"Can You Laugh Your Way Through Menopause?"

Reading Jan King's, When You're Hot You're Hot How I Laughed My Way Through Menopause, is a little like watching some of the well- known female comedians such as Margaret Cho, Rosanne, Bette Midler, Carol Leifer, Bonnie Hammer, Dawn French or Ellen Degeneres parade on stage and perform their various shticks. Only this time the shtick is about menopause performed by King, who asserts, "I'm officially out of the egg business."

King is a former high school biology teacher turned author who tackles the subject matter of menopause with a great deal of wit and humor. The facts are all there, however it is the way they are presented that makes them memorable, and very often hilarious.

According to King the term menopause is derived from the Latin- Meno="man" and Pause-"terminate." In other words it all boils down to the literal translation, "you are the weakest link-good-bye!" King goes onto explain that as the woman can no longer become pregnant, men now become useless. As a result, the woman's sexual interest in men comes to a "screeching halt." There are two remaining functions for these men, lawn maintenance and auto repair.

King definitely has seen the light when it comes to menopause related topics, and without holding anything back, she tells it like it is while at the same time keeping her readers in stitches. King has authored 23 humor books for women and six have even been translated into 8 languages. I guess there is something to be said about women's humor that seems to be universal.

The topics dealt with in the book run the gamut from the malfunctioning of women's thermostats to various kinds of cosmetic surgeries, different kinds of female medical examinations, sexual satisfaction (King describes hers after menopause-my libido ended up in limbo), relationships with men, even male menopause, if there is such an animal.

King is breast cancer survivor, and she also includes many thoughtful insights sprinkled with humor pertaining to this dreadful disease. Her assertion at the end of the book that nobody appreciates his or her life more than a cancer survivor is probably the impetus that makes King's writing so verbally comical that is constantly tickling our funny bones. The cumulative effect of the book is optimistic or at least somewhat calming and balanced, and will even provide some answers to such questions as- is there life during and after menopause?

Reviewed by Norman Goldman
Courtesy Bookpleasures
Posted December 28, 2003