Old age in America is not what it used to be

In 1994 New York Times writer Dudley Clendinen's mothera Southern matron of iron will but creaking bonessold her house and moved to Canterbury Tower, a geriatric apartment building with full services and a nursing wing in Tampa Bay. There she landed in a microcosm of the New Old Age. Canterbury was filled not just with old Tampa neighbors but also with strangers from across the country. Wealthy, middle class, or barely afloat; Christian, Jewish, or faithless; proud, widowed, or still married; grumpy or dearthey had all come together, at the average age of eighty-six, in search of a last place to live and die.

A Place Called Canterbury is a beautifully written, often hilarious, deeply moving look at how the oldest Americans are living with the reality of living longer. Peopled by brave, daffy, memorable characters determined to grow old with dignityand to help one another avoid the dreaded nursing wingA Place Called Canterbury is a kind of soap opera. Likewise, it is a poignant chronicle of the last years of the Greatest Generation and their children, the Boomers, as they are drawn into old age with their parents. A Place Called Canterbury is an essential read for anyone with aging parents and anyone wondering what their own old age will look like.

"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." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

"If you've ever had a mother, you will love this book."

Roy Blount Jr., author of Long Time Leaving: Dispatches from Up South

"Canterbury's walls rock with geriatrics who live every moment to its fullest, with tales of food from cloud-like biscuits before church, to snacks after sex and martinis with social debate. Through it all, the elegance and humor of a generation who laughed and loved through a depression and a great war, surviving to live and die with grace, will have you laughing and crying. You will love every morsel of the Canterbury tales."

Nathalie Dupree, Television Cooking host and Cookbook Author

"Clendinen has written a modern masterpiece. It isn't about old age. It's about all of us, a brilliant celebration of what it means to be a human being. I laughed and wept and was changed by reading A Place Called Canterbury. I'm buying copies for my family, my friends, their parents, and all our children. It is a gift to be shared, this wonderful, wonderful book."

Linda Ellerbee

Clendinen has written a deeply moving, often hilarious look at how the oldest Americans are coping with the reality of living longer.

Dudley Clendinen is a former national reporter and editorial writer for The New York Times. He is the editor of a book of essays, The Prevailing South, and the author of the text for a book of photographs, Homeless in America. He is coauthor of Out for Good: The Struggle to Build a Gay Rights Movement in America.