Tales from Rhapsody Home: Or, What They Don't Tell You About Senior Living - Hardcover

Gould, John

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1565122801 ISBN 13: 9781565122802

Publisher: Algonquin Books, 2000

Synopsis

Down East Yankee John Gould, age ninety-two, has spent most of the last century observing and writing about the human condition. Now he presents a whole new perspective on life as he leads us into the brave new world of the assisted-living facility. Charming, sarcastic, despairing, flip, taciturn, erudite, and altogether wonderful--with a razor sharp wit and a knack for turning a phrase--Mr. Gould is an American original and a perfect tour guide. Whether he's complaining to management about his apartment windows that don't open or socializing with the other "inmates" at happy hour; whether wondering why they put a napkin over the stone-cold bread at dinner or taking comfort in the memories ("making do with the reruns") of his loving and eccentric collection of old friends and colleagues from Maine, Mr. Gould proves that you can write a funny book about a serious subject, namely, how we treat our elderly.

About this title

From the Inside Flap

ONCE UPON a long-ago time, I was a fine-looking young man with fire in my eye, zeal in my heart, and a haircut that cost twenty-five cents." So begins Tales from Rhapsody Home, ninety-two-years-old John Gould's entertaining look at how he arrived, quite suddenly, at old age and found himself living in a retirement community. With razor-sharp wit and comic sensibility, Mr. Gould offers advice and guidance to those of us ready or not quite ready for the "comforts" of assisted living.

Rhapsody Home is a mythical name, but the place is real-John Gould and his wife, Dorothy, have been living there for the past four and a half years. Mr. Gould, the author of dozens of books about life in small-town Maine, turns his critical eye toward a different kind of small town. And he captures perfectly the absurd rules and quaint idiosyncrasies of this brave new world. Whether he's complaining to management about his windows that don't open or swapping tales at happy hour with Mr. Reynolds about his gas and her hernia, whether he's wondering why they put a napkin over the stone-cold bread at dinner or taking comfort from memories of his loving and eccentric collection of old friends and colleagues, Mr. Gould is by turns sarcastic, charming, taciturn, erudite, hilarious, and wicked-but he is always altogether wonderful. John Gould is an American original. The rest of us can only hope that when it's our turn to check into a Rhapsody Home, we're lucky enough to have a neighbor like him.

From the Back Cover

FEISTY AS EVER.

Dear Reader, Tales From Rhapsody Home is this defiant old geezer's effort to help young and not so young folks prepare to become residents in a retirement home. My wife, Dorothy, and I are living in just such a place, and I'm happy to pass along some of what we have learned: How to order a jelly omelet after five meals of beef; how to distribute color photos of your spleen operation without making the others jealous; and more. Rhapsody Home is a mythical name, but everything I write is true. Because of the nature of this book, I feel it's best we keep our exact whereabouts unknown. -John Gould

A while ago, John wrote me a note from his residence, aka Rhapsody Home. The note said that the cook had quit because he couldn't stand the food.Now everyone can share John's wisdom and humor as he settles into an assisted living community. Feisty as ever, he's no more adjusted to the place that when he first arrived. This book gives us all something to ponder as we approach our Golden Years and wonder what we're going to do with them." -Leon Gorman President, L.L. BEAN

About this edition

• Publisher: Algonquin Books
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 1565122801
• ISBN 13: 9781565122802
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 176