Book Review: For Keeps: Women Tell the Truth About Their Bodies, Growing Older, and Acceptance

When I received my copy of For Keeps: Women Tell the Truth About Their Bodies, Growing Older, and Acceptance, I turned first to my own contribution, “Making Joy and Love in Seasoned Bodies.” I found myself moved by my own story of the two devastating automobile accidents that left me with crippling injuries, my fight to reclaim my life and my love of dance, and how my love story with Robert interweaves with my celebration of health and joy.

Then I read every other essay in the book, thrilled by the psychological and social insight in these memoirs and the high literary quality of the collection. Kudos to editor Victoria Zackheim, who hand-picked each writer and edited each essay superbly.

The theme is how women see their bodies, their perspectives shaped by aging, mothers, partners, cancer, injuries, society, and their own obsessions about body image. Each essay is wrenched from the hearts and guts of their authors. The stories are new, yet familiar, because as women, we have experienced them personally or through our friends: a hypercritical mother whom we still try to please; saying goodbye to breasts; facing a loved one’s death; learning to love our bellies; striving for resiliency as we confront our aging. The stories are moving, inspiring, downright riveting.

I am proud to be a part of this exciting book. I recommend it for your holiday gift-giving, and for yourself.