About Time: Growing Old Disgracefully

by Irma Kurtz

In this frank, often funny, and always compelling disquisition on aging, Irma Kurtz sets out to chart the territory through her own and others' experiences. Along the way she meets a diverse group of people whose insights into their own lives have much to offer a younger generation--from a 90-year-old weekly columnist and a vicar still working in his mid-70s to "The Good Granny Guide'"s Jane Fearnley-Whittingstall and 'London's Rudest Landlord' Normal Balon of the celebrated Coach and Horses. Kurtz is a fearless investigator of the art of growing old--its pleasures and its griefs--carrying with her the only tool that sharpens with age: lifelong curiosity.

Paperback

First published March 5, 1992

Reviews

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a breath of fresh air!A wise and wonderful woman writes so well about old age, the generation gap,the differences in cultures the stresses and strains of life today and so much more.Irma Kurtz never seems to take herself or life too seriously but time after time her succinct and right-on-the-button references show she is an astute student of the foibles of a long life.The word 'student'is used deliberately here as Irma and her guest writers display a voracious hunger and curiousity for learning in the Autumn of their lives which can only be envied.A delightful read!

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Frank, witty, direct. Loved it.

[RedSaab · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book could only have been written by an inveterate columnist, and unfortunately it shows. All theme and not much thesis, it is an overlong, fragmented meditation on age and ageing by an author with an unashamedly butterfly mind. Trying to follow her drift required the sort of concentration which I am nowadays reluctant to commit. Her elliptical musings are stitched together with (somewhat more coherent) commentaries by other ageing notables she has encountered. There is sporadic wit, amusement and intelligence to be found here, and a Irma Kurtz is certainly an intriguing character in her own right. But I couldn't help thinking that the book would have identical impact if, like a pack of cards, the pages were shuffled any which way. Having gamely persisted to the very end I find myself a little older, but probably none the wiser.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Its a difficult pastime don't you think?