Seasons of the Heart: Men and Women Talk About Love, Sex, and Romance After 60 [Paperback]

Zenith Henkin Gross (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 2000

Journalist Zenith Gross encourages readers to discover their own ways to express love, sensuality, and sexuality during the 20 to 40 years of life after they turn 60. Through her interviews with more than 300 men and women, she uncovers the elements of and barriers to happiness that cross ethnic, economic, religious, and cultural boundaries. This book helps dispel the myths of aging and illuminates how good romance - and sex - can be in later life. Gross culled 153 personal accounts for this book, including those of average men and women as well as famous elders, including Nelson Mandela (recently remarried at 80), Carolyn Heilburn (author, teacher, and feminist), William Segal (businessman and Zen teacher), and Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee (actors married more than 50 years).

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

To write this book, Gross, a journalist who herself found love after 60, interviewed more than 300 men and women of various sexual orientations and ethnicities. These personal accounts from everyday folk and celebrity elders like Nelson Mandela, who remarried at 80, are complemented by her background reading and discussion with geriatric researchers. The results of her studies, while not particularly surprising (ageism is rampant in American society, older couples can and do enjoy sex, grown children can be difficult if they feel their dead parent is being "replaced"), are well presented and, with the population of senior citizens growing exponentially, timely. While Gross's last few chapters seem to wander a bit, she does cover some ground that books like Eileen Simpson's Late Love do not. In particular, her chapter on gays and lesbians sometimes moves beyond love, sex, and romance but is still important. A nice list of print, electronic, and organizational resources is included. Recommended for public libraries.DPam Matthews, Gettysburg Coll., PA
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 271 pages
• Publisher: New World Library (June 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1577311086
• ISBN-13: 978-1577311089
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,832,455 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Reflect on the unthinkable, August 7, 2000

By 

Nancy (Brigantine, New Jersey USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Seasons of the Heart: Men and Women Talk About Love, Sex, and Romance After 60 (Paperback)

I've read it casually on the beach, but the words dig in at the deepest levels. Several nights I've awakened with pieces of my life rearranged according to the stories in this book. It has been food for thought and much more than a beach book.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A "third age book", May 28, 2001

By 

Jack Heselov (Pleasanton, Ca.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Seasons of the Heart: Men and Women Talk About Love, Sex, and Romance After 60 (Paperback)

Like "Cabbage Heads and Kings," SEASONS of the HEART is a quintessential read for those of us of the "third age." It appears that this author spent many days and hours gathering such in depth thoughts of the sixty to ninety plus age groups. It was truly rewarding reading this worthwhile gem of a book! The diversity of thought of the many, many third age people has given this septuagenarian much to chew over in contemplating his next book.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More Sex than Romance?, February 28, 2006

By 

Patricia B. Ross (Wellesley, MA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Seasons of the Heart: Men and Women Talk About Love, Sex, and Romance After 60 (Paperback)

When passion is confined to the rudimentary acts of sex, and unnecessarily squeezed into a framework of youth, it is unlikely that there will be a serious effort to capture the joys of sex outside of that framework, and both older men and older women suffer from similar forms of widow and widower's syndrome, often while still married.

That sex has been so narrowly defined and interpreted, is either mistaken religious morality, or an attempt to highjack sex and romance by the young for the young, since for all practical purposes, passion theoretically knows no season, and love is healthy at any age.

That love or romance must be expressed only through the narrow lens of passionate sex is not only a hoax, but the cruel joke that the whole of society is led to embrace as reality, a negligence of major proportions.

While bodies may not respond according to the memories of youth, the accumulation of human knowledge and creativity prevent them from having to in normal healthy adults. Sex and passion, is, afterall, the organized sensation of functioning brains coordinated with the courage and anticipation of healthy personal interaction. The choice of non-interaction is itself a sign of ill health and poor vision of the purpose of physical intimacy.