Annabelle Gurwitch

I See You Made an Effort: Compliments, Indignities, and Survival Stories from the Edge of 50 Annabelle Gurwitch

Publisher Marketing: Actress and humorist Annabelle Gurwitch returns with "I See You Made an Effort," a book of essays so wickedly funny it may make you forget your last birthday. Not one to shy away from the grisly realities of middle age, the slyly subversive ("O: The Oprah Magazine") Gurwitch confronts the various indignities faced by femmes d un certain age with candor, wit, and a healthy dose of hilarious self-deprecation. Whether falling in lust at the Genius Bar, navigating the extensive and treacherously expensive antiaging offerings at a department store beauty counter, coping with the assisted suicide of her best friend, negotiating the ins and outs of acceptable behavior with her teenage kid or the thudding financial reality of the never-tirement generation that leads her to petty theft, Gurwitch s essays prove her a remarkably astute writer in her prime (in so many ways). Is this the beginning of the Eileen Fisher years? Where does one conduct an affair with a younger man? Is fifty the new forty? Or is fifty still just fifty? Scorchingly honest, surreally and riotously funny, "I See You Made an Effort" is the ultimate coming-of-middle-age story and a must listen for women of all ages." Review Citations: Library Journal Prepub Alert 10/15/2013 pg. 70 (EAN 9780399166181, Hardcover) Publishers Weekly 01/06/2014 (EAN 9780399166181, Hardcover) Library Journal 03/01/2014 pg. 88 (EAN 9780399166181, Hardcover) Kirkus Reviews 03/01/2014 (EAN 9780399166181, Hardcover) Shelf Awareness 03/14/2014 (EAN 9780399166181, Hardcover) Contributor Bio:  Gurwitch, Annabelle Annabelle Gurwitch is an actress and author of You Say Tomato, I Say Shut Up, a self-hurt marital memoir cowritten with her husband, Jeff Kahn, and now a theatrical play in its third national tour; and Fired! Tales of the Canned, Canceled, Downsized, & Dismissed. Her Fired! documentary premiered as a Showtime comedy special and played at film festivals around the world. Gurwitch gained a loyal comedic following during her numerous years cohosting the cult favorite Dinner & a Movie; her acting credits include Dexter, Boston Legal, Seinfeld, Melvin Goes to Dinner, The Shaggy Dog, and Not Necessarily the News on HBO. Most recently, she starred in Coney Island Christmas, Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Donald Margulies s adaptation of a Grace Paley story, at The Geffen Playhouse. Her other live appearances include the New York Comedy Festival, the 92nd Street Y, the Upright Citizens Brigade, and story salons in New York and Los Angeles. She has served as a regular commentator on NPR and a humorist for TheNation.com. Her writing has been published in, among others, More, Marie Claire, Men s Health, and the Los Angeles Times. Gurwitch, a passionate environmentalist and a reluctant atheist, lives with her husband and son in Los Angeles.