A Place Called Canterbury: Tales of the New Old Age in America
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.67 (567 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0670018848 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 400 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2016-12-31 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
From Publishers Weekly Former New York Times reporter Clendinen tells how he persuaded his frail mother to sell her house and move to Canterbury Tower in Florida, a geriatric apartment building where many of her friends already lived. (May)Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. But in 1998, the 83-year-old suffered a stroke and eventually moves into the nursing wing, finally succumbing in early 2007. Overall, Clendinen offers a mixed bag, with some stories coming across as poignant and others depressing, in need of some larger meaning—which could have been found, perhaps, in either Clendinen's own alluded-to midlife crisis or a more robust discussion of senior care. . Around this central narrative, Clendinen spins other stories and observations about the lifestyle
An "affectionate, touchingly empathetic" (Janet Maslin, The New York Times) look at old age in America today Welcome to Canterbury Tower , an apartment building in Florida, where the residents are busy with friendships, love, sex, money, and gossip-and the average age is eightysix. A Place Called Canterbury is both a journalist's account of the last years of the Greatest Generation and a son's rueful memoir of his mother. But life was not over yet for the feisty southern matron. Journalist Dudley Clendinen's mother moved to Canterbury in 1994, planning-like most the inhabitants-to spend her final years there. There, she and her eccentric new friends lived out a soap opera of dignity, nerve, and humor otherwise known as the New Old Age. Entertaining and unsparing, it is essential reading for anyone with aging parents, and those wondering what their own old age might look like.
A poignant "coming of age" story I thoroughly enjoyed this book and in fact read it in the span of a little under a week - I couldn't put it down. Many books have been written about the transition from childhood to adolescence, but the transition from adulthood to what the author (or the publisher's marketing people) call "the new old age" has been pretty much ignored.The author describes his mother's life at Canterbury Tower, a high-rise retirement com. "If you're in a three-quarter-life crisis because of your parentsor yourself, this is the book" according to Amazon Customer. This is the warm, moving memoir of a woman's last years told by her son. The author gets to know--well--the neighbors, staff members, and administrators at his mother's Tampa retirement home during long years of her decline following several strokes. He tells all their stories, interwoven with his mother's life.He also has to make repeated, painful decisions about life support, care, and medications. He develops warm bon. A very accuratea desctiption I was amazed when I found this book. It is a very accurate description of Canterbury Tower. My mother was one of the original residents and died 17years later in the health care center. The book was based on a certain group of residents who had grown up together for the most part. Life in canterbury Tower surely has it's ups and downs and problems. It is a fairly unbiased book on the subject but doesn't mention all the n