Jenny Eclair

If you're not familiar with Jenny Eclair further afield from the UK, she was a comedienne back in the 90s and is more recently known as a writer of newspaper columns and books and has had some success in recent years with tours on subjects that appeal to women of a certain age. I'm not sure what I expected from this - probably funny musings on the menopause. Eclair probably thinks this is the book she's written, but sadly it missed the mark on several fronts.

Firstly, this was literally an A to Z of the menopause, which resulted in lots of filler content to fill all those awkward letters. Secondly, as far as I'm aware Jenny Eclair doesn't have a secret clinical degree that she's hiding under a bushel, yet she felt in a position to talk with authority on subjects such as HRT and alternative remedies. What very much wound me up was her failure to not once mention the link between HRT and breast cancer, despite writing a good few pages on the subject. Sadly the humour was also try-hard and didn't work for me. Eclair is one of those women that feels she has to be bolshy and shocking but it just comes across as a bit sad and out-dated - that was maybe how she had to be to get on in the man's world of the comedy circuit 30 years ago, but I think we've all moved on a bit now.

3 stars - it wasn't dreadful, but I'll not be recommending it (no matter how bad your mood swings).… (mere)