Nearing Ninety: And Other Comedies of Late Life (Judith Viorst’s Decades)

Another winner, and may this author continue these delectable decade series past the one-hundred-and-twenty-year goal mark, Judith Viorst whimsically skates through the years as her books so whimsically record. Over the decades she has sampled the thirties, the atrocious forties, continuing on to the unexpected eighties until now as she nears her nineties. She has the innate ability to capture our everyday human foibles and compose these features into rhythmic verses, the tempo of which causes the reader to join in a chorus of recognition and comradeship. There is an embracing warmth along with a smiling tickle as one joins the tempo of her thoughts. She recalls conversations she once had with her mother which now her children are having with her. Roam with her to retirement communities and nursing homes, meet the widower, reflect on those who have left us but whose memories remain part of us. Enter the age in the nineties when personal activities slow down but the world accelerates, the clock ticks faster, and one is not feeling thrilled about dying. But these are the themes the author so gracefully scores, while still enjoying all the gifts that life continues to provide. Great gift for seniors to share among themselves and with the whole family.