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Tales From Rhapsody Home: Or, What They Don't Tell You About Senior Living
What's it like to exist in senior communities? This lively account by a real-life 92-year-old is a rare glimpse into the reality of the senior living experience.

From the author of Tales From Rhapsody Home: Or, Reporting from Our Last Resort come more lively, humorous meditations on what it means to be a senior living in today's "senior living" facilities. 92-year-old John Gould has not let age dim his wits; his account of the assisted-living experience has been described by USA Today as "the ultimate insider's expose ... with humor as sharp and poignant as a late-summer breeze."

Neither novel nor memoir, with a elements of both, What They Don't Tell You About Senior Living sees its protagonist complaining to management, socializing with other "inmates" at happy hour, despairing at the quality of the dining room's food and dreamily reliving his memories of earlier life. The comedy is manifest, but the subtext is just as interesting: how are senior living communities experienced by those on the inside? Given that those who live in such situations are not terribly prominent in the media and literature, Mr. Gould's book is all the more valuable as a commentary.

A native of Maine
, Gould has spent most of the last century offering up social commentary. Here he continues the practice, albeit with narrowed scope. Some readers with experience working in senior living facilities have corroborated the fundamental elements of his account (if not necessarily its rhapsodic elaborations). As the nation's population ages, the perspectives of its elders will become increasingly relevant to all sectors of society, since our "center of balance," so to speak, will shift to a later life stage. And, as lifespans increase, more nonagenarians are likely to be speaking up about the good and bad in their lives.

While we may laugh at Gould's account, it contains the beginnings of an education that readers – particularly those involved in industries catering to senior communities and senior markets – probably need. The number of senior housing facilities nationwide having more than once doubled in recent years, the industry is hardly able to keep up with itself; administrators and staff are often overwhelmed by the task of effectively providing service. Perusing Gould's entertaining work is sure to realign priorities, bringing the senior residents' interests and well-being once again into proper focus.

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