“Hitting the big five-zero few women are being complimented for their distinguished looks and impressive careers.”, writes Judith Lucy in her latest book, TURNS OUT, I’M FINE.
Sadly so, but, on the face of it, Judith Lucy should be considered in that few. With her distinguished looks and impressive careers, including best selling and award winning author, she should shower in compliments, bathe in kudos, and bask in the sunshine of success.
Turns out, she can be dissed, duped and dumped with the best of us. Turns out that this smart, independent, funny feminist had, deep down, always been waiting for a man to ‘complete her.’ Turns out she has been able to take this recipe for disaster and cook up a book that is deliciously entertaining.
TURNS OUT, I’M FINE is the result of a watershed incident that put her into an emotional water closet. Previously flushed with success, now flushed with failure, as her prince turned toad.
Annoyingly, for her, she had to revisit ground she thought she’d well and truly covered in shows and books and television specials. And she learned a lot. And through the book, we do too.
TURNS OUT, I’M FINE is poignant, deep and meaningful, while packing punchlines and sardonic asides like sardines.
Boyfriends become Buggerlugs, an endearing term for what behaviourally were bastards, bounders and cads in bygone terminology, blokes who were not really nice or confident in themselves, ready to enjoy her crazy life and have fun. Bugger the Buggerlugs for a joke.
Taking the pith out of navel gazing, this grand dame of drollery gives us chirpy, chipper chapters like When I Grow Up I’ll Be a Feminist Princess, and Can I Blame My Parents for Everything followed by anatomically adroit offerings like One Hot Cunt and How Not To Be An Arsehole Person.
By sharing her story, Judith Lucy is trying not to be an arsehole, educating and entertaining us so that we experience empathy and not just foster pity.
A comic Confucius, Judith Lucy seeks not to know all the answers, but to understand the questions. Like, Were women designed by someone who was trying to win a bet?
TURNS OUT I’M FINE by Judith Lucy is published by Scribner