Getting Over Getting Older: An Intimate Journey

by Letty Cottin Pogrebin

The warm, witty, profound, and funny memoirs of a baby-boomer's journey from her forties into her fifties demystify common fears about growing old and celebrate the possibilities many people are unable to see. Tour.

Genres: Nonfiction, Self Help

336 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 1996

About the author

LETTY COTTIN POGREBIN, a founding editor of Ms. magazine, is a writer, lecturer, social justice activist, and the author of 10 non-fiction works and two novels, most recently, SINGLE JEWISH MALE SEEKING SOUL MATE, Here you can find her biography, a list of her published works, lecture topics, and a schedule of her public events. www.LettyCottinPogrebin.com She's currently at work on SHANDA: A Memoir of Shame and Secrecy.

Reviews

[Mary Karpel-Jergic · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written when she was 55 (she is now 76)Letty Cottin Pogrebin does a great job in discussing aging from a female perspective. She articulates her observations and analysis very well and begins to provide the blueprint for what we are seeing now for women over 60, 70 and 80. Times they are a changing and baby boomers are setting the scene for future generations. The balance between acceptance on the one hand (aging is inevitable and it will be a downward spiral) with resistance on the other (there are lots of things we can do, including adopting the right attitude, to make our later years ones in which we remain vibrant and experience life through a different lens).

"The real issue is not how much extra time one has, but how one spends and values it."

[Paula · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book for anyone in approaching, in, and even beyond their 50's. Written by one of founding editors of Ms. Magazine and a well-known feminist spokesperson, Letty Cottin Pogrebin wrote this book in mid 1990's, when she was in her mid-50's. She deals candidly with the physical, emotional and social aspects of aging, and her book is a good mix of reflection, commentary, and facts. She tells many stories -- both her own and those of friends. She writes honestly, humorously, and poignantly about a stage in life that faces us all.

[Phyllis Faber · Rating 4 out of 5]

Its so real---the author is always honest & contemporary.

[Steve Parsons · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author directs this book towards women, but it contains insights helpful to anyone. I especially appreciated the book's advice of use of time and on relationships. I look forward to reading more of her work.

[Hom Sack · Rating 5 out of 5]

A delightful memoir on the subject, especially from a woman's perspective. I wonder how her views have changed some 30 years later since she wrote the book, now at age 85.

[Yenta Knows · Rating 3 out of 5]

Marking it finished so I can add notes as I read.

How much have things changed since the book was written in 1996. And yet how stubbornly the fear of aging endures.

Pogrebin, a silent generation baby, imagines that we baby boomers will redefine old age. Interesting. I am used to Gen Xers expressing envy of us, the huge generation before them that is blocking the road. I’m not accustomed to hearing envy from the silent gen.

One of the changes since 1996 is that the border between middle age and old age seems to have moved upward. Pogrebin is terrified of turning 50. Fifty seemed like no big deal to me. My 70th birthday was the one that announced “you are old” to me. Even so, I identify with the Facebook meme: “it’s weird being the same age as old people.”

Quitting on page 55. I took this book with me on a trip to Quebec and never opened it. I opened it the night I returned and realized I just didn’t want to read it.

[MissJessie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't get anything much out of this book. Perhaps because it is 15 years old, perhaps because I am well past 50. But I didn't find anything in here I had not either heard somewhere else just as well presented, or figured out for myself.

It's a good enough book if you need something to make you feel better about inevitable aging, but I doubt you will learn anything new.

[Nancy Loe]

I've owned this for 10 years and haven't read it yet. It's in my emergency stash. :D