As We Are Now: A Novel

Rating:
Summary: Powerful and moving
Review: Caroline Spencer is an aging schoolteacher who gets placed in a caregiver's home by her family. She is soon faced with the fact that her caregiver Harriet Hatfield is not unlike a jailer, though she probably means well. Caro is subjected daily to petty cruelties and subtle humiliations, and she almost succumbs to actually taking the tranquilizers she's brought. She keeps a journal to retain her faculties and as a last defense against infirmity. When a married woman temporarily helps out around the home, Caro learns the true nature of love, late in her life. Harriet finds Caro's journal and nearly destroys Caro's morale, but this only drives Caro into a last act of defiance and release. This is the second Sarton book I've read; the first being "Mrs Stevens Hears The Mermaids Singing" (#95 of the 100 Best Lesbian & Gay Novels). Her writing is superb and so beautiful. "As We Are Now" is her indictment against the treatment of the elderly and a brilliant book about growing old and struggling to cling to the world. Kate Millett's memoir "Mother Millett" also deals with the treatment of the elderly in this country, and it's sad to see that it hasn't changed much.

Rating:
Summary: Dignity Within
Review: I have long admired May Sarton's willingness to tackle tough subjects that deal with the inner reality of her characters as they face issues or things about themselves that are not always pleasant. One of my favorite works for example is A Reckoning, in which a woman comes to terms with her own premature dying. Here in As We Are Now, however, Sarton pushes past even her own limits to probe an issue that festers behind the scenes of our youth-obsessed culture - the relegation of the elderly to rest homes, nursing facilities and sanitariums; any place in short where the rest of society doesn't have to see or think about them. What makes Sarton's book such an achievement is how she is able to depict the sordidness and relentless oppression experienced by her main character Caro, while infusing her at the same time with a dignity and strength of character that transcends the worst the situation can dish out. The triumph of the novel is that in the end, we come to see Caro not as an elderly woman, but as a woman infused with a light of her own making.

The story begins with Caro being placed in a rest home by her older brother. Caro has had a heart attack and can no longer live in her own home, and the older brother's younger wife can't handle having Caro live with them. Unfortunately, or perhaps predictably, the rest home is little more than a holding tank where the residents are treated like mentally deficient children, and any attempt to buck the system results in punishment. The most disturbing aspect of the whole thing, however, is that Caro is perceptive, bright and very much alive. A former teacher with students who still write her, she reads and studies poetry, observes and comments astutely on her fellow residents, and replays her favorite music in her mind to keep herself busy. As a reader you want someone to do something, for some long lost relative to appear, a former student to offer a haven, or the visiting minister to report the abominable conditions. Only slowly do you, like Caro, become resigned to the fact that this is what happens to the elderly in our society, and come to realize that the only escape will forged within and by herself.

That Sarton has managed to give her character dignity, that the novel stands as a testament to the strength and beauty of the human spirit rather than a condemnation of society, is remarkable. This book should be read by anyone who has or will be faced with the issue of aging - in other words by everyone.

Rating:
Summary: Well written but made me so sad.
Review: I like Sarton's character, Caroline Spencer. I wanted to rush in and bring her to my home. This book brings to light the humiliations of our Seniors and I really wanted this story to enlighten me. It actually made me very sad.

It was a very easy and fast read (only about 130 pages long) and it was so nice to get to know "Miss Spencer". This book should remind us that our aged are intelligent, and have feelings, and deserve to be treated with respect. I am thankful for that aspect of the novel. I give it a 3, only because I found I was so saddened by the suject. Perhaps I should score it higher, as a testament to Sarton's wonderful writing and believability.