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

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Overview

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. Wealthy, middle class, or barely afloat; Christian, Jewish, or faithless; proud, widowed, or still married; grumpy or dear—they had all come together, at the average age of eighty-six, in ...

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Overview

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. Wealthy, middle class, or barely afloat; Christian, Jewish, or faithless; proud, widowed, or still married; grumpy or dear—they had all come together, at the average age of eighty-six, in search of a last place to live and die.

A Place Called Canterbury is a beautifully written, often hilarious, deeply moving look at how the oldest Americans are living with the reality of living longer. Peopled by brave, daffy, memorable characters determined to grow old with dignity—and to help one another avoid the dreaded nursing wing—A Place Called Canterbury is a kind of soap opera. Likewise, it is a poignant chronicle of the last years of the Greatest Generation and their children, the Boomers, as they are drawn into old age with their parents. A Place Called Canterbury is an essential read for anyone with aging parents and anyone wondering what their own old age will look like.

Editorial Reviews

Janet Maslin
Mr. Clendinen made a smart decision in structuring his book as something other than a story of decline. His mother's health did fail at Canterbury, and he conveys his own worry and grief at seeing this happen. But he finds graceful, subtle ways to slip between the past and present, so that his mother remains a wonderfully imposing figure even at her weakest moments. And he populates the book with brightly drawn characters who give the place its reigning mood, "a slow, good-humored dottiness and dignity."
—The New York Times
From The Critics
Clendinen has written a modern masterpiece. It isn't about old age. It's about all of us, a brilliant celebration of what it means to be a human being. I laughed and wept and was changed by reading A Place Called Canterbury. I'm buying copies for my family, my friends, their parents, and all our children. It is a gift to be shared, this wonderful, wonderful book.

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780670018840
  • Publisher: Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated
  • Publication date: 5/1/2008
  • Pages: 400
  • Product dimensions: 9.18 (w) x 6.20 (h) x 1.27 (d)

Meet the Author

Dudley Clendinen is a former national reporter and editorial writer for The New York Times. He is the editor of a book of essays, The Prevailing South, and the author of the text for a book of photographs, Homeless in America. He is coauthor of Out for Good: The Struggle to Build a Gay Rights Movement in America.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Canterbury and the New Old Age

1 Good-bye, Mother, Hello 1

2 The Importance of the Moment 24

3 A Place Unto Itself 40

4 A Reason to Be Alive 61

5 The Cocktail Hour 78

6 Last Communion 89

7 The Dining Room Waltz 100

8 In Case of Fire 114

9 Going Home 124

10 The Plumbing Problem 137

11 Meanwhile, Back in the Tower 152

12 Looking for a Man 168

13 Sex and Satisfaction 184

14 "Laugh, Even If Your Heart Is Breaking" 194

15 Sleeping with the Sweetso 219

16 When They Were Children 229

17 When They Were in Love 244

18 Body Parts 258

19 War and Survival 279

20 I Can't Find My Wife 293

21 The Best-Laid Plans 303

22 Miss Osama 326

23 He Wants Our Ashes 336

Epilogue: Hello, Mother, Good-bye 345

Acknowledgments 367

Customer Reviews
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  • Anonymous

    Posted March 24, 2009

    Loved it

    I recently went thru a very similar experience with my mother. I too have many good friends who still live where she lived. The book is so incredibly touching and very funny and upbeat. I am buying copies for all my friends.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted December 28, 2008

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