I really can’t remember why I requested a copy of Older, but Better, but Older by Caroline de Maigret and Sophie Mas from NetGalley. I wasn’t familiar with their previous work, and I don’t spend a lot of time pondering my increasing age. But maybe I had a moment of “I’m in my 40s!” weakness, or maybe I thought a European perspective on beauty and specifically a French one, might be interesting.

Whatever the reason, I was granted a copy and then didn’t get to it before the electronic copy expired, so I ended up picking up a copy from my library sometime later. As someone who has to keep working in person during the 2020 pandemic, I’ve spent a lot of quality break time in my car having lunch, and what better way to relax there than with a book? So Older, but Better, but Older became my lunchtime companion for awhile. The segments are short, usually no more than a page or two, interspersed with artsy photography, mostly of women, that may or may not apply to the section it accompanies. The writing is somewhat interesting, but not gripping, and so it made excellent lunchtime reading, easy to pick up and to put down.

My biggest complaint is that the book didn’t seem to be quite sure what it wanted to be. Was it a personal reflection on the lives of the authors? Or a more universal and therefore more relatable reflection on aging and life as a woman past a certain age? Or was it wise tips on life and fashion for women of a certain age bracket, by fashionable and successful Parisian women? The tone alternated from section to section. Many specific stories that were shared limited the book’s relatability to French women of a certain age and economic bracket (RICH!) I was not familiar with the authors before this book, but once I googled them, I understood a little better the immense privilege reflected in many of the anecdotes. (I just HATE when my parents harass me about my relationships while we are vacationing for the summer in rural France, don’t you?) Even more jarring, some of the sections were written in second person, with an implication that I, the reader, shared these concerns with the authors. When really, often, I did not, and second person just made that more obvious.

There was also a lack of diversity which I suppose I could have expected from the demographic of the authors. There is a beautiful Black woman modelling in some of the photos, and there’s some discussion of lesbian relationships, but otherwise the tone is very much rich white cis women.

Weirdly, I didn’t hate the book, despite how irrelevant to me about half the sections were. I treated it as glimpses into lives very different from my own, perhaps how many people watch the Kardashians or other super rich privileged celebrities on reality TV shows. I don’t feel like I got a lot of useful tangible advice out of it, so I cannot recommend it as a resource on female beauty after 40, despite some sections with straightforward fashion and beauty advice. But if you enjoy this particular wealthy European aesthetic, then you may enjoy staring at photos of awkwardly posed half nude women and random Parisian scenery and reading about musings on late-in-life pregnancy, familial tensions, life after divorce, and the trauma of external signs of aging.

Thank you to #NetGalley and Doubleday for sharing an advanced electronic copy of #OlderButBetterButOlder with me for review.

This book was fun to read and fantasize about my Parisian lifestyle, but forgettable. No actual content was absorbed. I had a hard time getting through it and forgot it shortly after.

This is a fast read (I read it in one sitting) with interesting essays, pictures, and little 'tidbits of wisdom'. I found myself nodding in recognition at many of the statements, chuckling at others.

I read this book before my birthday and it made me extremely introspective. Caroline de Maigret and Sophie Mas find a playful, yet heartfelt way to make all the trials and tribulations of aging a little less daunting. I think women of all ages can relate to or has thought about the topics discussed in this book like moving on after a breakup, finding your first wrinkle, and when to have children to name a few. This mixed media book filled with essay, Pinterest worthy photographs and quotes was a quick and pleasant read.