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Unexpectedly Eighty: And Other Adaptations

by Judith Viorst

Poems on the particulars of being eighty

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AlbakiReads Editorial

Poems on the particulars of being eighty

In this installment of Judith Viorst’s “Decades” poetry series, everyday details of later life become material for comic observation: cataract surgery, fading memory, family bonds, and decisions about when to drive. The poems also touch on love, friendship, marriage, grandchildren, aging, and thoughts about the afterlife. The collection balances practical limits and small frustrations with the pleasures and possibilities Viorst associates with turning eighty, including continuing to dream, flirt, drink, and dance. Its subject is not aging in the abstract, but the specific routines, relationships, and reflections that shape an octogenarian’s life.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • Adults interested in humorous poetry about aging and later life.
  • Readers of Judith Viorst’s “Decades” poetry series.
  • Those looking for poems about family, marriage, friendship, and life at eighty.

Themes

Aging and later lifeLove, marriage, and friendshipGrandparenthood and familyMemory and everyday adaptationsHumor and the pleasures of living

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

Judith Viorst returns with more poems in her "Decades" poetry series detailing the highs and lows of being an octogenarian. Continuing the comedic insight from I'm Too Young to be Seventy, these verses of memories and advice from eighty years of love, marriage, and grandchildren are sure to bring laughs.

What does it mean to be eighty? In her wise and playful poems, Judith Viorst discusses love, friendship, grand parenthood, and all the particular marvels--and otherwise--of this extraordinary decade. She describes the wonder of seeing the world with new eyes--not because of revelation but because of a successful cataract operation. She promises not to gently fade away, and not to drive after daylight's faded away either. She explains how she's gotten to be a "three-desserts" grandmother ("Just don't tell your mom!"), shares how memory failure can keep you married, and enumerates her hopes for the afterlife (which she doesn't believe in, but if it does exist, her sister-in-law better not be there with her).

As Viorst gleefully attests, eighty is not too old to dream, to flirt, to drink, and to dance. It's also not too late to give up being cheap or to take up with a younger man of seventy-eight. Zesty, hopeful, and full of the pleasures of living, Viorst's poems speak to her legions of readers, who recognize themselves in her knowing observations, in her touching reflections, and in her joyful affirmations. Funny, moving, inspirational, and true--the newest in Judith Viorst's beloved "decades" series extols the virtues, victories, frustrations, and joys of life.
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