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You're only old once!
A Book for Obsolete Children
First published 1986 · 56 pages
A whimsical, rhyming commiseration on the absurdities of aging and the endless gauntlet of medical waiting rooms.
What it feels like
Reading this feels like sharing a knowing, exasperated chuckle with a lifelong friend in the waiting room of a clinic. It takes the universal, often frustrating experience of aging and medical bureaucracy and filters it through a lens of pure, bouncy absurdity. The pace is wonderfully brisk, driven by rhythmic, musical rhymes that make the indignities of poking, prodding, and pill-swallowing feel delightfully silly rather than grim. The mood balances mild dread with lighthearted whimsy, creating a safe space to laugh at our own physical decline. It is the perfect read for anyone navigating the golden years, offering a wry, commiserating wink that reminds us to find the humor in surviving yet another checkup.
- Mood
- whimsical
- absurd
- lighthearted
- mildly exasperated
- Tone
- wry
- playful
- satirical
- commiserating
- Pace
- brisk
- Themes
- the indignities of aging · medical bureaucracy · resilience and humor · bodily decay
- The writing
- Bouncy, rhythmic anapestic tetrameter packed with signature nonsense words and clever, musical rhymes.
- The arc
- Begins with the mild dread of a waiting room, escalates through a gauntlet of absurd medical tests, and lands on a note of cheerful, exhausted survival.
- Who it's for
- Older adults and milestone-birthday celebrants who appreciate a good-natured laugh at the expense of their own creaking joints and endless doctor appointments.
Content notes
- medical anxiety
- aging and bodily decay
About the book
One day you will read in the National Geographic of a faraway land with no smelly bad traffic.
Description from Open Library.
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