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What does it mean to be eighty? In her wise and playful poems, Judith Viorst discusses marriage, friendship, grand parenthood, and all the particular marvels - and otherwise - of this extraordinary decade. She describes the wonder of seeing the world with new eyes - not because of revelation but because of a successful cataract operation. She promises not to gently fade away, and not to drive after daylight's faded away either. She explains how she’s gotten to be a "three-desserts" grandmother ("Just don’t tell your mom!"), shares how memory failure can keep you married, and enumerates her hopes for the afterlife (which she doesn’t believe in, but if it does exist, her sister-in-law better not be there with her).
As Viorst gleefully attests, eighty is not too old to dream, to flirt, to drink, and to dance. It’s also not too late to give up being cheap or to take up with a younger man of seventy-eight. Zesty, hopeful, and full of the pleasures of living, Viorst’s poems speak to her legions of readers, who recognize themselves in her knowing observations, in her touching reflections, and in her joyful affirmations. Funny, moving, inspirational, and true—the newest in Judith Viorst’s beloved "decades" series extols the virtues, victories, frustrations, and joys of life.
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This information about Unexpectedly Eighty was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Judith Viorst, born in 1931, is a journalist, psychoanalysis researcher and the author of
several works of fiction and non-fiction for children as well as adults.
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, her most famous
children's book, was first published in 1972 and has since sold over two million
copies.
Other children's books include The Tenth Good Thing About Barney, The
Alphabet From Z to A, and the "Alexander" stories: Alexander, Who Used to
be Rich Last Sunday, Alexander and Who's Not (Do You Hear Me? I
Mean It!) Going to Move.
She received a B.A. in History from Rutgers University, and is also a graduate
of the Washington Psychoanalytic Institute. She began her career as a poet and
has since completed at least six collections ...
Name Pronunciation
Judith Viorst: vee-orst
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