From
the Inside Flap
"Certainly
not!" said Marie Sharp, when a friend suggests she join a bookclub when she
turns sixty. "Bookclub people always seem to have to wade through Captain
Corelli's Mandolin or, groan, The God of Small Things. They feel they've forever
got to poke their brain with a pointed stick to keep it working. But either
you've got a lively brain or you haven't. And anyway, I don't want to be young
and stimulated any more.
Too
young to get whisked away by a Stannah Stairlift, or to enjoy the luxury of a
walk-in bath (but not so much that she doesn't enjoy comfortable shoes), Marie
is all the same getting on in years - and she's thrilled about it. She's a bit
preoccupied about whether to give up sex - Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! - but there are
compensations, like falling in love with her baby grandson, and maybe falling in
love with someone else too?
Talking
about giving up sex - I found that aspect of the book extremely tedious and a
tad distasteful - all the elderly characters seemed to be agonising over sex,
more like rampant teenagers than well balanced older people - there are 65
mentions of the word sex - which is all very pertinent in a Fifty Shades of Grey
type book, but seemed out of place and rather extreme and boring in this
context.
Apart
from that aspect, I did enjoy the book. There were plenty of laugh out loud
parts and I liked most of the characters and could identify with them and the
challenges of growing older they were encountering. There was a good story line
and some pathos as well.
The
story is a record of a year in the life of Marie, a recently retired art
teacher as she is approaching her 60th birthday. I did wonder how she got to
retire before she turned 60! It’s a mainly pleasant, easy and relaxing, feel
good read.
Virginia
Ironside is a prolific writer. Her first book, Chelsea Bird, came out when she
was nineteen. She was sixty-three when she wrote the book and is now nearing 70.
She's written many books and for years was an "agony aunt" advice columnist for
several English newspapers. She lives and writes in London.
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