My Late-Life Adventures in Sex and Romance - A Round-Heeled Woman

Long awaited book since the first reviews and all the hype appeared. Thank goodness she lives in Berkeley, 2 minutes from me, as that means I'll be able to attend a book reading somewhere nearby. The lady's got guts, chutzpah, joie de vivre, etc - - - but most of all, boy, can she write!
The narrative arc of A Round-Heeled Woman is framed on Juska's desire for a truly fulfilling sexual relationship for, one may assume, the first time in her life. After decades as a teacher and a single mom, looking old age eyeball-to-eyeball, she leaps into the bizarre world of Personals Ads and comes up a winner.
Deeper, however, than the sexual narrative, is the story of her blossoming as a fully-actualized woman.
What's not to love about this book? I didn't find anything.

Unfortunately, the idea is more interesting than the execution. I was very curious to read this book and slightly amused by some of the anecdotes, but ultimately it just wasn't that great. I give the author plenty of credit for putting herself out there, but unfortunately the stories just weren't that compelling.

So, I read this book several years after its release, based on a vague recollection of the hype associated with its publication. And I've read some reviews, including reviews here on the store. There is no need to add much to those reviews. Given the author's extensive background working with the English language, her love of literature and her self-proclaimed intellectual supremacy, the remarkable thing is the story is flat and dull. There is no arc or real story line to pull things together. The circumstances seem to present an opportunity for an interesting and worthwhile reading experience, it just doesn't happen. The book is just a bunch of anecdotes mushed together, not altogether coherently. Not sure why this is so, perhaps either because the author is not capable of changing, or the more basic problem of a lack of story telling talent. Maybe we should blame the editor. (Just kidding).

The real value of this book is actually for men, as an illustration of a type of woman to avoid. If you want to form a loving, sharing, mutually emotionally rewarding long term relationship, stay away from these narcissistic needy types. The lesson is particularly valuable for younger men, because as the author experiences, but doesn't really understand, older men, through instinct or as a result of difficult and unpleasant experiences, are not at all interested in forming a relationship beyond 'dating' with a woman like her. Also, its better to avoid making the beast with this type, if at all possible. If you do, and the relationship ends badly, as it always does, you are 'bad', 'evil, and 'creepy', etc... And, if the sex is good, you could be sucked in by the temptation to believe that there is the possibility of having a worthwhile long term relationship, and then you are setting yourself up for even bigger problems.

How so? Because it makes such a striking and frankly beautiful change to here of the later generation dealing with contempary issues. So often it is the belief that sex and sexuality are not the remit of the older genrations and if they are then we don't want to hear about it. Juska blows that myth with bold and engaging work, her narrative is strong and delicious and her journey life affirming and beautuful. It is the only book I have ever read that has made look forward to my twilight years!

I thought this book would be full of humorous tales of living the life you want, age be damned... and it kinda..was. Juska does live the way she wants but I didn't find her writing style / stories all that amusing. :Largely, I was either bored, grossed out or just shaking my head at the dumbassery. The farther in I got, the more I realized I found this woman seriously off-putting! She gets heavy handed with unnecessarily detailed descriptions about all her bodily secretions during sexual encounters, she throws around language that would make a sailor step back, seemingly just for shock value. There's also a feeling of smugness and superiority to the way she bemoans the presence of homeless people who dare to enter establishments she frequents (seriously! there are multiple passages where she goes on and on about the "stench" offending her sensitive olfactories). Then there is how she nitpicks every little aspect of any guy that answers her ad. Okay, yes a woman needs standards when exploring dating / sexual prospects, obviously, but she was seriously harsh with her checklist,seemingly making every minus mark a potential deal breaker. None of them are truly good enough for her, so she has this tone of "poor me, look what I had to settle for.." yet the funny thing is oftentimes, she STILL goes ahead and sleeps with them! But then she lays on the woe is me when she gets the ones that seem to just use her and move on. You get back what you put out, woman! I was so looking forward to loving this book. So bummed to find her and her writing so unlikeable!

...never works unless of course, you're getting paid. What Jane needs is love; rather, men who are loving - and that my dear, comes at a price. Rule #1: You have to be loving too. Here is another woman who, again, confuses sex and love. Rule #2: You really have to know the difference. Why does it seem men have little trouble separating the two? Not that there is not valid reason for Jane's addiction (excuse me, confusion)and, as she comes to this realization, one is rooting for her to truly "get real." If anything, that is the value of reading this book. Still, I enjoyed it, in parts, and give her scads of credit for finally getting on the path to finding herself.

The writing is lovely. There are numerous finely observed scenes and the narrator is witty and amusing. However, Jane routinely drinks until she passes out, leaving her little boy alone, (ok people get a clue here, this is NOT NORMAL unless your idea of normal is nightly AA meetings)and also, Jane has been sleeping with her daddy for years. So, um folks, where does all of the praise for fulfilling elder-sex figure in here? This isn't some rolicking memoir of senior citizen happy hook-ups, this is a really sad story about a chick who needs serious counseling for substance abuse and childhood incest. I gave it three stars because Jane is a likeable heroine and you want her to win and to find her soul mate, but yeesh, she needs to kick the liquor addiction and Daddy-O, too. Lots of mixed messages in this slick package.

Jane Juska's courage comes through in her beautifully written book. When she describes sitting in a movie theater, watching a romantic movie, and deciding that her romantic life isn't over yet, I knew I'd be cheering for her the whole way! She's a gutsy sixty-six year old lady. I kept thinking of it as a female counterpart to Philip Roth's The Dying Animal which is an insightful book about a senior man's perspective on lust.
And yes, she finds the proverbial Prince after she kisses a few frogs. Ahhh

This book stays with you when you're done. Months have passed since I read this, but I still miss Jane Juska. She's bright, witty, insightful, and honest.
She's also needy, and she explores the adolescent cravings many of us satisfied during the wild sex years of the '60s and '70s. It's sometimes painful to watch her "lookin' for love in all the wrong places," since, actually, it was love she was searching for, not sex.
It's an understatement to say this title is misleading. You have no idea from the title that this book will be so much about a person and so little about sex. Sometimes the writing drags on and on, and other times it flips through topics you wish had gotten more detail.
Always, it entrances. Jane is a sweet lady, working through some hard lessons at a time of life when you hurt harder each time you fall. And she falls and falls and falls.

[...]

What Juska is offering to herself (and to her readers) is a piecemeal solution to sexual loneliness. She's presenting a modern fable, an option to women "of a certain age" (as the French, who understand ambiguity, so sweetly put it), to women who miss having sex and who (it must also be said) are easily pleased. But some readers will miss vicariously experiencing the intensity and drama of a real love affair, the vicarious thrill of being one of the chosen, the deranged efficiency that locates every virtue within a single man.

In fact the men in Juska's book, although she does a good job of evoking them, blur and run together long before the end. This could be because there are too many of them. Or it could be because the trajectory is missing, the arc that's made up of the stages of love: the chemistry, the euphoria, the despair, the dancing in the dark, the tenderness. But even taking all this into consideration, and even if Juska's writing is sometimes too pat and too girlishly gushy, and even if she too often takes refuge in hokey diction ("oh gosh," "omigod," "you betcha"), and even if these flaws also greatly handicap her story, her revelations are nevertheless entertaining and incredibly brave.

Finally! A book that speaks to the reality of the single,imperfect, over 60, but still vibrant woman. Jane Juska sang my song. The book is funny and sad and ultimately hopeful. If the reader can related to the writer in terms of age or desire not to be relegated to the dustheap of Eros, I recommend this book.

I rather liked her candid frankness about her search for sex, but was put off that she seemed to confuse sex with love. As the adventures and soul-searching went on, I kept thinking, "OH, grow up!" That said, I DID read the whole book, and the sequel. So they are readable. Maybe it was fun to read about a woman my age and her life.

I rather liked her candid frankness about her search for sex, but was put off that she seemed to confuse sex with love. As the adventures and soul-searching went on, I kept thinking, "OH, grow up!" That said, I DID read the whole book, and the sequel. So they are readable. Maybe it was fun to read about a woman my age and her life.

The reviewer at Publisher's Weekly must be maybe 35. "A round-heeled woman" wasn't a professional prostitute--she was any woman who like sex too much, as in at all. When Juska and I were growing up, the distinction between nice girls and those who "liked it" was total. Juska bought in for most of her life, not figuring out until six decades on that it was a crock. Grace be to her, she made up for lost time and was brave and funny enough to tell the tale.You don't have to be our age to root for her and to love her honest appreciation of men--naked ones.

I was very excited about reading this book based on the review and when I finally got it, I was just so disappointed. It is terribly written (i.e. "The Zuni Cafe is cool"). The meanderings bore me to tears and after three chapters, she still hasn't had a date. Her descriptions are cliched and there is nary a complete sentence in the book. I can hardly believe people are raving. I just don't get it. I give her credit for placing the ad and pursuing her dreams (or fantasies as the case may be), but that's about the only positive thing I can say about Round Heeled Woman.

A friend of mine at work absolutely demanded that I read this book. And I'm still not done thanking her. In spite of its "Airplane Reading" cover design it's an amazingly good book. If you've ever been worried about growing old then curl up with Juska's novel. You'll find yourself reassured that growing old does not automatically mean you'll be tuning into Matlock and wondering whether or not you've taken your tablets. Erma Bombeck meets Dr. Ruth.

fascinating, good writer in a modern style, but why have all the women who shouted great and wonderful not mentioned the troubled relationships with not only the father and husband other lovers but mostly a son who ran from her to the streets of s.f. as a very young teen and continued to prefer that life to one with his mother...bill krause

I heard Jane Juska speak at an Author's Luncheon. She was fresh, funny and had great comedic timing. She was the hit of the event. So I bought her book with anticipation of more of the same. What a surprise! Yes, the comedic talent was still there but in small doses. What predominated was the portrait of a woman of little self-esteem, often of self-loathing, whose graphic descriptions of sex had little in the way of sex appeal. My mother who is 89 wants to read the book but I will warn her that, in the end, it is not an illuminating experience. And all of the men Jane has sex with are also having or recently have had sex with other women. What about the possiblity of STD's? No mention is made of taking precautions or of "safe sex." I hope all of us can move into our late-life years enjoying rewarding sexual relationships. But not at the risk of disease or damage to our self-worth or a suspension of our hard won values.

The idea is good, my problem is with the narrator. Juska is SO pretentious I can't stand it. She only goes out with the most erudite of men, then is disapointed when they turn out to be cads. How about opening yourself up to all types of men Jane? She thinks she's being young and hip by using words like "cool," but you can see through the attempt. The writing often meanders on topics that HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH the personal ad. She is very naive trusting complete strangers when they tell her they have no std's. I don't know...I just found her annoying, naive and pretentious. Yeah, so she's over 60 and has sex. Woo-hoo.

I thought the author wrote honestly, and showed the courage needed to keep intimacy alive. I really had other work to do, but I couldn't put it down until I had read the last page. I hope this author writes more!

Mrs.(Jane) Juska was my teacher 25 years ago. She was an inspiration then, and she continues to be an inspiration now. I laughed out loud and cried several times as I read this book. She is an excellent writer and her words reach out and tug at your heartstrings. You go girl!

This was a somewhat interesting book about a woman's sexually exploits with different men that she met via a personal ad. She's not too smart for having one-night stands with people she hardly knows - like the thief - but she got a book deal out of it!

This author just never got over her father. Because she lives her life exactly in opposition to what he expected of her, does not mean she won the game. At the ripe age of 67 she decides that sex will cure her past problems; i.e., bad decisions re lovers and husband, inability to raise her son and frightened of living by herself. Only an old hippie would pop into bed with men she really knows nothing about. She rants on about "talk" but thinks mainly about getting it on. Silly book.

Spare yourself this grindingly tawdry recounting of Ms. Juska's tedious, unpleasant encounters with tedious, unpleasant men. Far from being what her ad claims she wanted -- "a lot of sex with a man I like," which sounds frisky and appealing -- it's actually a dreary tome primarily detailing two things: her unbelievable neediness and her nauseating tendencies to sweat, drip, ooze and otherwise leak under her politically correct drab Berkeley costumes. These absolutely endless descriptions are intercut with pompous philosophizing about Trollope and Bach and self-congratulatory droning about her work with prisoners.

I feel sorry for the editor assigned to work with this tripe, oddly sympathetic to the poor men she hounded, and angry with myself for being stupid enough to buy this book.

The author thinks, acts and writes like it is 1970. I would think that the five star reviews were from her friends and family but no one in the book liked her. Do not waste your time or money on this self centered idiot.