Customer Reviews

As We Are Now: A Novel

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have long admired May Sarton's willingness to tackle tough subjects that deal with the inner reality of her characters as they face issues or things about themselves that are not always pleasant. One of my favorite works for example is A Reckoning, in which a woman comes to terms with her own premature dying. Here in As We Are Now, however, Sarton pushes past even her own limits to probe an issue that festers behind the scenes of our youth-obsessed culture - the relegation of the elderly to rest homes, nursing facilities and sanitariums; any place in short where the rest of society doesn't have to see or think about them. What makes Sarton's book such an achievement is how she is able to depict the sordidness and relentless oppression experienced by her main character Caro, while infusing her at the same time with a dignity and strength of character that transcends the worst the situation can dish out. The triumph of the novel is that in the end, we come to see Caro not as an elderly woman, but as a woman infused with a light of her own making.

The story begins with Caro being placed in a rest home by her older brother. Caro has had a heart attack and can no longer live in her own home, and the older brother's younger wife can't handle having Caro live with them. Unfortunately, or perhaps predictably, the rest home is little more than a holding tank where the residents are treated like mentally deficient children, and any attempt to buck the system results in punishment. The most disturbing aspect of the whole thing, however, is that Caro is perceptive, bright and very much alive. A former teacher with students who still write her, she reads and studies poetry, observes and comments astutely on her fellow residents, and replays her favorite music in her mind to keep herself busy. As a reader you want someone to do something, for some long lost relative to appear, a former student to offer a haven, or the visiting minister to report the abominable conditions. Only slowly do you, like Caro, become resigned to the fact that this is what happens to the elderly in our society, and come to realize that the only escape will forged within and by herself.

That Sarton has managed to give her character dignity, that the novel stands as a testament to the strength and beauty of the human spirit rather than a condemnation of society, is remarkable. This book should be read by anyone who has or will be faced with the issue of aging - in other words by everyone.

May Sarton's protrayal of an elderly schoolteacher entering a nursing home, stripped of her dignity and privacy is heartwrenching. I loved the book and found myself questioning the way we ignore our aging population. The author pointed out that people spend years in nursing homes and become shells of what they were. They retreat into despair and decline only because they are ignored from others. It is so sad and yet there is so much truth to the way we shune our elderly population

Caroline Spencer is an aging schoolteacher who gets placed in a caregiver's home by her family. She is soon faced with the fact that her caregiver Harriet Hatfield is not unlike a jailer, though she probably means well. Caro is subjected daily to petty cruelties and subtle humiliations, and she almost succumbs to actually taking the tranquilizers she's brought. She keeps a journal to retain her faculties and as a last defense against infirmity. When a married woman temporarily helps out around the home, Caro learns the true nature of love, late in her life. Harriet finds Caro's journal and nearly destroys Caro's morale, but this only drives Caro into a last act of defiance and release. This is the second Sarton book I've read; the first being "Mrs Stevens Hears The Mermaids Singing" (#95 of the 100 Best Lesbian & Gay Novels). Her writing is superb and so beautiful. "As We Are Now" is her indictment against the treatment of the elderly and a brilliant book about growing old and struggling to cling to the world. Kate Millett's memoir "Mother Millett" also deals with the treatment of the elderly in this country, and it's sad to see that it hasn't changed much.

This novel tells the story of neglect and rejection of one elderly person-Caroline Spencer. Spencer is left in a rest home by her brother and callous sister in law. She commits to writing her cruel experiences in a journal. She reflects of how she lived her life and contemplates on the harsh and humiliating treatment that the nursing staff give the elderly in the home. She displays rightous indignation at the neglect and callous treatment on the elderly by the nursing staff and by society at large. This novel makes the reader realize how much society has neglected our elderly and basically abandoned our elderly love ones. Sarton writes with great skill. The novel has a powerful and meaningful ending that will make you think and reflect on the worth of quality care for the elderly and of life itself.

....how easy it has become to demonize the elderly, whom too often we shut away in sanitary "homes" where we won't have to have a relationship with them. This novel takes a common scenario to the extreme and by doing so poses questions about why we see (or fail to see) the elderly as we do...

When Caroline Spencer is stricken by a heart attack, her uncaring brother deposits her in an out-of-the-way nursing home. And "deposits" is the exact word, because Caro soon discovers that she's been discarded like yesterday's garbage, consigned to an earthly hell of incredible pettiness & personal humiliation.

When I first read this novel some 25 years ago, I was moved & outraged even then. Now that I'm older, it cuts far more deeply for me. While retirement & true old age are still in the future, that future is drawing closer with each day. And I now understand at a gut level how our culture so often despises & disposes of the elderly.

May Sarton writes in an eminently civilized style ... which ironically makes this particular novel all the more savage & unrelenting. She understands perfectly all the minute but vicious indignities & insults that the coarse wielders of power inflict on their charges. Yet she also understands how the civilized mind can find unexpected sources of renewal, if only on a brief basis.

In the end, Caro refuses to simply wither & fade in meek submission. She indeed rages against the dying of the light, in such a way that no one can pretend they don't hear her words. A harrowing novel that demands your attention -- highly recommended!

This was my first experience with May Sarton, and I was fully impressed with her writing. Her main character, Caroline Spencer, is a heart-breaking gem. I wanted to take her into my home, like Evelyn with Mrs. Threadgoode in Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Cafe. As We Are Now is written in the form of a journal kept by a woman consigned to a "home" after a heart attack makes her unable to live alone any longer. Initially, she keeps the journal to fight her fear of losing her memory and her mind in what she refers to as a "concentration camp for the old". This is no institution, but a large house run by two women; Miss Spencer is the only female "guest" among a number of mainly somnolent men. From the beginning she cautions herself against hope, "the most dangerous emotion", but nevertheless strives to maintain her sense of self in a terminally dehumanizing situation.

It took some courage to finish the book, because very little good stuff happens, and how it will all end is fairly clear about half way through. But I am very glad I read it, and I think everyone should. We all have aging relatives, and we all will be old one day if we live long enough. An emotionally difficult subject, artfully handled

I first read this novel in college for a sociology class. Some 20+ years later, I've just re-read -- and re-discovered -- the power and timelessness of May Sarton's writing.

What I originally thought was a novel about elder abuse and the indignities of old age, I now recognize is a much deeper narrative of love and loss, hope for renewal, and ultimately rage and revenge. It is a short novel, but packed with insights that stay with you for a long time.

Definitely well worth reading.

I like Sarton's character, Caroline Spencer. I wanted to rush in and bring her to my home. This book brings to light the humiliations of our Seniors and I really wanted this story to enlighten me. It actually made me very sad.

It was a very easy and fast read (only about 130 pages long) and it was so nice to get to know "Miss Spencer". This book should remind us that our aged are intelligent, and have feelings, and deserve to be treated with respect. I am thankful for that aspect of the novel. I give it a 3, only because I found I was so saddened by the suject. Perhaps I should score it higher, as a testament to Sarton's wonderful writing and believability.

This was a decent book. It was a mandatory read for a course I took but I would not really recommend reading this unless you are already feeling down. It's an insightful look at the journey we undergo when we age but I still prefer to read books like "To Dance With The White Dog" over this.