Reviews - Growing Old: Notes on Aging with Something Like Grace

16 reviews for:

Growing Old: Notes on Aging with Something Like Grace

For at least the first fifth, this book is not about aging, it's about an Atheist sharing her philosophy on life, denigrating Christians in her life, and comforting herself with sophomoric reasoning about afterlife and the lack thereof. The only things that were of interest were her encounter with a certain "celebrity," her enjoyment of the moment when she and her pets go to bed, and her discovery about the usefulness of commas.

Sorry, I can't keep reading something simultaneously intentionally offensive and deeply saddening, especially when I was reading it to get a better perspective on my own parents' current experience. This is providing no informative or anecdotally edifying content toward that end, at all.

kfish3's review against another edition

3.0

Growing Old by Elizabeth Marshall Thomas is a free NetGalley ebook that I read in late March.

Marshall Thomas is chatty, talking around, then through a subject, like meeting a family member at a reunion that you haven’t seen in years, then, when you chat them up and ask what they’re doing and they respond with a full 360-degree eye roll, and respond with this book. It's vignettes of her life, memories that reach up to the surface about death and mortality, memorializing the dead, living in a community, yet being alone; having more time, more things, but, sometimes, less people; confusion toward modern culture, being physically and emotionally careful; and time being an odd, relative spectrum.

3rdgenlibrarian's review

3.5

informative reflective medium-paced

I read this because I'm having issues with aging and death. Not sure this helped as much as I wanted it to, but the author seems like I would be friends with her.

mysterefantasy's review against another edition

4.0

This is a must-read book regardless of your age – it is life-affirming, sad in some places, and amusing in others. If you have any older relatives, you really must read this book. So much of it is too true according to the seniors in my life. It was eye opening to say the least.

Thanks to Harper and Edelweiss for an eARC.

sbloom2's review

4.0

inspiring reflective medium-paced

Good book for someone approaching end of life issues.

Content Warnings

cklock's review

5.0

"If I'm about to die or if I'm dead when this book is published, I'm hoping the publisher will put THE AUTHOR DIED OF BAD HABITS in big red letters under my name on the cover."

The bad habit Elizabeth Marshall Thomas is referring to is cigarette smoking, which is a recurring topic to remind her (and us) that after all we are only human. And perhaps what really imparts grace upon us as we age is the ability to find acceptance and humor.

If you expect a 'how to' book you will be disappointed, although there are some gems, such as the contents of the letter addressed to her children and pinned to her kitchen wall in the event of her demise.

This book is like a conversation with a dear friend, sharing both sorrows and laughter, as she contemplates how she is navigating old age (the author is 88) and still thumbing her nose at convention. The picture on the dust jacket of the book is priceless.

I read this slim book in one sitting. Highly recommended.

tatumreads's review against another edition

3.25

dark funny inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

It was a little too stream-of-consciousness for my taste. I enjoyed reading about aging, growing old, and stories from the author’s life. It was darker than I expected and talked more about death than living at times, which I didn’t see coming, but in retrospect maybe should have. The book was a lot more analytical and matter-of-fact rather than emotional. It felt like reading more like a textbook than a memoir.