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The Panic Years cover art

The Panic Years

By: Nell Frizzell
Narrated by: Nell Frizzell
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Summary

Brought to you by Penguin. 

The Panic Years: something between adolescence and menopause, a personal crisis, a transformation.

The panic years can hit at any time but they are most commonly triggered somewhere between the ages of 25 and 40. During this time, every decision a woman makes - from postcode to partner, friends to family, work to weekends - will be impacted by the urgency of the one decision with a deadline, the one decision that is impossible to take back: whether or not to have a baby.

But how to stay sane in such a maddening time?

How to understand who you are and what you might want from life?

How to know if you're making the right decisions?

Raw, hilarious and beguilingly honest, Nell Frizzell's account of her panic years is both an arm around the shoulder and a campaign to start a conversation. This affects us all - women, men, mothers, children, partners, friends, colleagues - so it's time we started talking about it with a little more candour. 

©2019 Nell Frizzell (P)2019 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"Every millennial woman should have it on her bookshelf." (Pandora Sykes, journalist and cohost of The High Low Podcast)

"Vital reading. Nell Frizzell is a master." (Rob Delaney, cowriter and costar of Catastrophe)

What listeners say about The Panic Years

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

A hard one to review

If you're going through the Panic Years yourself, this is a really difficult listen. It induces further panic and I think it should be made much clearer that it's ONE WOMAN'S very normative experience, rather than a book which delves in detail into the science, media, accepted norms and expectations which elicit such panic. The book never purports to represent anything other than the writer's view, hence why I say it's a hard one to review, but in it's cover copy, presentation and the way it is written, it does give off the impression that it will look more widely at the panic years from an objective point of view. Instead half the book is taken up with covering the writer's relationship, pregnancy and experience with a child, which is fairly triggering for the target audience. Small point, but perhaps it could have done with bringing in more and differing opinions, rather than just recounting conversations with mates - all of whom seem to also be writers - which reinforced the writer's, and therefore the listener's, sense of panic and failure. Basically it left me feeling more like a failure, more panicked, more scared that I might lose the opportunity to have something I don't even know I want, and more sad that the world has made late 20's - mid 30 something women like me feel this way than before I started the book. So it's effective, but not comfortable. Or possibly what women seeking to understand their panic need.

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12 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars

Painfully white middle-class, stagnant and full of observational cliché

Currently 7 chapters in and realising that this is really not as fun or engaging as I thought it could be. It’s really old hat, reliant on weak observational comedic moments. I can’t find it me to like the voice. The idea of the time period called the flux is poorly conceived and really unimaginative. The attempt to validate it by enlisting other name possibilities for the phase in time she is desperate to name makes it seem even worse. Just listened to No One Is Talking About This, which is totally ahead of it’s time and makes this piece of non-fiction embarrassingly stuffy. Tbh just watch series one of Sex and the City and you can see the same narrative arch made decades earlier with more fun and sass. As a work of non-fiction it is too white and middle-class, and really highlighted to me how this type of prose reflection is so one dimensional. I regret buying it.

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3 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars

got a bit boring

It started off well and it does touch on some good points but then it was just about her life and her pregnancy/life with a baby - which I think in itself would be triggering for the supposed audience. by the end I found it really difficult to listen too in places. I also found the book full of privilege so found it hard to relate too.

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3 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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A must read for those living an existential conflict about fertility and motherhood

Nell is funny and witty and real, so real. At times it felt like she wrote my own internal dialogues of hopes and fears of motherhood in a patriarchal society. The vulnerabilities of opening oneself fully to a relationship, the fear of the unknown future and environmental concerns... it was like sitting with a friend having a cup of tea and talking about the mysteries of life and the conflicts of our existence.

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

Made me panic

So If that was the aim…Great. Started off brilliant, ended with me feeling even more lonely and scared for my future than before

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Amazing

As someone in the panic years, thank you!! Your words have been so comforting and helpful I felt like you read my mind!

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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Terrible

Old fashioned and triggering for some women.
Had to return it. Could not even bear to continue past the first ten minutes.

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

Great read provides real insight

Great read as a young women it gave me insights I could relate to and others I couldn't which is the beauty of this book. It highlights different and similar experiences women face. I did find it slightly repetitive. Well performance and easy to listen to.

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Must read for all women!

This is a beautifully and honest written book and a must read for any woman aged 25-35 in particular! It was so comforting to know all my thoughts and feelings about the flux are felt by so many others - will recommend to all my friends! Thanks for putting this into the world Nell - I feel less alone!

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

Beginners only

If you never heard any feminist arguments, you'll have a revelation. Otherwise - a drag. Very narcissistic of the author to just tell her story and market it as a guide through hard times. The book misses its own point - she didn't have a revelation, she didn't mature and chose partners whose goals align. Instead, she whined and guilt tripped her bf who never wanted kids into having a baby with her. Subsequently, he is always at work and never helps with the baby unless she is on the edge of literally smashing the baby against the floor. Do NOT take that as a success story and an example to follow please.

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