Why We Can't Sleep - by Ada Calhoun

About the Book

An instant New York Times bestseller--lauded by critics and TV personalities alike--and one of the most anticipated books of the year, Ada Calhoun's Why We Can't Sleep has ignited an essential conversation about the midlife realities faced by Gen X women, the generation raised to "have it all."

Book Synopsis

An instant New York Times bestseller-lauded by critics and TV personalities alike--and one of the most anticipated books of the year, Ada Calhoun's Why We Can't Sleep has ignited an essential conversation about the midlife realities faced by Gen X women, the generation raised to "have it all."

Review Quotes

Praise for Why We Can't Sleep

The Indie Next Pick of January 2020
One of Vogue's Best Books to Read this Winter
One of 10 Most Anticipated Books of 2020 by Forbes
Named One of Lit Hub's Most Anticipated Books of 2020

"[C]andid and engaging. [Calhoun] is a funny, smart, compassionate narrator.... I admired her insistence on taking women's concerns seriously." -New York Times Book Review

"[A]n engaging hybrid of first-person confession, reportage, pop culture analysis, and statistics... it aspires to something larger than memoir." --The New Republic

"Calhoun speaks directly to her own generation, peppering the book with so many specific cultural touchstones... that I found reading Why We Can't Sleep to be a singular experience - driving home her point that Gen X is so often overlooked." --Minneapolis Star Tribune

"A superb mix of personal stories and deep research about a generation of women who are facing unprecedented pressure as they enter middle age. It's at once realistic, but positive, asking women to face up to reality, let go of expectations, find a support system and accept this stage isn't forever." --Huffington Post

"Marriage implosions, rising debt, and a constant sense of failure pop up throughout this brief but potent and sometimes funny book... Why We Can't Sleep might do much to let readers like the women Calhoun writes about that they are not alone." --Literary Hub

"[A] bracing, empowering study... Women of every generation will find much to relate to in this humorous yet pragmatic account." --Publishers Weekly

"Calhoun's latest will be useful for those interested in feminist theory, especially insofar as it intersects with age and class, as well as a useful resource for people struggling to find balance in their personal and professional lives." --Library Journal (starred review)

"This is a conversation starter (as well as a no-brainer for book groups that count Gen X women among their members) that might get Boomer and Millennial readers curious, too." --Booklist

"Ada Calhoun provides a thoughtful, incisive account of the myriad challenges facing Generation X women." --Shelf Awareness

"'Having it all' was the Baby Boomers' rallying cry as, aided by new tools of reproductive control, we burst from the pink ghettoes of the secretarial pool and ceaseless childcare to seek fulfillment in workaholic professions. Two generations later, despairing Gen X women find the glass mountain of fulfillment still impossible to scale, and with deep perception, wit and incisive analysis, Ada Calhoun tells us why, tracing the internal as well as the external forces that separate women from the peace they've spent their lives earning." --Harriet A. Washington, A Terrible Thing to Waste: Environmental Racism and Its Assault on the American Mind

"Ada Calhoun's soulful investigation into the complex landscape women in midlife face today is downright stunning. Calhoun has captured the voices--some broken, some resilient, many barely staying afloat--of over 200 women from around the country and in doing so, shown us how much we share in divisive times. You will recognize yourself in these pages, breathe a sigh of relief, and think, I'm not alone." --Susannah Cahalan, author of the New York Times bes

About the Author