Are you part of a book club or looking to start one? The Astonishing Lives of Older Women by Moira Welsh makes a great book club pick!
The Astonishing Lives of Older Women offers cautionary tales from courageous women and practical financial insights to empower women in navigating career choices, family duties, and long-term financial planning with confidence and awareness as they age.
Book Club Questions
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Which cultural narratives about older women did this book reinforce or challenge, for you?
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How do you think aging is framed in this book? As a loss or an opportunity?
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Whose individual story stayed with you the most? Is it because you admired or were surprised by their choices?
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Did Pat, Susan, or Elizabeth’s stories change how you think about aging?
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Financial instability is the central theme that ties together the many facets of this book — sexuality, marriage, loneliness, housing. How do you think finances are central to all of these areas of women’s lives?
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Do you agree with the framing that financial instability and loneliness are a public health crisis?
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Why do you think so many of the women discussed in this book only realized their financial instability later in life? What role do you think our culture and society plays in that late realization?
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The idea of choosing solitude, particularly after the end of a marriage‚ comes up more than once. Do you see that as empowering or limiting?
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This book reveals the ways in which women are conditioned to value youth and beauty throughout their lives. How does that belief system show up in older age?
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The term “tradwife” has recently become popular. What warning do you think this book presents to the tradwife lifestyle?