PRIME TIME: A Guide to the Pleasures and Opportunities of the New Middle Age

by Bernice & Morton Hunt ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 1974

An attempt to put a good face on those years of less cavities and less teeth and more aches in more places. This husband and wife team (Morton is twice divorced and Bernice is recently widowed) say all those things that are nice to hear and are, with qualifications, true: financial burdens without children at home are less; most physical capacities do not wane appreciably before the 60's; sex, although less urgent in desire and performance, can be just as satisfying; and, with no kids around, spouses have the opportunity to become close again. An older person now has the know-how and experience to select friends and eliminate ""deadwood""; it's time for a refreshing reappraisal of self, etc., etc. But perhaps one of the most enervating contemporary problems gets little play here -- the squeeze, with its guilts and fears, between the demands of still problem-wrought adult children on the one hand (the overly dependent, the lost, the wild-oats sowers) and the plight of elderly parents on the other. More than one father has hit the sauce while waiting for a collect call from, say, Junior on the Alaska Highway; and there's more to relationships with Mum and Dad than finding a nice nursing home or senior community. In all, fairly familiar stuff for those who need bottled cheer.

Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1974

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Stein & Day

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1974

Categories: NONFICTION