This Chair Rocks

This Chair Rocks: A Manifesto Against Ageism by Ashton Applewhite     Audio Book:  8 hrs, 45 min
Paperback Book:  320 pages     

Great book.   It really is spot on with the disrespect and disdain older members of our Western Society are subjected to.    Marketing favors the young and kicks older people to the curb or tries to.    The elderly are marginalized and pushed out of the mainstream.   It is a very real form of bias and prejudice like hating on the overweight,  hating people because of the color of their skin or because they are homeless.   So many forms of hate these days and all due to one group feeling superior to another.   Not fair, Not right.  And yet, it continues.    Ashton Applewhite pretty much went along with all the prejudicial talk until she became a senior citizen.    Then she began to pick up on all of the cues from the people surrounding her, society wants the elderly to sit down and get out of their way-the world is evolving into sectors  - the young who see no reason to keep the elderly people viable - just stick them away somewhere, medicate them or euthanize them with the cost of their medical bills it is draining what social security might be left.    The other side, the more Eastern philosophy on aging parents, grandparents, etc. is far more content to keep multi-generations alive and well and all living in one home.   Elders are people with lots of wisdom and experience though some younger members of society feel by elders continuing to work they are taking jobs away from young people who need them.   However, with science improving medical care and procedures all the time, people are tending to live longer and in order to live well many older members of society need to work to sustain themselves as not everyone is able to save nor to invest for their futures.   With the advent of viagra, etc. older people are living happier sexual lives well into their 80s with potential for 90s which is the new 60 for many physically fit and sound minded folk.   Disrespecting the elders of society is a form of bullying and certainly a hate crime like any similar acts carried out on gay, ethnic, followers of all religions, etc.    Elders are not burdens to society but contributors to it.   Ashton Applewhite is an Age Activist and is diligently working to bring about awareness of the treatment of and working to break the stereotypes associated with the older people on this planet.    She wants the world to practice AGE PRIDE and asks the readers of this book to do their part to educate the masses on the value of older people and not to deny their right to live well alongside every age.   I highly recommend this book to young and old.   Young people will never look at the elderly the same way agai

n nor will elderly who read this see themselves as anything other than vibrant and phenomenal. 

Three Things About Elsie

Three Things About Elsie by Joanna Cannon     AudioBook: 10 hrs. 44 mins        Hardback Book:   384 pages           

Elsie and Florence are best friends, have been all of their lives.   They do everything together.   Sometimes Florence gets forgetful but Elsie is always there to say, “Don’t you remember, Florence..” and then Elsie fills in the gaps for Florence.   Elsie always knows what Florence wants or needs they are that close and they have been through so many traumatic ordeals over the years often reflecting on bits and pieces of memories of their early years.    A fun read, very witty and knowledgeable about the elderly and nursing home care and routines.   So many fun conversations and events that I often found myself laughing out loud at what one or the other of the folks,  residents and staff,  in their nursing home do or say.   A very enjoyable read.    It explains a lot in how the mind of a dementia patient works and I found it to be eye opening in its many explorations into the mind of Alzheimers patients.   It makes so much sense of a tangled sometimes irrational disease so much so it is almost revealing and the reader will have a few AHA! moments, I think, from the way the author discusses how the patient is experiencing the world and how the world is interpreting what the patient is saying and/or doing.   It is a marvel in its way.   Facts or not it is so deliberate in its telling it has opened my eyes to a deeper understanding of how and why those with dementia may visit the past from time to time with such clarity and why the present  seems sometimes a confusing place, foggy, jumbled and out of touch with the patients location between their past and present with little regard for their future as it can be  a total unknown concept in their sense of time.   Brilliant book.   It just keeps getting better.    As Donald Rumsfeld said, “There are known knowns, things we know we know  but there are unknown unknowns,  the ones we don’t know we don’t know.”    And some of those things can be a heavy weight to carry indeed.    Bravo!!!! Bravo!!!  Joanna Cannon.   Excellent book, I would recommend it to anyone, any where from age 11 on up.   

 - Shirley J.

The Thing Is

The Thing Is by Kathleen Gerard    299 pages

Meredith Mancuso (aka Meredith St. John) is a successful romance writer. But since the murder of her fiancé three years ago, she has barely written. Heck, she’s barely lived. She’s become reclusive and clinically depressed. Her lonely relative, a sister, Monica, notices but as she’s a workaholic, she doesn’t pay much attention.

It’s tax season and accountant Monica is swamped. One of her best clients, Helen Hendrix, has broken her foot, and needs help taking care of her Yorkshire terrier, Prozac. Yes, he has a tendency to be a bit neurotic. Monica is too busy to give Prozac the attention Helen insists that he have, so Monica foists him off on Meredith.

Meredith can barely take care of herself, much a dog that requires a lot of attention. To make matters worse, Prozac has a social schedule that would rival Paris Hilton. But the difference is, Prozac is a certified therapy dog and must keep his appointed rounds. His main focus is the independent living facility, Evergreen Gardens. The folks there look forward to his weekly visits.

I found the parts of the story that switched to Prozac’s point of view interesting, but really, they could have been deleted without hurting plot line.

I shouldn’t have laughed at Meredith’s inadequacies but watching her cope with Prozac was funny. Meredith begins to come out of her shell; it’s not that her heart still isn’t broken into eleventy-jillion pieces; it’s that she no longer has the time to nurse her broken heart.

I enjoyed The Thing Is quite a lot until I got to the ending. Every story should end leaving the reader felling that is the only outcome. Author Gerard pulled a cheap trick with her ending, there are several alternative endings, but the only she relied one is ill-conceived and left me wanting to throw the book against the wall.  This book was headed for a 5-star rating, but the best I can do, based on the inappropriate ending, is a 4.