Book Review
Reviews
Frank J. Whittington, PhD, Editor
The Gerontologist
Cite journal as: The Gerontologist Vol. 53, No. 3, 520–525

© The Author 2013. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America.
All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: [email protected].
Intergenerational Coconstruction of Narrative Gerontology in Theory
and in Practice
Denise Tanner. (2010). Managing the Ageing
Experience: Learning from Older People. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, $42.95 (paper).
Gary Kenyon, Ernst Bohlmeijer, and William L.
Randall. (2011). Storying Later Life: Issues,
Investigations, and Interventions in Narrative
Gerontology. New York: Oxford University
Press, 424 pp., $49.95 (hard cover).
Mary O’Brien Tyrell. (2012). Become a Memoirist
for Elders: Create a Successful Home Business. St.
Paul, MN: Memoirs, Inc., 116 pp., $24.95 (paper).
Nan Merrick Phifer. (2011). Memoirs of the Soul:
A Writing Guide, 2nd ed. Eugene, OR: Ingot
Press, 264 pp., $19.95 (paper).
My father has been helping me with my homework since I was 5 years old, so why should that
stop now that I’m an associate professor? The four
books I received from the editor were sitting on
my living room table last summer, when my father
(age 72) asked if he could read them too. (NB:
Age of author is not revealed.) Without hesitation,
I gave him a few for some light reading on his trip
to Florida. While he was vacationing by the beach
with my mother, he and I talked on the phone and
e-mailed back and forth about our impressions of
these books. From those exchanges, the ideas for
this essay emerged. We hope this review will shed
light on issues of narrative, knowledge, intergenerational aging (his and mine), and construction of
selves through personal narrative.
Tanner, in her book Managing the Ageing
Experience: Learning from Older People, describes
the lives and culture of 12 older adults living in
a West-Midland exurban and small-town area of
England. Written for an academic and policy audience, the book is divided into six chapters, with
an introduction as well as a list of references. In
the first chapter, Tanner introduces herself as a
researcher and her research participants. In addition, she outlines her theoretical framework based
in grounded theory (Glaser & Strauss, 1967). In
the second chapter, she outlines the social policy
in England that sets the stage for the conditions in
which her research participants live their lives and
the research methods she uses to understand those
lives. A background chapter outlines her theoretical approaches to grounded theory and qualitative
analysis. Using her background as a social worker,
she presents stories woven with the realities of
dealing with the support systems (public and private) in the daily life of these individuals. The rest
of the book includes chapters about each research
subject and concludes with a final chapter that
offers policy-related suggestions for the betterment
of elders in England.
On the first day of his vacation on the east
coast of Florida, Dad sends an e-mail that he can’t
figure out how to type his book review notes on
the iPhone. He wants a keyboard or an electronic
document (e.g., Google docs) to take notes. My
response is that he should take notes on regular
paper. He is aghast at my suggestion and starts
describing Tanner’s premise of empowerment in
Chapter 1. She states that older people should
empower themselves by creating their own bodies
of knowledge and practice. A striking irony comes
to mind as I read about the conflict between needs
of elders as society defines them and as elders
define themselves. Dad writes, “I’m reading about
what I’m already personally experiencing.” He
accuses me of trying to disempower him as an
older person by “producing alternative powersaturated knowledges” in a most postmodernist
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way. He reminds me that Tanner says that early
intervention to empower self-help capability may
be more efficient long term than deferring aid until
more dire needs grow from delay. So I send him
instructions on how to get Hotmail to work on
his iPad and The Gerontologist’s website page for
author instructions. I want to encourage self-help
and self-esteem by allowing him to solve his own
problems. He is very appreciative and acknowledges
that he likes my paying so much attention to his
needs and tells me that I’m a good carer. My mild
pleasure quickly fades when I realize he is quoting
from Tanner.
At the end of Chapter 3, Tanner describes the
theme of perseverance and the struggles of her
research subjects. My father’s willingness to try to
learn new technologies is a great example of this.
“Tanner’s book seems all about our days here,”
Dad writes. He compares his technology struggles
with Tanner’s examples of her research subjects’
coping with activities of daily living.
Tanner employs rigorous qualitative research
methods and analysis of her interview data. Those
of us who practice qualitative research appreciate
her rigor. She provides a compelling case for reform
to the provision of aid to elders based upon a more
humanistic approach to defining their needs. By
way of critique, the writing style is dense and not
suited to nonacademic audiences or undergraduates. In addition, her conclusions/theories stem
from a small sample of 12 older adults from one
county in England, and she acknowledges that her
insights are relevant specifically to her subject population. She aims to influence political and social
policy with her research conclusions, but, unfortunately, she offers no practical solutions early or
emphatically enough to convince policymakers to
effect change.
Kenyon, Bohlmeijer, and Randall’s Storying
Later Life: Issues, Investigations, and Interventions
in Narrative Gerontology compiles the current
research on narrative retelling of life stories among
the elderly population. This edited volume with
three sections and 24 chapters is written for academic courses in gerontology at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. In addition, hospital
and nursing home administrators and clinical professionals may benefit from the medical and psychosocial perspectives in this volume.
A main premise of the editors is the need for
caregivers (professional and family) to comprehend the psychological issues that elders and their
loved ones face, so that they can improve their care
Vol. 53, No. 3, 2013
of these groups. Kenyon, Bohlmeijer, and Randall
state that incorporating the practice of storytelling
with older adults can improve their well-being and
that of those around them. For example, understanding how elders are affected by dementia is
crucial for knowing how to improve methods of
care for this population. However, research in the
field of narrative gerontology suggests that, when
elders share their stories, they have a chance and
a hope of knowing that their lives were worth living, despite their declining conditions. Kenyon,
Bohlmeijer, and Randall emphasize the importance
of a sense of self-identity through revisiting and
retelling one’s stories of life experiences, detailing
both tragedy and liberty. Using themed sections
and chapters, they provide background information to help the reader understand the mental
and emotional dilemmas that elders face as they
advance in years.
The editors offer the idea that narrative gerontology is a problem-solving strategy to deal with
the mental and emotional indifference of older
adults toward their past experiences. The book is
divided into three sections: Issues, Investigations,
and Interventions. These sections contain chapters
on issues concerning the meanings of life for older
people, investigations through case presentations
of narrative and aging, and interventional methods of narrative care (p. 366). Within each section,
the chapters highlight specific perspectives of older
adults regarding aging and health issues.
From Part 1, Mark Freeman, author of the
chapter titled “Narrative Foreclosure in Later
Life: Possibilities and Limits,” tries to answer the
question of why people might view their own
personal stories as having ended. He presents four
stories of both fictional and nonfictional characters
to give an understanding of what it is like to have
and care for a mother who suffers from Alzheimer’s
disease. Freeman thought of his mother’s declining
condition as a “product of a culture” that denies
the “reality … of death” (p. 15). His mother did
not want to accept the fact that she was getting
older and suffered from Alzheimer’s disease.
Nevertheless, at times when she was mildly aware
of her mental state, she would belittle herself by
describing herself as “dumb, mindless, and a child.”
This self-disclosure illustrates how many elders
tend to blame themselves for their intellectual and
physical deterioration.
One of my students, an undergraduate, read this
book with me to provide a perspective from the
other end of the age spectrum. She observes that
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after reading the story about Freeman’s mother,
she was surprised at how much the mother would
fight against the truth of the disease that plagued
her and how she attempted to construct and present an identity as competent in the face of memory loss (Saunders, de Medeiros, & Bartell, 2011).
For example, the mother leaves this message for
her son: “Mark? I’m trying to get in touch with
you; I don’t know what the story is, so if you can
call me, I would appreciate it, honey, OK?” Her
comment suggests that she denies or is unaware of
her diagnosis. This description of an elder’s mental
decline is important because it demonstrates the
importance of observing elders’ mental states in
relation to social responses; such qualitative evidence can provide great insight into comprehending how the minds of elders function once they
are plagued by dementia. My student believes this
book could be very beneficial to college students.
She writes, “It gave me a clearer idea about the
mindsets of older adults and the different degrees
of mental deterioration they experience in respect
to old age. Moreover, it helped me appreciate storytelling of one’s past experiences as a therapeutic
tool that could help alleviate mental and emotional
burdens and give older adults freedom from their
past traumas in life.”
From Part 2, Cassandra Phoenix’s chapter entitled “Young Bodies, Old Bodies, and Stories of
the Athletic Self” describes how one’s body acts
as an important factor in how one tells stories
about him-/herself by comparing the mindsets of
younger athletes with those of older, former athletes. Phoenix describes the negative expectations
that young athletes have about the physical development of their bodies as they age and how these
insights help us improve our storytelling in respect
to expressing the feelings and actions related
to our past experiences (p. 111). This concept is
important because it illustrates how young people
negatively perceive old age and older adults with
declining physical abilities.
In another chapter from Part 2, de Medeiros
writes about “Telling Stories: How Do Expressions
of Self Differ in a Writing Group Versus a
Reminiscence Group?” This chapter describes a
study that compares how older adults talk and write
about self. She finds that the writing group members in their narratives expressed more “self-refining” moments related to turning points, whereas
the reminiscence group members expressed more
“group-defining” moments related to events during the group meetings (p. 159).
This edited collection by Kenyon, Bohlmeijer,
and Randall provides a breadth of topics and methodologies comprising a very good introduction to
the field of narrative and aging. We would recommend this book to other young adults to help comprehend the significance of learning how to care for
and perceive older adults. Having this knowledge
can give us the foresight and capacity to diagnose
different mental, emotional, and physical conditions and improve our treatment of older adults.
Become a Memoirist for Elders by Mary O’Brien
Tyrell is a guide to writing memoirs for the lay
public. Dad comments that the contrast between
Tyrell’s and Tanner’s books is stark, noting that the
two are in very different genres. Based on her work
assisting 275 older persons with their memoirs,
Tyrell writes a straightforward set of instructions
for people to collect and publish stories of their
friends and family. Dad said he would be interested
in participating in such a project once he irons out
the rest of his Internet connectivity issues. He notes
that the interview processes used by Tyrell and
Tanner are similar in that they both collect a form
of life story and both review the narrative with the
author subject before finalizing them. Dad relays
a story of visiting some elderly relatives while in
Florida who he feels could benefit greatly from
having someone assist them with writing their
memoirs. He wants to send them this book.
In the first part, Tyrell grounds her book in her
professional work as a journalist and describes the
background of life review and reminiscence as an
academic field of study; the latter part is devoted
to describing the business side of helping people
write their stories. Tyrell advocates updating the
publication process using newer vehicles such as
e-books and focuses on the financial prospects of
publishing memoirs. Given these foci, we do not
believe this book is particularly appropriate for an
academic setting.
In Memoirs of the Soul: A Writing Guide, Phifer
constructs a book that is part “how-to” and part
personal exploration. The book is divided into four
sections and 30 chapters. The sections follow the
path of a life trajectory: Part I, Beginnings; Part II,
Rising Action; Part III, Climaxes and Revelations;
and Part IV, The Rewards. One wonders if in
reaching the end, one gets her just deserts. In Part
I, Phifer discusses how to start writing, how to
pick a subject, and how to view our internal lives
starting with our youth. In Part II, the book moves
more to the early adulthood of writing a memoir
and at the same time explores life events such as
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transition, separations, and aspirations. In Part III,
Phifer explores deeper conflicts of narrative and
life experiences including crisis, love, inner peace,
spiritual well-being, and gratitude. In Part IV, if one
has reached this stage in life and in writing, Phifer
helps the reader explore the rewards of reaching
the end, including the joys of proofreading. The
book provides excerpts from amateur and professional memoirs. Each chapter includes exercises to
help the writer tackle the topic (e.g., aspirations).
The book is sprinkled with quotes from famous
writers such as Henry James, Vladimir Nabokov,
and Sigmund Freud. In summary, we found this
book to be an interesting combination of philosophy, literature, and practical advice.
Writing this book review was an intergenerational project. Many of the concepts (e.g., selfempowerment, agency, struggles of elders, and the
danger of producing “alternative power-saturated
knowledges”) were made indelibly clear through
the process of discussing and writing about them
with both an older and a younger collaborator. It drives home the point that narrative is a
lens through which to view our experiences and
a way to make sense of our daily lives. The process of writing this review revealed to me and to
my father that narrative gerontology is a living,
breathing process. We can talk about sense of self
and identity and agency and power in a theoretical
way, but when it comes to helping your aging relative with his Hotmail account, all of this becomes a
practical process of constructing and living a story
that works for everyday life.
Pamela A. Saunders, PhD
Associate Professor, Departments of Neurology
and Psychiatry, Georgetown University School of
Medicine, Washington, DC 20057
Philip A. Saunders
LLM Retired International Tax Lawyer, Dunn
Loring, VA 22027
Mary Amaechi
Undergraduate, School of Nursing and Health
Sciences, Georgetown University, Washington,
DC 20057
References
Glaser, B. G., & Strauss, A. L. (1967). The discovery of grounded theory.
Hawthorne, NY: Aldine.
Saunders, P. A., de Medeiros, K., & Bartell, A. (2011). “Oh, he was forgettable”: Construction of self-identity through use of communicative
coping behaviors in the discourse of persons with cognitive impairment. Dementia: The International Journal of Social Research and
Practice, 10, 341–359.
doi:10.1093/geront/gnt025
Advance Access publication April 12, 2013
An Alternative Frame for Preparing Students to Work With Older Adults
Malcolm Payne. (2012). Citizenship Social Work
with Older Persons. Chicago, IL: Lyceum Books,
Inc., 208 pp., $36.95 (paper).
Malcolm Payne, author of 14 books and more
than 300 journal articles, including the popular
(now in its third edition) Modern Social Work
Theory (2005), has written a deceptively slender
book proposing a critical social work approach to
working with older people. Deceptive because the
200-page book packs more ideas than many books
twice the length and is well served by the author’s
ability to augment his own ideas with an eclectic
list of references that together provide a thoughtprovoking and practical read.
Payne is a policy and development advisor at
St. Christopher’s Hospice in London and a visiting professor at Opole University in Poland. He
served as head of applied community studies
Vol. 53, No. 3, 2013
at Manchester Metropolitan University, where
he is now professor emeritus. He has held academic appointments at Manchester Metropolitan
University, Kingston University (London), and
Helsinki University (Finland). Areas of interest as
evidenced by his previous books include a focus on
team work, palliative care, and the profession of
social work within the United Kingdom and internationally. His current book blends these perspectives and persuades the reader to consider older
adults, not as a collection of medical diagnoses or
social needs or costs to health care systems, but as
people. A main charge of the book is to help students imagine what their interactions with older
adults would look like if older adults were thought
of as citizens.
Consistent with the United Nations Principles for
Older Persons, Payne’s book takes a rights-based
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