I was disappointed in this book. I was hoping for a little insight as to how the elderly (89 in the writer's case) felt about their life and their eventual death. This woman may have been very successful in her career as an editor but to have affair after affair with married men, citing the relief that someone else was "taking care" of the men's daily care and needs and then end up living in a platonic relationship for 40 years with a has-been-lover only to nurse him in his bedridden state...ironic really. But you feel toward the end that she got what she deserved in the end: exactly what she'd avoided her entire life, responsibility and care of another human being. ( )

Well written, honest, and of course wonderful from a 90 year old, but not as interesting as I had hoped, nothing very original either in what she thinks or how she says it. Someone had complained that there was too much sex, but the sex content seemed to me mildly expressed and entirely acceptable. Didn't like Ms Athill herself very much - a cold fish, except with regard to her mother. Altogether, not thrilled. ( )

Unusual in terms of autobiography because here is less is more. She writes in riffs around a topic rather than just tediously plodding through everything which happened. Shrewd observational stuff. ( )

As I get older (and closer to Ms. Athill's age), I find that some of the basics of life are more perplexing than I thought they were when I was younger. This memoir was delightful to me because the author is quite candid about her flaws and perceptions, and I found that, really, a lot of what she has to say is very relevant. Each chapter is its own secular story or remembrance, so this is not a diary or a full-life memoir. It is more a commentary on aging and how things change the older we get. ( )

She writes very well. She talks about being old. I think she is trying to be honest.

Autobiographies are never really my favourite thing, but I do occasionally give one a spin. This gets a raspberry from me. Diana Athill is clearly an upper class lady who thinks quite highly of herself and has led a privileged life. Consequently I find her story a difficult one to warm to. Where is the humility? Nevertheless this book is quite an achievement for a ninety year old to complete. Ms Athill still has a sharp mind but I don't think I'd find her a sympathetic old lady. ( )

For a memoir from a longtime book editor, I expected more tidbits about books and authors. Or, from the viewpoint of a 91-year-old writer, I had expectations of some profound pointers on how to age gracefully. What I didn't expect was to read more than I wanted to know about Ms. Athill's atheist beliefs and her sex life and multiple affairs with married men.

I did glean one marvelous quote towards the end to include in my quotation journal:
"One doesn't necessarily have to end a book about being old with a whimper, but it is impossible to end it with a bang." Priceless. Maybe I was expecting a little more "bang" with this book rather than a whimper. ( )

There are parts of this book that are moving and very insightful, other parts seem to drag. I like that someone wrote about the harsh reality that our existance will end or at best be transformed. I must say Julian Barnes did a better job of it in his memoir Nothing to be Frighten Of. Still Ms. Athill is a honest writer that does face her dying with courage and dignity. It was well worth reading ( )

An interesting memoir that was a bit too distanced from her feelings to really grab me. Remembrances of her life and lovers in a slightly odd dispassionate style. On the other hand, I hope I can write this well if, and when, I'm 89. ( )

I bought this for a quid in an Oxfam bookshop. Th reviews I have read have been good. I did not enjoy it at all. Of the 182 pages over thirty are blank as space fillers. There's a good chapter on urinary seizure which is frightening. Otherwise there are lots of things I didn't really want to hear about., for instance, non -genital masturbation I think the author needs to read the Highway Code and rules about driving on motorways otherwise someone will get hurt. There's some comments around complacency and smugness too. `Give me morphine', is what I thought when I was reading it. ( )

http://homepage.mac.com/shawjonathan/...

This book has in spades a miraculous quality that I think of as Protestant integrity. I wouldn't mind having a mind like Diana Athill's when I'm 90. She manages to be remarkably cheerful about things usually discussed, if at all, in gloomy mode. One chapter begins, for example (the italics are mine): 'When you begin discussing old age you come up against reluctance to depress either others or yourself, so you tend to focus on the more agreeable aspects of it: coming to terms with death, the continuing presence of young people, the discovery of new pursuits and so on. But I have to say that a considerable part of my own old time is taken up by doing things or (worse) failing to do things for people older, or if not older, less resistant to age, than myself.' ( )