Leisureville: Adventures in America's Retirement Utopias [Bargain Price] [Hardcover]

Andrew D. Blechman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 13, 2008

When his next-door neighbors in a quaint New England town suddenly pick up and move to a gated retirement community in Florida, Andrew D. Blechman is astonished by their stories. Larger than Manhattan, with a golf course for every day of the month, two downtowns, its own newspaper, radio, and TV stations, The Villages is a city of nearly one hundred thousand (and growing), missing only one thing: children. More than twelve million people will soon live in these communities, and to get to the bottom of the trend, Blechman delves into life in the senior utopia. He offers a hilarious first-hand report on all its peculiarities, from ersatz nostalgia and golf-cart mania to manufactured history and the residents’ surprisingly active sex life, and introduces us to dozens of outrageous characters. Leisureville is also a serious look at a major and underreported trend, only to get bigger as the baby boomers retire. Blechman travels to Arizona to show what has happened after decades of segregation. He investigates the government of these “instant” cities, attends a builder’s conference, speaks with housing experts, and examines the implications of millions of Americans dropping out of society and closing the gates on kids.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Blechman (Pigeons) journeyed to the age-segregated community of the Villages, in central Florida, to explore the reality of America's geritopia phenomenon. A sprawling, relentlessly cheerful development carved out of 33 square miles of pastureland, where 75,000 residents age 55 and older tool around in golf carts, the Villages is one of the most successful master-planned gated communities for retirees in the country, along with the older models of Sun City and Youngtown in Arizona. As part of his research for this engaging book, Blechman ensconced himself with the Villages' residents for a month, attending club meetings and exploring plentiful amenities, frequenting bars teeming with lecherous seniors, and patiently listening to residents' stories of jettisoning their pasts in colder climes for this autocratic fantasyland. Adult active housing is the fastest growing sector of the market, and municipalities are eager to attract these safe, lucrative, childless retirement communities. However, the author confronts the troubling trend toward isolation and escapism, and ponders how different the aging boomers are from their parents—more diverse, more attached to cities and to their children, while resistant to the rules and regulations of a rigidly planned community. Ultimately, Blechman finds the residents blissful to be spared the friction and uncertainty of real life, yet, as one widow admits, There's a lot of sadness here. (May)
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Review

"Leisureville is like the science fiction of Kurt Vonnegut--except that it is reality. What a great country!" -- Andrés Duany, author of Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press (May 13, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 0871139812
• ASIN: B001LNOOJS
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (59 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,147,534 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

65 of 69 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting but a bit too biased, July 13, 2008

By 

DoctorBob (The Villages, FL) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Leisureville: Adventures in America's Retirement Utopias (Hardcover)

I have lived in The Villages for over 5 years and I'm a Social Psychologist (PhD) and physician (MD). After reading a review of Blechman's book in the Boston Globe and seeing an editorial by him in the Los Angeles Times, I was prepared not to like his book and to write a scathing review.

After reading Leisureville, and personally knowing some of the people he interviewed, I find my opinion of his work to be somewhat mixed. There is much about his book that is well done. And there is much that is poorly done from the standpoint of even handed social science.

Blechman never claims to be a sociologist or psychologist or anything other than an author with a firmly entrenched point of view, viz.: age segregated communities are bad. He not only doesn't like The Villages (pop. c75,000)(www.thevillages.com), he doesn't like Sun City either. He also doesn't like the lifestyle in retirement communities. He lets you know this in the first short chapter where he bemoans the loss of his neighbors who are moving to The Villages. By page 9, he asks "How could two bright individuals be drawn to something as seemingly ridiculous as The Villages?"

As you read through the book he tries to make the point that homogeneous communities without a diveristy of age, class, lifestyle, interest, etc. are intrinsically bad. His last chapter is a summary of his position based on his non-scientific observations of The Villages, Sun City, and Youngville. Biased as his outlook is, there is still a lot in the middle that makes his book worth reading.

There are research data which support some of his positions. Homogeneous communities do not support tolerance and understanding. They tend to increase 'groupthink' and insularity. When a group is ideologically homogeneous the positions adopted by its members tend to become more inflexible and more extreme. This leads to less tendency to compromise or debate and more reactionary thinking.

Do we need to worry about the social and political effects of ageism because of age segregated communities? Do religiously segregated communites like Ave Maria or fundamentalist Mormon communities threaten civil liberties? Are gay/lesian communities a threat to life in America? How far do you want to take Blechman's rejection of homogeneous communities.

Some of the things he writes about regarding The Villages are right on the mark. Its daily newspaper is, indeed, a joke. It is so right wing that it presents Ann Coulter as an intellectual and fosters several local columnists who emulate her style.

The governance system using the Community Development Districts and their control by the developer are, in truth, a black spot on the body politic. There is little organized opposition to the status quo outside of the 5000 member Property Owners Association

Much of the rest of Blechman's book is actually pretty accurate. We do go everywhere in our golf carts, we do have wonderful restaurants, over a thousand clubs/interest groups, lots of golf at very reasonable prices ($20-30 per round on championship courses), pools,

dances, entertainment in the villages squares, opera, theater, concerts, recreation centers, good friends, neighborhood parties, etc.

Blechman does spend a bit too much time on sex in The Villages and his sources of information are not particularly representative. Sexually transmitted diseases are reportable and statistics are kept by county health departments. I have not treated an excessive number of STDs and I have not seen health department data suggesting that they are particularly prevalent in retirement communities in general or The Villages in particular. I find Blechman's emphasis on the topic of sexuality to border on pandering.

The author is good at wordcraft. Despite his obvious bias he raises some interesting questions about The Villages and about age segregated communities in general. If you want to know more about The Villages, come for a visit rather than make your mind up based on this book.

46 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pass the Viagra!! Retirement heaven ... or hell?, May 25, 2008

By 

Kevin Quinley "GeezerJock" (Fairfax, VA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Leisureville: Adventures in America's Retirement Utopias (Hardcover)

"Leisureville" is an interesting view of a growing trend: age-restricted retirement communities. Author Andrew Blechman - not yet of retirement age - focuses mainly on the mega-retirement community of The Villages outside of Orlando, FL. Living amongst the natives, he offers a sociologists perspective on the pro's and con's of such manufactured communities, with their endless golf, amenities, sunshine, canasta and surprising amounts of geriatric sexual randiness.

Pro's and con's but .. it is clear that Blechman feels the cons predominate: no sidewalks, no diversity, no kids - an artificial Truman Show-like living arrangement that rings hollow. He decries the fact that these oldsters have tuned out from society, pursuing their own visions of retirement escapism from the problems of the world.

Though I understand where he is coming from, the beauty of a free society is that people can opt to choose this lifestyle or not. Choice is paramount. No one frog-marches oldsters to such communities or forces then to remain there if they find it suffocating. Most don't. Most of the characters in Leisureville seem to have few regrets. Life is full of tradeoffs.

Society says to old people, "It's all about youth - you don't matter!" Society worships youth and marginalizes older folks. Hedonistic escapism is hardly the sole province of the aged. Oh, I get it - it's OK for youth and the Lexus-obsessed middle aged. It's just not OK for grandma and gramps. Can we begrudge them if they heed society's marginalization by seeking their own version of community - even if from the vantage point of our youth or comfortable middle age, it seems like a vision of hell?

Maybe our - and Blechman's -- perspective will change once we are old enough to walk a mile in their shoes.

25 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining and Informative But Also Preachy and Judgmental, July 1, 2008

By 

Honorable Mensch (Brookline, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Leisureville: Adventures in America's Retirement Utopias (Hardcover)

I had mixed feelings about this book, so I'm not surprised to see strongly

positive and negative reviews. On the one hand, it's an eye-opening and

fascinating introduction to retirement communities. Readers who don't know

how they began or just how vast and ambitious they can be will get a sense of

it here. For that alone, it's worth reading.

On the other hand, the author's disapproving view of these communities

undercuts his reporting and makes some of it unreliable. He states

forthrightly in Chapter One that he doesn't understand how seemingly bright

people could be drawn to something as undeniably kitschy as The Villages

(the community he focuses on). He never tries very hard to achieve

enlightenment on this key point.

At times, his tone is snarky. In numerous instances, when he asks a

question of inhabitants of The Villages, their fatuous response begins with

the word "Gosh." Is it really likely that so many different people spoke

that way? Or is that just how he heard them all? And are the activities at

The Villages mainly just line-dancing and bingo? Among the 75,000 residents

and hundreds of activity groups, he couldn't find one dealing with, say,

books or art?

He did manage to devote a section to the community's lone transsexual,

probably just to highlight the oddness of it amidst the kitsch. Fun reading

but not exactly balanced reporting.

More substantively, he seems to regard the senior citizens at these

childless, school-free, low-tax retirement communities as violators of a

social compact. They've abandoned the full-service communities up North

that sustained them throughout their lives, he feels, not fulfilling their

duty to stick around and support the next generation spiritually and

financially. He makes this point throughout the book, with a somewhat

preachy cumulative effect.

His argument, though not without some merit, is flawed. These retirees

have, after all, paid taxes their whole lives. And many have their life

savings wrapped up in their homes. If they want to sell and retire after a

life of hard work, where can they live on the proceeds? A tiny apartment

somewhere? Their quality of life might be quite poor if they tried to

survive on social security and savings in many towns and cities. In most

cases they are not going to be taken in by family to live surrounded by

adoring grandchildren. Suddenly The Villages look a little better.

Blechman is weirdly oblivious to the hardships and needs of the elderly,

particularly widows and widowers. He presents an airbrushed, romanticized

picture of "real life" in his New England community, all the while sneering

at the tacky communal activities of senior citizens in The Villages.

This is a good but flawed book. With a little less bias and a slightly less

hectoring tone, it could have been a much better one.