-discovery that continually contradicts everything she'd been led to expect. An exploration of modern womanhood.
She dryly articulates the way single women in their late 30s come to think of their lives as 'a shifting math problem,' an experiment in how little time can be allowed to elapse between meeting a man and having a baby ... Drawing this contrast between her mother’s life and her own feels like a throwback to an older generation of feminist stories, of 1970s daughters rebelling against 1950s values, but it’s a reminder of how those domestic pressures linger ... MacNicol adopts a tone of affectionate awe when writing about the important women in her life, the friends whose lives have intertwined with hers from her early days in the city as a 20-something waitress. This chosen family offers her support and companionship, but also a glimpse of the way that stories can twist and rupture ... There is undeniable luck and privilege in being able to shape one’s own story as a single woman, as MacNicol is careful to acknowledge. Still, it can be hard to feel grateful for our luck in the abstract, so MacNicol focuses instead on what it offers her: the opportunity, indeed the obligation, to choose the life she wants. And not just once, but over and over again.
By sharing her story in No One Tells You This, MacNicol gives implicit permission for other women to embrace the lives they’ve chosen ... [MacNicol's memoir] will help women of all ages and life circumstances understand the experience of today’s single-and-joyful woman.
Amid the raft of motherhood memoirs out this summer, it’s refreshing to read a book unapologetically dedicated to the fulfillment of single life. Like a more zoomed-in chapter from Rebecca Traister’s All the Single Ladies, MacNicol’s offering is a personable, entertaining reflection ... this memoir allows MacNicol a [broad] and [loose] canvas.
