I was very much looking forward to the senior center visit, especially after the last visit. The ladies I sat with were Peg, Marry, Francesca and Alana. We all agreed, after reflecting on the beginning of the book that it is often times so easy to speculate “What if”, as many of the characters do. Christopher thinks “what if” the doctors had done a better job, Fran thinks “what if” she like Sara had died at an early age. This book goes to show that the grass always seems greener on the other side. Even though Christopher is terribly upset by the death of his wife the narrator reveals that Sara and Christopher were not all too happy to begin with, even before Sara got her disease.
Peg went on to talk about how we all live in a state of denial when it comes to our death. This is very true, especially in America. Americans have created a culture that seems to be deeply afraid of death. We try to ignore death as much as possible, even though it is inevitable. Marry admitted that sometimes when she sees ads on tv selling products preparing the elderly for death that she goes as far as to switch off the TV. She then went on to tell us about how she got an ad in the mail asking her to start preparing for her funeral and it made her feel really uncomfortable. We all appreciated how the book normalized death and showed death intervening with a variety of people at all different ages.
Because death happens to everyone we did not see old people dying in a heroic way, despite it being suggested as heroic. Heroes are unique and special, whereas death is all too common. Marry then posed the question why the phrase “_____ put up a valiant fight” is used so often in reference to dying people. She questioned if it meant that the people dying were brave for trying to prolong their longevity by experimenting with new medicines and thus prolonging their suffering. I think that this phrase is used so often because we want a happy ending and when we see someone suffering from a terrible disease it ruins our happy ending. So instead of saying that they suffered greatly we say they put up a valiant fight to comfort ourselves. After all, what we say about the dead is only to comfort the living ears.
Alana and Peg disliked the text. Alana thought that the sentences carried on in a superfluous manner. However, I enjoyed the use of details as well as the witty humor used in the book. Alan thought that the lack of plot was disappointing, however I enjoyed hearing about Fran’s everyday life and the things that mattered to her. Alana wished that the text was broken up with dialogue throughout the book which I readily agreed with. More dialogue in the book would make for a more palatable reading. Peg added that she wished there were chapters in the book, so it didn’t feel like the book dragged on for so long; I also thought that book could have benefited from chapters. We all wondered if the other 20 books Drabble has written follow a similar writing style or not. I would imagine that her writing style has evolved throughout the years.
Coming to Age 