A Walk on the Beach: Tales of Wisdom From an Unconventional Woman [Paperback]

Joan Anderson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 5, 2005

Shortly after arriving on Cape Cod to spend a year by herself, Joan Anderson’s chance encounter with a wise, playful, and astonishing woman helped her usher in the transformations and self-discoveries that led to her ongoing renewal. First glimpsed as a slender figure on a fogged-in beach, Joan Erikson was not only a friend and confidante when one was most needed, but also a guide as Anderson stretched and grew into her unfinished self.

Joan Erikson was perhaps best known for her collaboration with her husband, Erik, a pioneering psychoanalyst and noted author. After Erik’s death, she wrote several books extending their theory of the stages of life to reflect her understanding of aging as she neared ninety-five. But her wisdom was best taught through their friendship; as she sat with Anderson, weaving tapestries of their lives with brightly colored yarn while exploring the strength gathered from their accumulated experiences, Joan Erikson’s lessons took shape on their small cardboard looms as well as in her friend’s revitalized life.

In writing about their extraordinary friendship, Anderson reveals a need she didn’t know she had: for a mentor to help navigate the transitions she faced as she grew beyond middle age. And when Joan Erikson had to face her husband’s death and the growing limitations of her own body, Anderson was able to give back some of the wisdom she had gleaned. To this poignant, joyful account, Joan Anderson brings the candor and sensitivity that have made her an acclaimed speaker and writer on midlife and its possibilities. A Walk on the Beach is an experience to savor and treasure, a glimpse of the exuberant spirit that can be sustained and passed on in all our friendships.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In A Year by the Sea and An Unfinished Marriage, Anderson shared her account of taking a break from her marriage and spending a year of solitude at the beach. Now, she introduces the inspiring woman she befriended during that time: Joan Erikson, wife of psychoanalyst Erik Erikson. After a chance meeting in their Cape Cod town, the women found their storiesâ€"one woman was purposefully apart from her husband; the other was adjusting to her husband's deteriorating health and imminent deathâ€"resonated significantly. Erikson's enthusiasm for life prompted Anderson to re-evaluate her own marriage and her role as she aged through the life stages that were the subject of Erikson's published writing, coauthored with her famous husband. Erikson reminded Anderson of the importance of continuing to learn, grow, change and, most notably, play as one ages, to be surprised by life and where it leads. She explained, "[A]s long as we are alive, we must keep transforming ourselves." Through the death of Erikson's husband and the return of Anderson's, readers see the women cheer each other's efforts to view the world with a fresh eye each day. While Anderson's experiences may ring familiar to readers of her earlier works, this is much more Erikson's story and philosophy, and for readers, every encounter with her is as much a treat as it was for Anderson, who wrote of her friend, "it was [she] who made me new, or at least [she] pushed me toward the brink."
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Shortly after deciding to spend a year apart from her husband, Anderson met Joan Erikson, wife of pioneering psychoanalyst Erik Erikson, on a foggy beach on Cape Cod. The two women were at different points in their lives but struck up a friendship that helped sustain them through the challenges they faced: marital uncertainty for Anderson; the decline and imminent death of a beloved spouse for Erikson. Despite her grim prospects and advancing age, Erikson is full of life and energy and fond memories that set Anderson to wondering about the elements of marriage and friendship. Over the course of the year and for years after, the women sustain and inspire each other. After Erik's death, Joan completes their work on the stages of life. And Anderson, author of A Year by the Sea (1999) and An Unfinished Marriage (2002), finds the courage to accept changes in her own life, insights that she brings to this third book on renewal at midlife. Vanessa Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Broadway (April 5, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0767914759
• ISBN-13: 978-0767914758
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.5 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (48 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #77,826 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Joan Anderson is a journalist and the bestselling author of A Year by the
Sea, An Unfinished Marriage, A Walk on the Beach, and A Weekend to Change
Your Life. She lives with her husband on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and
conducts weekend workshops for women around the country.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Inspiring Woman, August 4, 2004

By 

R. Taylor "tsimmusamhain" (Great Smoky Mountains, TN) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Walk on the Beach: Tales of Wisdom From an Unconventional Woman (Hardcover)

Joan Anderson follows up (or expands) her story of a year alone by the sea with this engaging, easy read. It chronicles in more detail her friendship with Joan Erikson, whom she meets one foggy morning on the beach at Cape Cod. Joan Erikson is such a beautiful, inspiring, and thoughtful woman. It really makes you take stock, live every day to the fullest, and give back what you can. Though I did find it a bit slow in some places (such as Anderson's trip to Macchu Pichu), overall this book is a quick read you won't want to put down. You'll feel as though you've spent the day with a remarkable friend.

48 of 55 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The divine trinity..., May 28, 2004

By 

Steven Cain (Temporal Quantum Pocket) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Walk on the Beach: Tales of Wisdom From an Unconventional Woman (Hardcover)

While A Walk On The Beach represents the final part of a divine trinity of books, the internal divine trinity is the coming together of the two Joans in the presence of the Sea - which has always been a metaphor for Consciousness, the Womb of the Great Mother.

Joan Anderson is a great observer of Life and the human experience, and her ablity to articulate the way people think and feel, especially in the context of relationships, of all kinds, is unsurpassed.

That she should meet Erikson's wife in a beach/seashore setting, especially in Cape Cod, Mass, in magical New England, the virtual birthplace of what is now the United States, is most interesting - the seashore also being a symbolic point of transition for a mermaid/siren figure seeking transformation into mortal womanhood, as in The Girl In A Swing, by Richard Adams (also an excellent movie).

With the two Joans, the transformation is mutual, as these wisewomen unfold their lives in quite different marital circumstances.

For the record, Erikson the psychologist extended Freudian theory by factoring in the effects of culture and environment to the stages of human development rather than merely biological influences. To Erikson, development was a lifelong process. The main criticisms of this work focused on his gender and ethnocentric bias. The later, Third Wave psychology of Maslow and after, addressed the individual's relationship to the Universe itself, rather than the experiential layer generated by society.

Joan Erikson herself continued to expand on the work she had done with her husband with her own hands-on experience of old age (she was 90 when the Joans met), and Joan A was able to benefit from this wisdom first hand. Similarly, she was able to help Joan Erikson with her own major life adjustments, including the impending death of a Life partner, by sharing her own growth lessons as she re-structured her thinking as she moved into the second stage of her life.

I can see why some people regard this as 'a woman's book', (I disagree, it's a thinking PERSON'S book) but as a man with four daughters who has published a book about the suppression of the Feminine, I found it intriguing. The beautiful interactions between these two remarkable unfinished women reminds you that menopause and after is supposed to be a sacred transition, not a form of mental illness, as we have been programmed to believe.

Invaluable.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The need for mentors, July 2, 2004

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Walk on the Beach: Tales of Wisdom From an Unconventional Woman (Hardcover)

In an era of quick-fix motivational workshops and buzz words like "Life Coaching", this wise and soothing book stands as a strong reminder that we need SO MUCH MORE than weekend workshops and spiritual retreats to regain our balance or redirect our life's course. We need real mentors and ongoing friendships with seasoned women who can show us the way.

At some point in midlife, many women (and men) experience a career crisis or crisis of faith, and are desperately in need of guidance. Joan Anderson was lucky enough to find an incredible mentor to show the way, demonstrating how "elderly" friends are essential to our growth.

I believe many of us remain stuck with only peer relationships, and don't take time to seek out the untapped wisdom of older people in our communities and congregations. Joan's book is a marvelous blueprint for anyone who craves companionship with the older and wiser -- or women of experience.

As we read this sweet book, we are also called to treasure -- or initiate -- friendships with real women of experience in our midst. Thank you, Joan!