Books
Menopause, Sisterhood, and Tennis — Reviews
What the press is saying
What the readers are saying
Press Releases
What the press is saying:
When her husband suggested that tennis might give her the physical outlet she needed while dealing with hormonal changes brought on by menopause, Alice Wilson-Fried was skeptical. And for good reason. She wasn’t exactly the athletic type. A self-described bookworm, she had ready hit the big Five-O --- or, as she calls it "half of a hundred years old." And, as an African-American, she had always felt alienated by what she considered an elite, whites-only sport. "I was the least likely person to hit the courts," admits Wilson-Fried, a Nor-Cal transplant who was raised in New Orleans.
But her husband, an avid player, bought her a racket anyway, along with a gift certificate for lessons at Oakland's Chabot Canyon Racquet Club. Although she remembers her first tennis experience as both "humiliating and exhilarating," Wilson-Fried soon found herself embarking on a menopausal migration of sorts, as she came face-to-face with her fears, both real and imagined. Working on her game forced her to undergo a personal character assessment. "Just when I thought I'd reached the age where living had shifted to slow motion, tennis made me feel younger and more alive than I did when I was at 20," she writes. A candid account of one woman's discovery of a new self as she tackles the physical and mental challenges of menopause, the book inspires by example.
Inside Tennis, September 2003
Oakland resident Alice Wilson-Fried came to tennis with a boatload of skepticism and harboring what she characterizes as "attitude with a capital A." As a product of the segregated South, Wilson-Fried wasn't allowed to set foot on a tennis court, public, private or otherwise. Her childhood experiences of growing up in the Magnolia Heights housing projects in New Orleans had helped shape long-standing ideas about what was and wasn't possible for brown-hued women from the projects.
U.S. Tennis Association Northern California Section News, Vol. 3, No. 2
In her quest to publish a book chronicling her own menopausal journey, Alice Wilson-Fried achieves an historic feat first by breaking through the daunting barriers in two very distinct spheres: the worlds of publishing and tennis.
University of Arkansas Pine Bluff Source News Services
... Alice Wilson-Fried's new book, Menopause, Sisterhood, and Tennis -- now there's a self-help title you don't come across every day -- has just hit the bookstores. ...
Chicago Sun-Times
Back
to the top
What the readers are saying:
I really liked this book. It's a warm, honest story combined with old-fashioned common sense and modern healthcare know-how. All in all an enjoyable reading experience. I could have finished typesetting it sooner if I hadn't got so caught up in the reading.
Gary Rosenberg
Tampa, FL
I just finished your book and am so excited and happy for you! Being "pre-menopausal" myself, I could relate to your story on several different levels. Reading the book was actually like sitting in your living room, having a wonderful conversation with you. There were parts of the book that were poignant, revealing, educational and inspiring and funny. Congratulations on a great book!
N. Michelle Gipson
Oakland, CA
I really, really enjoyed reading Menopause, Sisterhood, and Tennis. I mean I really enjoyed it and I'm not your target audience. But I gotta believe a few million women of any age, of all races, creeds, shades, abilities, economic levels and then some… when they hear about it, will be able to relate even more than I could (and I was surprised how much of it is general that I can relate to) and tell all their friends to buy their own copy. I know I will enthusiastically recommend it.
Kevin Castner
San Francisco, CA
Thank you for writing this book. I only wish you had years ago. Perhaps I would not have suffered fear and anxiety in silence. This book is informative, well written and brutally honest. Thanks for sharing your journey about menopause and how being introduced to the sport of tennis made a difference. So much wit and humor. One knows the truth when one hears it. I heard it.
Jewel Bleckinger
El Cerrito, CA
I ordered a copy of your book after I heard you on the radio and spent last night reading late into the night. Menopause, Sisterhood, and Tennis, reads exactly like you were speaking to me. It's poignant, funny and insightful! Did I say inspiring?!! Congratulations to you. And thank you.
Jane Ryan
Lincoln, NE
Dear Alice,
Thank you for sharing the joy and good health you have found in your book
Menopause, Sisterhood, and Tennis. It is inspiring, informative and fun.
As a fellow sister of uncontrolled sweats, some moodiness and a "jelly
belly" that has replaced my near flat tummy, I can relate.
Brenda Lynch
Oakland, CA
Press Releases
Aug 14, 2003:
AFRICAN-AMERICAN AUTHOR GAINS TOEHOLD IN FORMER "WHITES ONLY" TERRITORY
AND DISCOVERS TENNIS AS A PANACEA FOR MENOPAUSAL RELIEF
In her quest to become the first woman of color to publish a book chronicling
her own menopausal journey, Alice Wilson-Fried achieves an historic first
by breaking through the daunting barriers in two very distinct spheres: the
worlds of publishing and tennis. Bringing a long-overlooked cultural perspective
to the subject of menopause, Wilson-Fried, in the process, also dares to
redefine herself as an athlete in a sport that had, historically, been off-limits
to blacks.
Read more...
Aug 6, 2003:
GROUNDBREAKING BOOK PROVIDES A VIEW OF MENOPAUSE FROM AN AFRICAN-AMERICAN
WOMAN'S PERSPECTIVE
Despite the explosion of women’s health awareness, resources, and the ever-present
dialogue available through local and media outlets in recent years, no published
work has ever presented the topic of menopause from an African American perspective.
Nor has any African American perspective on health issues ever linked the
traditionally conservative pastime of playing tennis as a means of alleviating
and coping with menopausal symptoms ... Alice Wilson-Fried provides a poignant
and insightful look into her journey through menopause through the prism
of her Southern and racially segregated upbringing.
Read more...