Review: Women Rowing North: Navigating Life’s Currents and Flourishing as We Age

Mary Pipher’s Women Rowing North can easily be assumed of interest to only those in the 55 and up age range — those finding themselves navigating the “last stretch of the river” rather than just launching the boat onto the water. Nothing could be further from the truth. This book is brimming with significant insights for women of all ages.

In this book, Pipher pulls back the curtain on chronological aging and helps us to see all that entails and how we might best prepare. She examines cultural misperceptions about stages of life and aging, and she addresses the benefits years of wisdom afford us in self-confidence, assurance, and self-acceptance.

Often through the stories of interviewees, Pipher looks at how life changes as we move through womanhood. While she’s at it, she shares her own personal story and those of women she’s known.

By pairing anecdotes with wisdom from her years as a therapist (as well as her easy humor), Pipher encourages an examination of our individual coping skills: Are they allowing us to handle where we are today, and how effective will they be in the future? 

Women and Aging

Having never been older than we are today, we cannot fully comprehend being elderly — or even just older — in our skins. By outlining skills we should develop as we age, Pipher also helps women identify self-defeating behaviors and mindsets counter to our personal wellbeing at whatever age we might be. 

The insights in this book helped me understand several older women I interact with frequently, and also to recognize the clashes between these women and their adult children who just do not understand the perspective and needs of older women. 

Speaking to multiple generations

This isn’t the first time the author has addressed different generations. You may recognize her name as the author of Reviving Ophelia addressing the stresses of teenagers or Another Country about the challenges of caring for aging parents. I think you’ll also find this book is a wonderful resource for anyone dealing with a mother, grandmother, friend, or colleague coping with the realities of aging. 

I wish I had this guide as a young woman trying to define and understand my place in the world and what would benefit me as an individual and in the various roles I had to play. We all need help “navigating life’s currents” and this book provides that in spades.

Pipher’s Women Rowing North is a keeper and a giver: a book to keep on your bookshelf and delve into periodically and one to give to those you know who could benefit from the wisdom therein. I want to give every caregiver I know a copy! 

Women Rowing North: Navigating Life’s Changing Currents and Flourishing as We Age by Mary Pipher is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and local booksellers.  Published by Bloomsbury Publishing, New York 2019. This article contains affiliate links.