Thanks for Waiting
The Joy (& Weirdness) of Being a Late Bloomer
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- $16.99
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
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.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
If you’ve ever worried that you’re being outpaced personally or professionally, Doree Shafrir wants you to know you’re not alone. In this inspiring memoir, the host of the self-help podcast Forever35 writes oh-so-relatably about the ups and downs of being a late bloomer. Shafrir brings fearless candor to even her most awkward and painful experiences, from hasty make-out sessions at summer camp to the nonstop deadline stress of her work with online content providers. It wasn’t until her late 30s that she really came into her own, finally meeting her husband and—with a little bravery and a whole lot of trial and error—figuring out what she wanted from life. Shafrir’s intimate writing feels like a warm note from a dear friend, whether she’s reflecting on her heartbreaking experiences with fertility treatments or the joyful birth of her son. Thanks for Waiting is a sweet, hilarious, and touching celebration of being unafraid to live—and succeed—on your own timeline.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Shafrir (Startup), a former BuzzFeed editor and cohost of the Forever35 podcast, delivers a heartwarming and witty account of how she figured it out—"whatever ‘it' is"—on her own terms. "On the night I turned thirty," she writes, "I was... drunk on cheap beer and too-strong vodka sodas in plastic cups." Shafrir's peers, on the other hand, were already solidly on the path to "Real Adult Life," going to bed early and getting married "at the stroke of twenty-seven." In a culture obsessed with milestones, Shafrir struggled with feeling left behind. But rather than mourning what some may deem a squandered youth, she looks back fondly on her "late" arrival to professional success, marriage, and motherhood. She reflects on working in media in the mid-aughts as a 29-year-old intern, navigating Tinder in her 30s, becoming one of BuzzFeed's first editors at age 35 ("the Rubicon that, once crossed, women shriveled up and became crones living forgotten and alone"), and eventually getting married at age 38 and having a kid three years later. While Shafrir's droll sarcasm is perfectly calibrated, it's her vulnerability and writing about more difficult experiences—such as her struggle with infertility—that will keep readers rapt. This coming-of-age story raises the bar.
