Out of Time

Out of Time The Pleasures and the Perils of Ageing

A brave book with a polemical argument on the paradoxes, struggles and advantages of aging. How old am I? Don’t ask, don’t tell. As the baby boomers approach their sixth or seventh decade, they are faced with new challenges and questions of politics and identity. In the footsteps of Simone de Beauvoir, Out of Time looks at many of the issues facing the aged—the war of the generations and baby-boomer bashing, the politics of desire, the diminished situation of the older woman, the space on the left for the presence and resistance of the old, the problems of dealing with loss and mortality, and how to find victory in survival.
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Photo of César Steven Toribio
César Steven Toribio@cesarsteven
4 stars
Dec 8, 2023

For as long as I can remember, I've been afraid of getting old. Not just old age itself, but the process. I am afraid of not getting where I am 'supposed' to be and that when old age arrives I'll be helpless and bitter. And after that, old age would be just disastrous. Now I'm a bit more hopeful. Reading how different people deal(t) with their own old age and the pleasures and displeasures it brought with them has made me, in some way, a bit less afraid and even a bit anxious (in a good way) of what old age (if I get to it, that is) will bring. Now, on the less self-centered side of things, it has made me see old people in a different light, and has made me think as how I should deal with my own immediate family when old age is upon them. We tend to look at older people as helpless and fragile, as if as soon someone passes certain age their agency and self-sufficiency is completely lost and can't think nor make decisions for themselves. Some of it might be true for people suffering from diseases that greatly affect their mental processes, but we have got to stop seeing old people as some kind of afterthought, or nuisance. Segal writes on many aspects of old age and how they are seen: the supposed generation war, where young and old are presented (not by Segal) as enemies; how love and intimate relationships change with age, as do the perspective on past opinions, positions and political contexts. I am sure I'll be revisiting this book in the decades to come, and recommend people, young and old to check it out.

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