A Geriatric Rhapsody

I was taking a course called Gender and Genre in Short Fiction at the time I wrote this novel and was experimenting with a lot of different techniques, styles, and literary tools.

I like it. But I sent it to a few agents and they did not find it worth trying to get published.

It's a short novel, set in the Something-Green-Or-Woodsy Nursing Home and follows a group of geriatrics grappling with the reality that old age cannot be avoided, that moisturisers and beauty products can only do so much for so long, that as a brain gets older it is wan to wander, that the vexations of youth do not necessarily melt away with age—that you still need money, that people still need you, that romantic impulses are still apparent but that physically acting on them is another matter.

Parts are probably a little morbid, some parts are a little crass. But I don’t imagine that time in a person’s life is all fluffy bunnies and rainbows.

Suffice to say I wanted to put the atypical concerns about dying in the context of old age as opposed to novels dealing with the same matter but with a dying-too-young protagonist.

Interestingly, shortly after completing this, I was at a lecture on reporting suicide for my journalism degree. The highest rate of suicide is among men over 80, however, this fact was skipped for some reason middle aged men were of a much higher concern.

I got the impression that a man aged 80+ was less important. The reality being, though never articulated by the speaker, they were going to die anyway.

I think this is sad and I think it serves as a reflection of the overarching approach to the elderly in That they are often neglected, that in literature this part of life is too often ignored.

And so I wanted to address this and I think I am in unique position to do All of my grandparents are alive and in their late 80s, they are mostly articulate, and they are all very open and beautiful people who never have a problem finding things to say. I’d say that’s probably the secret to their they still engage with the world and the people around them.

Suffice to say, when it comes to grandparents I have been extremely lucky and I hope they don’t mind me borrowing their stories for this piece—a lot of the core themes of each of the characters have been lifted from little off-hand comments they made in the past year or two.

I hope I have done the subject matter justice. I hope I haven’t strayed too far from main themes. And I hope it is enjoyable. I think old age is inevitable for most of us and I think, that being the case, it is worth having a think about even if it is a long way off.