If I Had My Life to Live Over

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Lacking the eccentricity and distinctiveness of its bestselling predecessor, When I Am an Old Woman I Shall Wear Purple (on women and aging), also edited by Martz, this new volume on the theme of the choices women make throughout their lives is simplistic at best. The language of most stories and poems here is uninventive and often cliched; themes are staid. ``A child is growing somewhere / in this weary world, / an innocent unwary / of emotions shattered,'' writes Shirley Vogler Meister in a sing-song, rhyming poem about adoption; and the narrator of Stephany Brown's story, whose boyfriend promptly enlisted in the Army when at 16 she told him she was pregnant, says that ``having his baby is still the best thing I ever did.'' Too many of these pieces have haunting echoes of a campaign for Family Values. Reading these pages, one would assume women no longer make choices other than having children vs. having an abortion, marriage vs. divorce, or which boy to date. A few excellent tidbits--Janice Levy's story about a Mexican woman entering the U.S. illegally and working as a maid or Pat Schneider's poem about a sister choosing to be a nun--are not enough to make this volume worth reading. 70,000 first printing. (Feb.)

Denise Perry Donavin

The editor of "When I Am an Old Woman I Shall Wear Purple" has pulled together another collection about the choices women make. In these essays, recollections, stories, and poetry by females of various ages, whining voices blend with mellower ones to share lessons learned and questions still unanswered. Topics range from wedding-day jitters to the recollection of a honeymoon; from summer vacations to terminal illness. As in the previous collection, the writing quality varies, but the result is still a rewarding medley.

WomanSource Catalog & Review: Tools for Connecting the Community for Women

In If I Had My Life to Live All Over I Would Pick More Daisies, women again join their voices to examine the decisions women everywhere make every day, decisions that rend the heart, split the mind&#8211having a baby or an abortion; giving a child up; caring for an elderly parent, having a career or giving it up.
—Phyllis Hyman

Ruth Moose

You buy a copy of If I Had My Life to Live Over I Would Pick More Daisiesto give to a friend, because you have to share it and you can't bear to part with your own copy…And she buys a copy of the book for her friend and so the chain goes.
—Ruth Moose,Encore Magazine

Sara Sanderson

We know these women. They are our neighbors, our friends, ourselves.
—Sara Sanderson,Indianapolis News