What do you think?
Rate this book
The Lioness in Winter: Writing an Old Woman's Life
When she started working with the aged more than forty years ago, Ann Burack-Weiss began storing the knowledge and skills she thought would help when she got old herself. It was not until she hit her mid-seventies that she realized she had packed sneakers to climb Mount Everest, not anticipating the crevices and chasms that constitute the rocky terrain of old age. The professional gerontological and social work literature offered little help, so she turned to the late-life works of beloved women authors who had bravely climbed the mountain and sent back news from the summit. Maya Angelou, Colette, Simone de Beauvoir, Joan Didion, Marguerite Duras, M. F. K. Fisher, Doris Lessing, Mary Oliver, Adrienne Rich, May Sarton, and Florida Scott-Maxwell were among the many guides she turned to for inspiration.
In The Lioness in Winter , Burack-Weiss blends an analysis of key writings from these and other famed women authors with her own wisdom to create an essential companion for older women and those who care for them. She fearlessly examines issues such as living with loss, finding comfort and joy in unexpected places, and facing disability and death. This book is filled with powerful passages from women who turned their experiences of aging into art, and Burack-Weiss ties their words to her own struggles and epiphanies, framing their collective observations with key insights from social work practice.
In The Lioness in Winter , Burack-Weiss blends an analysis of key writings from these and other famed women authors with her own wisdom to create an essential companion for older women and those who care for them. She fearlessly examines issues such as living with loss, finding comfort and joy in unexpected places, and facing disability and death. This book is filled with powerful passages from women who turned their experiences of aging into art, and Burack-Weiss ties their words to her own struggles and epiphanies, framing their collective observations with key insights from social work practice.
- GenresNonfiction
208 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2015
About the author
Ann Burack-Weiss
8 books1 followerBurack-Weiss was Adjunct Associate Professor at Columbia University's School of Social Work from 1990 until 2007. She conducted training seminars in 1990 and 1986 at the Paul Baerwald School of Social Work at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel. Burack-Weiss was also training consultant to Brookdale Institute on Aging and Adult Human Development at Columbia University from 1981-86. She taught courses on aging at New York Technical College, Bryn Mawr College, and the Institute of Gerontology, Utica College of Syracuse University.
Burack-Weiss provided clinical support at the Gay Men’s Health Crisis in New York for more than 15 years.
She has published over 50 journal articles and book reviews and presented over 150 keynote addresses and panel presentations since 1977.
She also maintains a private practice and is a frequent contributor to The New York Times and is currently a partner at SBW Partners, LCSW in New York.
(from http://www.naswfoundation.org/pioneer...)
Burack-Weiss provided clinical support at the Gay Men’s Health Crisis in New York for more than 15 years.
She has published over 50 journal articles and book reviews and presented over 150 keynote addresses and panel presentations since 1977.
She also maintains a private practice and is a frequent contributor to The New York Times and is currently a partner at SBW Partners, LCSW in New York.
(from http://www.naswfoundation.org/pioneer...)
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
November 16, 2016
Ann Burack-Weiss did a beautiful job writing this book. Lots of powerful passages about growing old and how our society views this difficult but glorious time. Trailblazing wisdom for sure from poets and great thinkers like Anais Nin, Toni Morrison, Adrienne Rich, and Joyce Carol Oates. Colette, Simone de Beauvoir, Mary Oliver and especially Isabel Allende, May Sarton, and Florida Scott-Maxwell were absolutely inspiring. I loved dipping into these women's minds about the process of aging. Some of it was a little depressing, of course, explaining the trials of illness. The writing had an academic flavor, I think, so some readers might find it a bit stiff.
One awful aspect of this book is the typeface. The editors who produced this book at Columbia University Press clearly had no sense when they chose the small 9-point font size (page numbers even smaller). Dreadful choice and that's the reason for my giving it only 3 stars. No kidding; the readability is really bad. The italics used in many of the quotations are even smaller (7- or 8-point) and will drive you to go running for a magnifying glass. What a shame because this is the kind of book you might keep on your shelf so you can reread certain chapters or passages again and again. Normal font size for hard cover books is 10- or 12-point. What the heck were these editors thinking?! I read this book from my local library and did consider buying it; I think I'll wait for the trade paperback if the font size is bigger.
One awful aspect of this book is the typeface. The editors who produced this book at Columbia University Press clearly had no sense when they chose the small 9-point font size (page numbers even smaller). Dreadful choice and that's the reason for my giving it only 3 stars. No kidding; the readability is really bad. The italics used in many of the quotations are even smaller (7- or 8-point) and will drive you to go running for a magnifying glass. What a shame because this is the kind of book you might keep on your shelf so you can reread certain chapters or passages again and again. Normal font size for hard cover books is 10- or 12-point. What the heck were these editors thinking?! I read this book from my local library and did consider buying it; I think I'll wait for the trade paperback if the font size is bigger.
February 7, 2019
Ann Burack-Weiss is a geriatric social worker who in exploring her own aging process reviews the works of forty women's writings on aging: Colette, Maya Angelou, Alice Neel, Marguerite Duras, Toni Morrison, Joan Didion, May Sarton, Adrienne Rich, Alice Walker, Eudora Welty, and Anais Nin to name a few. She calls her book, "a hybrid of memoir and narrative analysis." And it is a gem for anyone interested in aging, writing/art, and how women process our lives as we age. Her overview of the grief process and how social work has changed since she started is on target, as someone who worked as a social worker I resonat strongly with how the field changed even during the time I worked in it, going from more listening and being with people to a much more check off a list approach.
Her writing is excellent and very engaging, so easy to read and relate to.
Alice Neel, a painter, writes, "Getting oneself down on the canvas, like getting oneself down on the page, is work that occupies and sustains until the end of life."
Simone Weill brings out the question to be asked: What are you going through? and this quote, "The lone, steep road to the end, containing all manner of problems, is seen as a necessary prequel to the end."
From her book, In My Mother’s House, Colette writes: “Both house and garden are living still, I know, but what of that, if the magic has deserted them? If the secret is lost that opened me to a whole world—light, scents, birds and trees in perfect harmony, the murmur of human voices now silent forever—a world of which I have ceased to be worthy?”
This note is a touchstone for a rich book with much to offer and reflect on.
Her writing is excellent and very engaging, so easy to read and relate to.
Alice Neel, a painter, writes, "Getting oneself down on the canvas, like getting oneself down on the page, is work that occupies and sustains until the end of life."
Simone Weill brings out the question to be asked: What are you going through? and this quote, "The lone, steep road to the end, containing all manner of problems, is seen as a necessary prequel to the end."
From her book, In My Mother’s House, Colette writes: “Both house and garden are living still, I know, but what of that, if the magic has deserted them? If the secret is lost that opened me to a whole world—light, scents, birds and trees in perfect harmony, the murmur of human voices now silent forever—a world of which I have ceased to be worthy?”
This note is a touchstone for a rich book with much to offer and reflect on.
December 15, 2020
I quite enjoyed this book! Other reviewers are correct in their stating that it reads a bit academically. I had to keep my phone close to look up words I was unfamiliar with and now have a nice stash or archaic/literary words I can dazzle my friends with ;)
I enjoyed seeing the author reflect on her experiences with aging through reading and analyzing texts written by and about old women. That's really what I set out to do as well!
The author does an ok job of including intersections of race and class with age and gender but could definitely be better. There are a few authors of color included and a few authors who come from working class families but most of the book revolves around middle to upper-middle class white women.
I added a bunch of new books I'm curious about reading to my lists with her handy acknowledgments section highlighting books and authors analyzed throughout the text.
I enjoyed seeing the author reflect on her experiences with aging through reading and analyzing texts written by and about old women. That's really what I set out to do as well!
The author does an ok job of including intersections of race and class with age and gender but could definitely be better. There are a few authors of color included and a few authors who come from working class families but most of the book revolves around middle to upper-middle class white women.
I added a bunch of new books I'm curious about reading to my lists with her handy acknowledgments section highlighting books and authors analyzed throughout the text.
June 9, 2019
The author is a sociology professor, whose clients early in her career were all elderly. She was puzzled by their inability to tell her about themselves and continues to explore how elderly people, especially women, talk and write about themselves. I was drawn to her extensive mentions of older women writers who had literary success. Since age 11 I've found memoirs & autobiographies the most fascinating of non-fiction writing. I wanted to add to my "to Read" list while reading this unique work. As someone in her 70s who's been doing memoir writing the past 3 years, I'm focusing my studies on useful tools/foci in memoir writing among aging writers.
January 23, 2019
Now that I am getting older, I was drawn to this book and was not disappointed. It was comforting to hear about the lives of many aging authors that are presented in this book. Just like Ann Burack-Weiss, I also looked for inspiration in their words or at least maybe instruction as to what to expect. The book is put together really well and with much truth about the last stages and how other women coped.
July 30, 2019
Writing an Old Woman's Life...wisdom taken from books I have known by women writers I have appreciated.
January 29, 2020
Some interesting sections but, if it hadn’t been for a book club, I would not have read it.
March 16, 2021
Honoring Being an Old Woman
A thought-provoking mix of personal story and words of wisdom from many “old women.” Well worth my second read. Good!
A thought-provoking mix of personal story and words of wisdom from many “old women.” Well worth my second read. Good!
December 5, 2015
An inspirational book about ageing.
This book is a rare and interesting find on the subject of ageing. It is a collection of facts from the author’s career in gerontology combined with an analysis of writings from her favourite authors about the subject of ageing and how they describe their day to day experience of old age.
This is a great book for anyone with a professional interest in health issues especially with the contemporary issue of ageing.
There is certainly an increasing demand and interest for literature on the topic. We do need positive role models to help us understand and face our own old age. The author provide us with examples.
The text is written in a clear and simple way and it makes for an easy read.
I gave it only 4 instead of 5 stars as I do think that it is still an academic read. I wished it to be more accessible to all readers.
The book is a great achievement and I am sure it will provide inspiration to others to write about this important subject of ageing.
This book is a rare and interesting find on the subject of ageing. It is a collection of facts from the author’s career in gerontology combined with an analysis of writings from her favourite authors about the subject of ageing and how they describe their day to day experience of old age.
This is a great book for anyone with a professional interest in health issues especially with the contemporary issue of ageing.
There is certainly an increasing demand and interest for literature on the topic. We do need positive role models to help us understand and face our own old age. The author provide us with examples.
The text is written in a clear and simple way and it makes for an easy read.
I gave it only 4 instead of 5 stars as I do think that it is still an academic read. I wished it to be more accessible to all readers.
The book is a great achievement and I am sure it will provide inspiration to others to write about this important subject of ageing.
April 21, 2016
Well organized and insightful, identifies themes and differences amount the quite lengthy list of author's she includes. While I benefited from the author's insight and have vowed to age gracefully, I a m somewhat peeved and hone s tilt bewildered as to why there is no hint of the "do not go gentle into that good night" in the context of how personal choices can dramatically alter, possibly improve, the latter third of our lives.
Old age can be more than decline and acceptance.
Old age can be more than decline and acceptance.
February 8, 2016
There are plenty of beautiful passages in this book. As a reference for a great reading list I would highly recommend it. Ann Burack-Weiss' writing and commentary is thoughtful but leans heavily towards the academic. The marriage of the lyric and academic didn't quite work for me.
July 11, 2016
A great book - I rarely buy books but have ordered this one.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews