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Number Our Days
ginny:
The Book Club Online is the oldest book club on the Internet, begun in 1996, open to everyone. We offer cordial discussions of one book a month, 24/7 and enjoy the company of readers from all over the world. Everyone is welcome.
They say that growing old is not for sissies. Are they right? When Anthropologist Dr. Barbara Myerhoff received a grant to study aging she decided to do it in NYC, and let the subjects speak for themselves.
The result is an "often funny, deeply moving narrative of human dignity and courage."
"One of those rare books that leave the reader somehow changed."-- Bel Kaufman.
Join us June 15!
ginny:
Welcome!
This extraordinary book was recommended in one of our other book discussions. I had never heard of it, but I sure am glad I have. I can't put it down.
I recently saw the movie Going in Style with Michael Caine, Alan Arkin, and Morgan Freeman.
It's funny and cute but you know what I liked about it the most? It accurately portrays the attitudes the aging have to put up with at the hands of most of the public. Michael Caine spoken to by a bank manager as if he were a somewhat slow 5 year old. The assumptions of the people they meet and those they love about their capabilities. And the way life tends to treat those no longer 40.
Is 70 the new 40?
The book opens with Basha, 89. She lives in NYC. She wants to remain independent. Her daughter continually urges her to move to her area, to her house. She says her mother is "stupid" for staying there.
Basha speaks for herself:
Join us June 15, and let's talk.
Everyone is welcome!
Jonathan:
This is a wonderful book, and what a splendid excerpt, Ginny, to serve as an invitation to a good read and a good discussion. Basha, at 89, is so articulate. Let's let her take us to the Center:
'...always there's something doing there.'
bellamarie:
Oh Ginny, I can't wait til June to begin this book! Just reading the excerpt has brought tears to my eyes. My son's mother in law lost her husband in March, they immediately moved her into their home out of her's which she has lived in since a child, all the years of her marriage and raised her children there. It is not in the best area of our city, but it is her home and neighbors have watched out for her knowing her husband had bad health. She has confided in me that she is not sure she wants to leave her house to live with my son and her daughter and their three children. She is on a waiting list for an apartment which will be at least a year. My heart hurts for her. How do we decide how to proceed in life as we age and lose our loved one? I'm thinking this book will give us some insight.
"Here I have lived for thirty-one years, I have my friends."
Jonathan:
Lots of insight, Bellamarie. And tons of hindsight, naturally. And of course, attempts at foresight...garnished with superstition. This from the back cover:
'When noted anthropologist Barbara Myerhoff received a grant to explore the process of aging, she decided to study some elderly Jews from Venice, California, rather than to report on a more exotic people. The story of the rituals and lives of these remarkable old people is, as Bel Kaufman said, "one of those rare books that leave the reader somehow changed."
Here Dr. Myerhoff records the stories of a culture that seems to give people the strength to face enormous daily problems - poverty, neglect, loneliness, poor health, inadequate housing and physical danger. The tale is a poignant one, funny, and often wise, with implications for all of us about the importance of ritual, the agonies of aging, and the indomitable spirit.'
A very good read at any age.
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