A Midsentence Crisis

Forget the midlife crisis. The problem we're having today in the New York Times is a midsentence crisis:

It was not that her husband no longer loved her, she said he told her; he just did not find the relationship exciting anymore.

“Maybe it’s a midlife crisis,” she said, then added derisively, “Whatever that is.”

What is that semicolon doing there? We're sort of guessing, but we believe the author meant to stick it after the first her. Like this:

It was not that her husband no longer loved her; she said he told her he just did not find the relationship exciting anymore.

“Maybe it’s a midlife crisis,” she said, then added derisively, “Whatever that is.”

Or maybe the attribution got in the way:

It was not that her husband no longer loved her; he just did not find the relationship exciting anymore.

“Maybe it’s a midlife crisis,” she said, then added derisively, “Whatever that is.”

We're half expecting that sentence to fold itself into a red Porsche convertible and drive around town with a 23-year-old trophy girlfriend. A midsentence crisis—there's nothing sadder. And everyone knows you're bald under that baseball cap.