My Life in the Middle Ages : A Survivor's Tale [BARGAIN PRICE] (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "Dad's in the hospital..." (more)
Key Phrases: New York, Wall Street, Central Park (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Penguin Lives' founding editor Atlas (Bellow; Delmore Schwartz) offers 11 rather self-involved essays about being in his 50s. The collection hits on various midlife themes—"Mom and Dad" describes Atlas's father's illness and its effects on the family; "Home" explores the joys and pains of owning a country house; "Money" focuses on, well, money—and brings out the author's envious and insecure side. In his introduction, Atlas confesses that he writes from within a "highly rarified segment of society," but hopes all readers will find something of themselves in each piece. Despite exploring such universal themes, Atlas often steers away from their common aspects to instead dwell on his own personal disappointments. In "Failure," he recounts receiving a negative review of his novel, and in "The Body," he gets sullen when his son trounces him on the tennis court. Atlas's strength lies in his extensive literary allusions, and each of these essays is buoyed by examples from both well-known and obscure authors, which often serve to augment the lackluster revelations ("The rich, the powerful, the well-known made it because they had the drive to make it"; "Depression is like an illness—it is an illness"). Thoughtful but self-conscious, these pieces seem more like exercises in catharsis than meditations on a period in life when we are "on the verge of reaching our limits."
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

From Bookmarks Magazine

The author evaluates his rites of passage—both the successes and the failures, from his 25th anniversary to his father’s death—with good humor, affection, and honesty in this "generational memoir." An amiable book, some sections may seem short on specifics and long on generalizations, even to the point of being preachy. Not all reviewers found universal appeal in Atlas’s reflections; some found them self-indulgent and of interest mostly to other upper-middle-class literary urbanites.

Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• ISBN-10: 0060196297
• ASIN: B000EGEZ74
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,529,469 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Wish it was better, December 17, 2005

By	G. Fitzgerald (East Brunswick, NJ) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: My Life in the Middle Ages: A Survivor's Tale (Hardcover)

Unfortunately, I was disappointed by this book. James Atlas wrote an excellent biography of Delmore Schwartz and is one of the minority of people these days who really cares about literature. Being a fan of his and also middle-aged myself, I started reading this book with high expectations. I was surprised that I was unable to finish the book, which becomes monotonous as the author rants about everything under the sun that bothers him, from the serious (his father's death) to the petty (his teenage son beats him at tennis). You just feel like telling Mr. Atlas to "count your blessings." This book would have benefitted from more humor to help keep things in perspective--after all, Mr. Atlas is a highly talented and privileged individual. The chapter about his father's death is the strongest because it has real weight and is poignantly described. But when he gets to complaining about his son's superior tennis game, I finally (and sadly) put the book down. My son now kicks my butt at tennis, too, but I've learned to be proud of it!

19 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars hard to teach an old dog new tricks, March 16, 2005

By	ts (nyc) - See all my reviews

This review is from: My Life in the Middle Ages: A Survivor's Tale (Hardcover)

This book is a very quick read and although it has some truly touching moments such as Atlas' description of the death of his father, I couldn't help but wonder why he wasn't further along on the evolutionary scale. Hard to find out the meaning of life when he paying up the wazoo for expensive private schools for his kids, shuffling credit card dept, and keeping up with the Jones.

I found myself shaking my head towards the end of it..like seeing yet another Woody Allen film- thinking ...what a putz!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A THOUGHTFUL READING BY THE AUTHOR, March 30, 2005

By	Gail Cooke (TX, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)

This review is from: My Life in the Middle Ages CD: A Survivor's Tale (Audio CD)

Age isn't any barrier to finding enjoyment and information in listening to "My Life In The Middle Ages" as read by the author. Former editor for the New York Times Book Review, Atlas has an impressive resume', which includes founding Atlas Books and writing for The New Yorker and The Atlantic.

If you're still enjoying your salad days, Atlas will share a few secrets with you that the years may bring. Those in mid life will find much with which to identify in the experiences the author has remembered in his own life and in the lives of others.

Give a listen as Atlas evaluates himself at this point in time. He is honest about his accomplishments and sometimes poignantly candid about his disappointments - what he has not done and what he now knows he will never do. Has he done as he might have wished as a young man, as a husband, a father?

The death of Atlas's father had an enormous impact upon him, perhaps a glimpse of what the future held. Whatever the case, "My Life In The Middle Ages" is a compilation of what some have gleaned from their life journeys - well worth hearing.

- Gail Cooke