Dear Ms. Liza

Cartoon from When Do They Serve the Wine: The Folly, Flexibility, and Fun of Being a Woman by Liza Donnelly, being published in early november by Chronicle Books.

SEPTEMBER, 2010

Dear Ms Liza Donnelly,

Thank you for creating your soon-to-be-released book, When Do They Serve The Wine? I found it to be a delightful read, filled with witty cartoons depicting the decades in a woman’s life. This book, the latest in an impressive body of work showcasing your talents as a cartoonist, demonstrates once again your rare ability to communicate volumes in a blink. I’ve enjoyed your contributions to The New Yorker, your collections of cartoons about sex, love and marriage, and your children’s books.

What follows are a few of my observations upon finishing your book. While your latest endeavor would have been perfectly fine as an entertaining diversion, you have actually produced a very practical reference guide. Packed with useful tidbits like “How to Know When He’s Cheating,” “Top 10 Reasons to Lie About Your Age,” and “How NOT to Get Sucked into Feeling Old,” in When Do They Serve The Wine? you have given us a sassy and dead-on look at aging and the variety of ways women choose to respond to it.

Your recap of the early years helped me realize I wasn’t the only girl who had an ambivalent relationship with my Barbie dolls. And a special thanks for dredging the memory of long ago and somewhat embarrassing “prom dresses to forget.” The teen years and their accompanying self-consciousness you have depicted with cringe-inducing but hilarious accuracy.

Which brings me to your chapter on “The 20s.” I must admit that here I have one complaint: Where were you on that Black Tuesday in 1983 when the hairdresser in Yonkers convinced me that I would look sexy with bangs? But while your book arrived too late to save me, savvy readers can avert similar catastrophe by heeding the “hairstyles to avoid” recommendations included in each section.

The chapter on “The 30s”—and the accompanying urgent questions of the times whether, when and with whom to mate, marry or mother—are explored with humor and candor. Your easy-to-use diagram clarifies the conundrum of where to put creams and when, as well as providing a voice of wisdom to the young ones from the other side: “Don’t waste hard-earned money on any cream before age 30.”

In “The 40s” chapter you grapple with the grays, explore what it takes to get ahead in the workplace, and, on my very favorite page, offer a thoughtful and realistic rebuttal to the pro-liposuction camp. Inviting the reader along on your joyride through the 50s and 60s, you warn of a morning when every woman wakes up, looks into the mirror and does not recognize the old woman looking back at her. Your cartoons help me in the quest to accept that there are a lot of things worse than laugh lines; and I suppose we could avoid them by never smiling, but that seems an awfully high price to pay.

In conclusion, your book is a treasure. Saucy, clever, sweet. For the reassurance that our bodies change without our consent as we get older—but it’s going to be okay—thank you. Since I’ve noticed lately that some of my best friends are getting older, When Do They Serve the Wine? will help me be more sympathetic to what my sisters out there are going through. From menstruation to menopause, beau talks to Botox, you have given us a timeline upon which every female will find herself somewhere.

I am looking forward to meeting you at Oblong Books in Rhinebeck for the book signing on November 6th, 2010, at 7:30pm, and heartily recommend that anyone who is a woman or knows one get their hands on a copy of this gem.

Yours truly,

Kathleen Everett

PS. You should know that I shared your book with an unnamed contact at the American Academy of Opticians who called me back to report that they may ask you to pose for the centerfold in the upcoming trade newsletter. They are that grateful to you for outing the truth that men indeed DO make passes at girls who wear glasses. —K.E.