CHAIRMAN OF THE BORED

Preceded by pre-post mortems of retirement are the days following the 65 marker and Mr. Crombie, head of his own investment counsel company, looks a whole new bevy of unexpected facts in the face -- before and after. Once you accept his definitely ostrich attitude to what is to come, his progress, from disbelief that this could happen to him to his realization that he is on the way out, is a bumbling make-do. Giving up the New York City apartment, living in the country (annoying his children on every count) and learning the hard (dollars, cents and sense) way that escaping and running out is not the full sum of what the years have earned for him; leads him back to another activity in which his talents can be effectively used. Crombie is likable -- affable (as is his narrator's writing) -- believable even in this day when retirement planning is very much on the agenda. Recommended for The Man Who has to face it -- this will carry the message with a lighter touch.