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You Don't Look Your Age  By  cover art

You Don't Look Your Age

By: Sheila Nevins
Narrated by: Lena Dunham,Meryl Streep,Katie Couric,RuPaul,Martha Stewart,full cast
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Publisher's summary

An astonishingly frank, funny, poignant audiobook for any woman who wishes they had someone who would say to them, “This happened to me, learn from my mistakes and my successes. Because you don’t get smarter as you get older, you get braver.”

This program is read by the author and a full cast:
Cynthia Adler, Alan Alda, Bob Balaban, Christine Baranski, Kathy Bates, Ellen Burstyn, Glenn Close, Katie Couric, John Henry Cox, Blythe Danner, Lena Dunham, Edie Falco, Tovah Feldshuh, Diane von Furstenberg, Whoopi Goldberg, Gayle King, Diane Lane, Sandra Lee, Judith Light, Jenna Lyons, Audra McDonald, Janet Mock, Sheila Nevins, Rosie O’Donnell, Jean Richards, RuPaul, Liz Smith, Lesley Stahl, Gloria Steinem, Martha Stewart, Meryl Streep, Marlo Thomas, Lily Tomlin, and Gloria Vanderbilt.

“Thank you to Sheila Nevins for putting all this down for posterity. Women need this kind of honest excavation of the process of living.” —Meryl Streep

Sheila Nevins is the best friend you never knew you had. She is your discreet confidante you can tell any secret to, your sage mentor at work who helps you navigate the often uneven playing field, your wise sister who has “been there, done that,” your hysterical girlfriend whose stories about men will make you laugh until you cry. Sheila Nevins is the one person who always tells it like it is.

In You Don’t Look Your Age, the famed documentary producer (as President of HBO Documentary Films for over 30 years, Nevins has rightfully been credited with creating the documentary rebirth) finally steps out from behind the camera and takes her place front and center.

In this program you will hear about the real life challenges of being a woman in a man's world, what it means to be a working mother, what it’s like to be an older woman in a youth-obsessed culture, the sometimes changing, often sweet truth about marriages, what being a feminist really means, and that you are in good company if your adult children don’t return your phone calls.

So come, sit down, make yourself comfortable, and slip on those headphones. You’re in for a treat.

"...the decided advantage of the audio book is that it is read by a cast of stars as long as your arm — thanks to Nevins' considerable achievements in television and production...This is choice listening for the car, as the stories are short and thus lend themselves to erranding and other short hops." Fran Wood,
NJ.com

©2017 Sheila Nevins (P)2017 Macmillan

Critic reviews

"A treat" (People, Audio Pick)

"A diverse collection of poems, short stories, and anecdotes from HBO's president of documentary films is narrated by an A-list celebrity cast, including Alan Alda, Lena Dunham, Meryl Streep, and others. They're filled with heartwarming memories, quirky tongue-in-cheek recollections, regretful experiences, successes and failures, attempts to reverse aging, and a multitude of other relatable topics that will touch listeners' hearts--and that goes for either sex. Sheila Nevins cleverly recruited storytellers to celebrate and explore real life, sickness and death, anxiety, love lost, and life's mistakes made over all the hills and valleys of time. They provide perspective and courage to listeners and serve as proof that we're all in this life together, sharing the same types of experiences." (AudioFile)

What listeners say about You Don't Look Your Age

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Not what I was hoping for at all.

Any additional comments?

I guess I was expecting something Nora Ephron adjacent and was excited by the stellar cast of celebrity narrators...Meryl Streep, Lily Tomlin, Ellen Burstyn, Alan Alda, and a whole bunch more. Hmmmm. The essays in general were not funny, helpful, insightful, or even particularly well written. Revenge, pettiness, anger, bitterness, and such, appeared to be the main themes. For me it was all made worse by the addition of music and sound effects, which I don't really care for in an audiobook. Plus the narrators seem like they are acting the parts rather than narrating the stories, and by doing so they rather overpower the writing. Overall it felt more like listening to a not very good play being rehearsed than a book of essays. It wasn't a total loss, I found two of the essays quite compelling and well done. But in hindsight I wish I had simply exchanged this book for credit rather than persisting to the end.

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23 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Not what I expected

Is there anything you would change about this book?

I thought these were going to be stories written by each of the different actors...but they are stories read by the actors. Some were touching and funny but all from the perspective of rich, successful woman. I didn't finish.

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

A Must-Listen for Women "of a Certain Age"

Sheila Nevins may be a hugely successful documentarian, but the life events and dilemmas that she details in these essays are for every woman who is or has been a wife, a mother, a "working mom," a daughter, a friend. Ms. Nevins is both self-aware and a keen observer of the behaviors of others. She approaches her subjects, which are very personal, as honestly and objectively as one can and manages to bring out the humor/poignancy of each situation. Not every vignette is a success (e.g., "Eunice's Period," read by Gloria Steinem), but there are far more winners than not.

I strongly encourage you to listen to (rather than read) this collection, because the majority of the narrators were perfectly chosen for the particular essays they read, and their voices add much to the overall experience. I enjoyed, particularly, Judith Light, Marlo Thomas, Kathy Bates, Edie Falco, Lily Tomlin, and Tovah Felshuh, while Gloria Vanderbilt, Liz Smith, and Diane Von Furstenberg were disappointments. Gayle King is delightful in her readings about foodies and frenemies, and I was surprised at how moved I was by Rosie O'Donnell's narration of a story about parenting a child with Tourette Syndrome.

Although these are "fairy tales" about women, Alan Alda and Ru Paul are fun additions to this impressive collection of narrators, which also includes Martha Stewart, Glenn Close, Lena Dunham, Whoopi Goldberg, Katie Couric, Christine Baranski, and Meryl Streep.

Give it a listen! I think you'll be glad you did.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
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Disappointing

I saw Charlie Rose interview Sheila Nevens and thought that with her reputation as the guru of documentary programming Book would be interesting. During the interview she kept saying that the worst possible thing that a documentary could be was boring. Though she had a cavalcade of superstars to perform her short essays, The writing itself was quite poor and very boring. It reminds me of the sometimes surprising gulf between a good critic and actual talent.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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Loved it

What made the experience of listening to You Don't Look Your Age the most enjoyable?

Sheila has a delightful, beautiful voice and I would have enjoyed listening to her, however, I loved the concept of having familiar voices read the different essays/stories.

Which character – as performed by the narrators – was your favorite?

I loved all the stories/essays...some more than others...but my very favorite was the very last one read by Meryl Streep.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Some stories made me laugh, some made me cry with their poignant honesty and some made me yell RIGHT ON!!

Any additional comments?

I am now interested in seeing Ms Nevin's documentaries because I'll understand her motivation for sheer honesty in the telling. I hope to come across other Audible books of this nature in the future....and HOPE Ms Nevins does another book! I absolutely adore her now.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Now I need antidepressants -

Perhaps I thought this was going to be humorous? Very quickly realized I had stumbled into a "Womans Studies" class by mistake.
Narration runs from good to over done. Maybe excessive self absorption is just not my thing.
I fully accept that this is probably just my problem and a zillion others will think this is the best book ever- as for myself, I'm looking up AUDIBLES refund or exchange policy.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

This collection of stories is a treasure!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, every woman irregardless of age will find themselves within the pages, I greatly appreciated and admire the author's honesty, courage, humor and imagination contained in each story. Thank you so much for producing this gem of fiction and non-fiction, it has
helped me grasp meaning and perspective in not only my life, but that of my daughter's and who knows how many generations? Bravo, Ms. Nevins....a life well lived!
Thank you for the smile upon my face and though it's just been released
,please consider another edition!!!

What was one of the most memorable moments of You Don't Look Your Age?

All of the stories were exceptional!

Have you listened to any of the narrators’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I absolutely loved it!

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
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Ok

The essays were ok, but some people should not read audio books. It was hard to listen to some of the story tellers.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Total Disappointment

The title is misleading. Although there are some great talents/voices here, I didn't expect a "performance". And all the music has to go.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Loved this!

Have to admit that I worked with Sheila in the 90's through 2007 and am a big fan. Almost every story is relevant, well-told and the narration is fabulous. If you know Sheila, you can hear her in these pages--well done!

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