Dudley Clendinen Personal Finance English

e-Book A Place Called Canterbury: Tales of the New Old Age in America download

by Dudley Clendinen

ISBN: 0670018848
ISBN13: 978-0670018840
Language: English
Publisher: Viking Adult; First Edition edition (May 1, 2008)
Pages: 400
Category: Personal Finance
Subategory: Work and Money

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Rating: 4.9
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Dudley Clendinen has written a masterful book. For a more clinical look at "the new old age", see Jane Gross's newly published book, "The Bittersweet Season".

Dudley Clendinen has written a masterful book. Both are excellent reading.

A Place Called Canterbury book. Old age in America is not what it used to be In 1994 New. Canterbury was filled not just with old Old age in America is not what it used to be. In 1994 New York Times writer Dudley Clendinen’s mother-a Southern matron of iron will but creaking bones-sold her house and moved to Canterbury Tower, a geriatric apartment building with full services and a nursing wing in Tampa Bay. There she landed in a microcosm of the New Old Age. Canterbury was filled not just with old Tampa neighbors but also with strangers from across the country.

Journalist Dudley Clendinen's mother moved to Canterbury in 1994, planning-like most the inhabitants-to .

Journalist Dudley Clendinen's mother moved to Canterbury in 1994, planning-like most the inhabitants-to spend her final years there. But life was not over yet for the feisty southern matron. 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. Journalist Dudley Clendinen's mother moved to Canterbury in 1994, planning-like most the inhabitants-to spend her final years there.

In their new books, Dudley Clendinen and Andrew D. Blechman infiltrate the world of the not-young and study the . A place called canterbury. Tales of the New Old Age in America. Blechman infiltrate the world of the not-young and study the native customs. Adventures in America’s Retirement Utopias. By Andrew D. Blechman. Atlantic Monthly Press. Continue reading the main story.

Clendinen has written a deeply moving, often hilarious look at how the oldestAmericans are coping with the reality of living longer.

A Place Called Canterbury: Tales of the New Old Age in America.

In "A Place Called Canterbury," author Dudley Clendinen writes about the 400 days he spent at his mother's senior citizen . A memoir of those years has just been published - "A Place Called Canterbury: Tales of the New Old Age in America.

In "A Place Called Canterbury," author Dudley Clendinen writes about the 400 days he spent at his mother's senior citizen apartment building/nursing home in Tampa, Fl. where the average age of its residents is 86. Clendinen became intimately involved with the lives of its residents and staff and weaved what has been described as a delightful soap opera. And Dudley Clendinen joins us from member station WUSF in Tampa, Florida. Welcome to the program.

A Place Called Canterbury by social historian Dudley Clendinen, former New York Times national . Clendinen was fascinated by his mother's new circumstance and by what he came to regard as the new old age.

Clendinen was fascinated by his mother's new circumstance and by what he came to regard as the new old age.

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Documents the retirement of a former New York Times writer to a full-service Tampa Bay apartment populated by neighbors from all economic backgrounds and faiths, in an account that traces the community's shared efforts to secure vibrancy and dignity throughout their final years.

Comments:

Swordsong

My 87-year-old mother, herself a resident with my father in an upscale residential community in Virginia much like the Canterbury of this book, raved about this book. I wasn't disappointed, and it rang true with my experience with my parents and their dear friends. I highly recommend it for anyone who's considering retirement community living or anyone who has loved ones living in such a facility.

The author, a writer and journalist, brings his skills of observation and story-telling to this delightful account of his mother's life at a high-end retirement facility in Tampa, Florida. He actually moved into the community himself while his mother was sick and spent days or weeks at a time there off and on over a period of years, so he had an unusual perspective as an insider. He befriended many of the other residents and was able to share many wonderful conversations about life there and the challenges of aging after what, for most there, had been an interesting and vibrant life. Humorous eccentricities and annoying habits of his mother and her friends are part of the story, and I felt the author handled these tenderly but accurately.

The biographical sketches of many residents were delightful and interesting history lessons, not only about personal and world events, but also about the residents' insights on the culture of their childhood, the changes that had taken place during the span of their lives, and their opinions about modern society and relationships. One of the more dramatic stories was the daring escape of a Jewish rabbi and his wife from Nazi Germany, after most avenues of escape had disappeared.

This excerpt captures the tone of Clindinen's tale as he recounts a visit with her mother in the nursing home wing after her faculties were severely diminished:

"She was present. I was present. She was glad. We would make the best of it. I think that may be the credo of the place. Canterbury is filled with people who have come to understand the importance of living in the present moment with as little expectation---and as much satisfaction---as they can."

A bit more editing could have removed some sections that rambled unnecessarily, but overall, I was impressed with the author's compassionate and honest portrayal of these interesting people, most of whom faced aging and failing health with intelligence, humor, and creativity, not to mention a fierce determination to hang on to their independence and dignity as long as humanly possible. He clearly loved them and made us love them too.

Getaianne

While in Maine, I struck up a conversation with a man getting out of a car with Florida license plates. I was, after all in Maine, a very long way from my home in Florida and he was too. We were probably neighbors.

The man said he lived in Tampa and we exchanged niceties. How we got to the subject of moving our elderly relatives into assisted living, I'm not sure. My vacation in Maine hadn't yet relieved the migraine headache of moving my 92 year old step mother, June, into a place she didn't want to have anything to do with. I'd had a very stressful summer. He was in the midst of the same scenario with his elderly mother. We told each other our war stories. He mentioned A Place Called Canterbury since it's about a place in Tampa and his mother had recently moved there. I was still looking for the magic wand that would make this stage of life calm and wonderful for my step mother, so I downloaded the book as soon as I got back home.

The first paragraph started by saying that Dudley's mother had relented and agreed to sell her home and move to Canterbury. June on the other hand, went kicking and screaming. My sister and I employed all kinds of tricks and told oodles of white lies during the time it took to extract her from her apartment. We never knew we were even capable of saying such things, especially to someone we loved and respected. While she wasn't our mother, we'd known her for over 50 years. The word "relented" shut me down from the start. This whole process would have been easy if June had only chosen to accept that she needed more care.

A Place Called Canterbury did have some bits of brilliance. I laughed out loud in some parts and cried in others. I understood Mr. Clendinen's pain at watching his mother hang on to life even when time after time, the doctor or nurse had told him the end was near. And I especially enjoyed Sweetso, who continued to smoke even when she was told not to. June loved to say she never had a cigarette she didn't enjoy. If 70 years of smoking hadn't killed her yet, I doubt that it would. Sweetso felt the same way.

Mainly however, I found this story very disconnected. The backstory became long and laborious, taking me away from the real story of people who have lost their purpose in the later years of their lives. I skimmed alot. I couldn't find the magic wand I'd so desperately been searching for. I know in my heart that there's no simple answer. But if A Placed Called Canterbury can help anyone else in this situation, then that is magic enough for me.