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A Place Called Canterbury: Tales of the New Old Age in America
Dudley Clendinen
#UC1922
Hardcover, 371 pages; 2008
$24.95
 Members' Price: $21.21
In 1994, Dudley Clendinen's widowed mother moved into a life-care facility called Canterbury Tower in Tampa Bay. She remained in the independent-living section of the facility, socializing with new and old friends, until 1998, when a stroke necessitated a relocation to the dreaded nursing wing, where she would remain until her death in 2007. Clendinen's frequent visits to Canterbury prompted him to chronicle not only his experience with his mother's decline, but also the stories of those whom he met and befriended there. Clendinen sees Canterbury as a microcosm for the aging experience of the "Greatest Generation,"whose unprecedented longevity he dubs the "New Old Age."Along with poignant descriptions of the challenges and frustrations of longer life, Clendinen captures the wit, charm, and determination of the Canterbury residents, often to humorous and heartwarming effect. These "Canterbury tales"are, at once, thought-provoking, laugh-inducing, inspiring, and bittersweet.
(AG)
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