A Place Called Canterbury: Tales of the New Old Age in America (Hardcover)

by Dudley Clendinen (Author)
Key Phrases: new old age, nursing wing, nursing desk, Sarah Jane, Health Center, New York (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Former New York Times reporter Clendinen tells how he persuaded his frail mother to sell her house and move to Canterbury Tower in Florida, a geriatric apartment building where many of her friends already lived. With caring staff, a swimming pool, spacious apartments and cocktail parties, the place seemed almost idyllic, and Mother (as the author refers to her) spent her first four years there in a whirl of social activities. But in 1998, the 83-year-old suffered a stroke and eventually moves into the nursing wing, finally succumbing in early 2007. Around this central narrative, Clendinen spins other stories and observations about the lifestyles of the new old age. He also describes how his mother's old friends ignored her completely when she was wheeled into the apartment tower for a cabaret after her stroke and his painful decision to withdraw her medications. Overall, Clendinen offers a mixed bag, with some stories coming across as poignant and others depressing, in need of some larger meaning—which could have been found, perhaps, in either Clendinen's own alluded-to midlife crisis or a more robust discussion of senior care. (May)
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From Booklist
The “new old age” is one of longer lives and greater independence until the prospects of dementia and infirmity set in. Clendinen, a former New York Times reporter, began chronicling this journey when, at age 55, he moved into Canterbury Towers, a housing development in Tampa, Florida, where the average occupant is 86 years old. Two years earlier, following the death of his father, his mother moved there and then suffered a debilitating stroke. The Canterbury was like a “good apartment hotel, a very adult camp, a tribal quarters, or some kind of club for the elderly, spunky, and vague.” Canterbury Towers included apartments for independent elderly and a nursing wing for those in failing health. It also included a delicious and lively array of social relationships and activities, from residents’ visits with their own parents—well into their 100s—to dining, dancing, romance, and arguments, in other words, the broad range of human existence. Clendinen tackles the great confused mess of elderly care from the personal perspective of his mother’s widowhood and aging, putting faces and emotions to a complex issue. --Vanessa Bush

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Viking Adult (May 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0670018848
• ISBN-13: 978-0670018840
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #400,344 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #16 in	Books > Nonfiction > Social Sciences > Sociology > Adults
  #96 in	Books > Parenting & Families > Aging Parents > Retirement Planning

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A poignant "coming of age" story , May 18, 2008

By	Goldengate "Goldengate" (San Francisco, where else?) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and in fact read it in the span of a little under a week - I couldn't put it down. Many books have been written about the transition from childhood to adolescence, but the transition from adulthood to what the author (or the publisher's marketing people) call "the new old age" has been pretty much ignored.

The author describes his mother's life at Canterbury Tower, a high-rise retirement community in Tampa, Florida overlooking Tampa Bay. Clendinen's writing style reminds me of John Berendt, author of "Midnight in the Garden Between Good and Evil." He portrays the characters of Canterbury (and in this book there are many characters!) with sensitivity and humor. Referring to themselves as "the inmates" because 99% of them will never leave Canterbury voluntarily, these members of what Tom Brokaw called "the greatest generation" deal with a variety of maladies associated with growing older interspersed with dancing, plays, field trips outside of Canterbury, and life's daily events.

Moving into a community like Canterbury, as so many elderly are doing on a daily basis, involves a lot of emotions - letting go of many possessions to fit into a 900 sq foot apartment - and also relinquishing a measure of independence. Clendinen portrays this struggle through a variety of characters whom we became close to in his time with his mother at Canterbury. They laugh, they cry, they live. They make comments like "When you get older, you learn not to buy anything that will last more than two weeks -- because *you* might not."

Clendinen also portrays southern culture and Tampa's old society well...from the requirement that residents dress for dinner to the understanding that politics and religion are subjects best discussed behind closed doors, if at all. The only time that Clendinen stumbles is in reproducing the vernacular of the residents, whether it be southern ("Ohhh, Ah knowah") or Vietnamese or the especially frightening Spanish ("Ah'ma sorreh, Missus Rubio, butta you haffta tah come down anna mooffah your cahr" which reminded me too much of Father Guido Sarducci on Saturday Night Live years ago. However this minor flaw comes from Clendinen's desire to portray every nuance of his characters - and by the end of the book, you feel you know these people.

I was able to relate to this book because my own father moved into Canterbury after Clendinen's mother passed away. We dealt with many of the struggles portrayed in the book as he moved from his home, leaving behind his memories of his time with his cherished wife, and adjusted to life at Canterbury. (I have never met the author.)

This book is a quick read, filled with humor and heartwarming moments. Clendinen captures a very unique time and place -- a Place Called Canterbury.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Charming, funny, sad, beautiful story., May 7, 2008

By	Indy Chick (Florida) - See all my reviews

This is a beautifully written love story....a love story between mother and son. Along the way we meet a group of interesting, eccentric and complex geriatric personalities. The author does a wonderful job of describing the emotions experienced while slowly losing his mother to several devastating strokes. If you want to laugh, cry, and be moved, read this story, then hug your parents and your children.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must read for anyone with aging parents, May 23, 2008

By	Suzanne Lewis (Austin, TX) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a marvelous book. Beautifully written and extremely poignant. Being a southerner myself, I didn't find the dialect annoying. It was spot on. As Linda Ellerbee said on the dust jacket, I want to give a copy of this book to all of my friends and family. I laughed, cried and hated for it to end.