Meg Fratano is a stereotype and knows it. She is 48 years old,
married to Bob, over-educated with a university position, and has
two children --- Shaun, who is already gone after a very silent
adolescence, and Katie, who, although 17 and still in high school,
is treated by Meg as more of a friend. Meg's mother, forbidden by
her father to go to college, consistently told her daughter that
she would go to college and work outside the home, and that Meg
could travel and have the life she herself couldn't have. Her
mother's sister, Auntie Marcia, reinforced this message through
stories of her own worldly jaunts and had great expectations for
Meg, who she saw as more daughter than niece. Despite their
preaching, however, Meg has become a grown-up woman who lives her
life for everyone but herself.

One Thursday, Meg, who is working outside of her office on a
project, stops by her house to pick up some files from the
basement. A noise from upstairs initially frightens her into
thinking there is a burglar in the house. But as she goes to
investigate, the rhythmic nature of the noise belies a robbery.
Instead, what Meg finds in her bedroom, and more importantly
watches intently, is her husband making love to a woman only
identified as Miss Geranium, due to the color of her nail polish.
When Meg is finally able to break her humiliating yet silent pose,
she leaves her home, just as silently, and runs to her "goddess
friend" Elizabeth.

From here Meg (or Meggie, as many people seem to call her) begins
her journey of self-discovery. First, her marriage ends with very
little quarrel over property or money. Her relationship with her
daughter deepens (Katie is practically unaffected by the divorce of
her parents). She forges friendships with new women like Jane, who
approaches her in a neighborhood bar, is in the throes of a divorce
herself and, oh by the way, also slept with Bob. Interestingly
enough, Meg, full of her newfound wisdom and insight, accepts this
and they go on to become fast friends. Meg starts therapy and hits
it right off with her female therapist, Dr. C (who might be one of
Elizabeth's old lovers), a single mom/waitress who woke up one day
and decided to get a Ph.D.

Meg and her mother talk a lot about Auntie Marcia (who died years
earlier) and her frequent trips to Mexico. Along with a ring and
bracelet she left for Meg when she died, there is some money in an
account for a trip to Mexico (although it was intended that she do
this as a much younger woman). Before you can say "Hola, Amigo!"
Meg, Elizabeth and Jane are in Mexico bouncing around in a jeep
with a beautiful woman named Linda (warning: most of the women are
bohemian beautiful in this novel and apparently they sleep around
with each other) in search of the "dancing doggies" from one of
Meg's favorite stories told by the dearly departed Marcia.

During the course of the novel, a number of martinis, margaritas
and cups of herbal tea are drunk. Many things are done by
middle-aged women that seem pretty crazy unless you are the
middle-aged woman doing it --- skinny dipping, filling small rock
circles with flower petals in which to lie, and, of course, dancing
naked. There are lots of deep, introspective conversations filled
with "why nots" and "what ifs." There is a cottage in Mexico left
to Meg by Marcia and possibly a love interest. Purple skirts,
silver bracelets and Reverse Bridal Showers abound, and every end
is neatly tied by the novel's conclusion. A perfect mid-life crisis
book about an "almost" perfect mid-life crisis. Or at least, the
kind this reader would like to have. Wow, Meg. Wow.