More Than a Woman

Broken into twenty-one chapters, all titled as hours—the Hour of Married Sex, the Hour of Agin, the Hour of Crisis, and so on—the book is a series of micro views on life as woman in her 40s. Specifically, Moran’s life. There is less universally accessible material here than in her prior work, as this book focuses more on parenting and marriage; for single or childless readers, those chapters have little to offer. But Moran’s wit and razor-sharp eye for the ridiculous truth in the mundane is on full display. Chapter fifteen, for example—The Hour of Self-Help—begins with a hungover Moran fearing her aging body and ends with an embrace of yoga as the ultimate high. It sounds ridiculous, but Moran gives the insight weight and meaning.

For those who have read her before, there is an edge missing—some sharper tongue or more barbed phrase here and there that used to pepper her work is absent. This may not be a negative so much as a sign of Moran’s age. Her prior book, How to Be a Woman, was written at 34. Now, 10 years later, there is a mellowing that More than a Woman suggests, isn’t just inevitable, but healthier and necessary.