Woozie (AKA Grandmother) Wisdom (About Life, Sex, Love)

"Anyone who does not know how to be intimate, and love and be loved, is a moron, in my book. Or at the least, a limited frightened pathetic excuse for a human being."

Hubschman’s book explores issues related to relationships, love, sex, fun, and healing. There are 151 short chapters, most of them beginning and ending with quotes from others. The first section is about “LIFE,” and its chapters focus on living, happiness, children, types of "smarts,” stupid people, therapists, having a bad day, friends, jackasses, sibling rivalry, and the non-existence of perfection. Section I I– “SEX,” explores what's new about sex, listening techniques for guys, gay/transgender, pornography, passion, selfish lovers, sex is in the head, sensuality, and being alone by choice. Section III – “LOVE,” examines beauty, fair fighting, assertiveness, absence, showing that love is not for the weak of heart, games, broken hearts, relationship roles, ending the relationship, styles of marriage, and talking to one another. The book offers many insights into developing and maintaining healthy relationships.

Written in a humorous manner, the author has an engaging writing style which is easy to follow. As a therapist who focuses on relationships and sexuality education, there is a lot of helpful information in all three of the sections. The book is a compilation of her blog essays, so you can actually pick up and read any chapter at any time. The sex roles are somewhat traditionally defined (i.e. "When you find a woman who is not driven in that fashion [to be loved by a man and rear children] she usually has a lot of testosterone and is not what I would call feminine.") While she notes acceptance of LGBT relationships, this is a book solely for heterosexual couples. However, within the wisdom, there also is a lack of acceptance for other beliefs, and the author’s use of negative terminology might tip the scale for some readers who don't want to be belittled. If one can overlook this, the book is an entertaining read.

Author Lynn Hubschman has constructed a book that gives Grandmotherly advice to those that might have missed out on important life tips, titled Woozie (AKA Grandmother) Wisdom (About Life, Sex, Love). She details who we learn from and what a multi-generational education looks like. In the earlier chapters she talks about common sense tips as they relate to living a happy healthy and vibrant life.

Hubschman gives helpful advice about being successful in many different ways. I think very often young people forget success and failure come in many different forms. She offers a new framework for evaluating our lifestyles and personal habits. In the chapter titled How to grow a person Hubschman gives her perspective on raising children. While I agree children grow into adults whether neglected or nurtured, I disagree that success is hidden inside the child themselves. She points out the potential for success is hidden inside every individual, but it is how you are raised and cared for that determines your potential for success. Some of Hubschman’s tips and ideas echo ideas from books about traveling and living a life filled with a purpose. Her style of writing is humorous, clean and conversational. I personally enjoyed her use of spacing to keep her advice and ideas flowing smoothly.

Some of the tips are awkward and seem not to include various perspectives for different types of families and couples. She has varied experiences that help the reader plunge into the world of a woman which has lived the life she describes throughout her book. Bridging the gap between family members of different genders, ages, and interests is a hard puzzle to solve in life, however I found that Hubschman offers helpful suggestions and creative solutions for keeping boundaries and enjoying those you love and are forced to spend time with.

While the chapter titles are informative, I wished that they had also come with numbers, making them easier to navigate and more distinct from the last. I respect Hubschman's intertextual writing and use of concise quotes at the beginning of each chapter. The end of the book becomes somewhat repetitive at times, rehashing points that the author covered in earlier chapters. While the title of the book indicates the book is about life, sex and love, I found that she went into detail about sex and love more than life. Even though she defines love as an important part of life, I felt raising children and making friends was lost to her romantic plot. I enjoyed the way she went through every facet of a romantic relationship from different perspectives, commenting from her pedestal of wisdom inherent with being a Grandmother and a therapist and sex educator over thirty years. This book is quite the “go to” book, allowing the reader to ponder their own situations while reading about others, bringing into focus the objective forces of love, sex and life we all get carried away with in our years, prior to becoming “Grand” in our own participation of creating two younger generations.