Tales of Graceful Aging from the Planet Denial

by Nicole Hollander

One of America’s funniest women asks, “If sixty is the new fifty, when do I get to be thirty again?” Nicole Hollander grew up in the nineteen-fifties, when women of a certain age put on weight, got a really tight perm, and rode the backs of their house slippers into the ground. Oh, for those uncomplicated good old days. Today, your fifties and sixties are deemed your most creative years—you can’t lie around like a slug unless you suddenly want to be seventy with nothing to show for it. Luckily, in Tales of Graceful Aging from the Planet Denial , Nicole, creator of the beloved Sylvia comic strip and one of the pioneers of the genre of humor about women and their cats, guides us through the important decisions that come in one’s mature Accept the senior citizen discount or feign indignation? Get plastic surgery or just a really good haircut?

Nicole applies her ironic wit to such topics as whether to lobby Harry Winston for a foundation to provide chauffeur-driven cars and diamonds to women over fifty or instead focus on finding a château to buy in France and turning it into the first nail spa in the Loire Valley or perhaps a shelter for French strays. She tackles a range of female men, friendship, beauty, money, weight, and a few peculiar obsessions of her own, such as researching loft-size mausoleums with huge mobile homes your family can stay in when they come to lay flowers or angry notes on your grave, the very latest thing in burial arrangements.

With wicked humor and fantastic riffs that take you places you never expected to go, Tales of Graceful Aging from the Planet Denial is like Nicole’s idea of tiny cupcakes served continuously.

Genres: Humor, Nonfiction, Memoir

249 pages, Hardcover

First published September 18, 2007

About the author

I am best known for writing and drawing the syndicated cartoon strip, SYLVIA, which appears daily and weekly in more than 30 newspapers across the country, including The Boston Globe, The Berkeley Daily Planet, Women’s e News Online and The Houston Chronicle (online). Sylvia strips appear on BadGirlChats as well. I am represented by the Tribune Media Services Syndicate.

I continue to write and draw Sylvia at Badgirlchats.com, a blog composed of original writing, comments and reactions to what's in the news.

I am currently teaching college courses at the Art Institute in graphic novel writing as well as storytelling and memoir workshops at Lillstreet Art Center in Chicago, but I still love speaking at events and book readings.

Reviews

[Lisa]

I love the author's work, some of which is as timely as ever, but I was finding that this particular book hasn't "aged" well, for me at least. I might pick it up again another time.

[Lisa Barrett · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice light diversion during the pandemic crisis.

[Jan Priddy · Rating 4 out of 5]

TALES OF GRACEFUL AGING FROM THE PLANET DENIAL by Nicole Hollander (2007) is from my favorite cartoonist. I din't know how I could have missed a new Hollander publication, and then I checked the publication date and realized. My husband and I are forever discovering events, books, movies, and whole television series that came out during the last years of my mother's dying. In any event, this is funny and irreverent and pretty much what anyone should expect from the creator of the marvelous "Sylvia." Hollander speaks to a slightly different demographic than mine—single, thinner, slightly more affluent. I wish there had been more drawings beyond the chapter openings. Otherwise, I think most women of a certain age (mine) will find it hysterical.

[Cathie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short, quipy Maxine like style humor on not aging gracefully and bending all the social norms. Had some great moments and had some not great moments, but any book that makes me laugh out loud, spurting coffee out of my nose and getting chuckles by others as they watch me in a coffee shop can't be all bad.

[Garryvivianne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty funny! A woman who knows how to express what women go through in their later years-and silly ideas on how to survive our MUCH later years (since we are living so much longer now!) Just WHAT do we do with our "extra" years?! Good reading.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The creator of the "Sylvia" comic strip muses humorously
on aging -- in particular, aging in women. In the
process, she creates a loosely-structured memoir.

A good light read, this book consists of episodic riffs
on aging-related topics. It is almost always amusing and
is sometimes laugh-out-loud funny.

The intermittent cartoon illustrations add a lot to the
book. I now have a photocopied one stuck on my fridge:
"My favorite kind of coffee is the coffee that someone
else makes for me."

This book had not been on my running list of books to
read, but then my local library hosted Hollander at an
author visit, prompting me to seek out this work.

I took it on a short trip where sustained reading was
not possible. It was perfect for that.

I am not sure if I will read any of her other books, but
I will continue to be a big fan of "Sylvia," which runs
in my local paper. (And is also available online,
according to Hollander.)

[Beth · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have loved Hollander's Sylvia comic strip since I first started reading it--at least twenty-four years ago. This little stream-of-consciousness book of humorous musings on aging and her social life doesn't match the quality of her strip, unfortunately. Or perhaps she just can't find a way to change media so drastically. I couldn't finish it--the disjointedness drove me nuts.

[Marjanne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Clearly, this book was not written for a woman my age. There were some funny parts, but it was not consistently funny. I suppose that if I were older it would have translated better. Oh well.

[Patricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

learned a lot about myself from this funny, witty and "everyone goes through it" book.

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't think I'm quite old enough to appreciate this book fully, but parts of it were hilarious. I'll reread it later.

[Deb Davis]

Yeah, I know. I thought I'd love it, but it was sporadic, and rambling, and I couldn't make it through.

[Babette · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Nicole Hollander's comic strip Sylvia. This book is sort of a memoir, though some of it is clearly added just for laughs. And there are laughs a-plenty!

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great light read. I am a huge fan of Nicole Hollander. Written like her comic strip, "Sylvia."

[Sandra]

This was a wry,mildly funny book about growing up in the 1950s and aging.

[Mary Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Inspiring and fun. I read it in two days and enjoyed it.