Old Friends

This book was very difficult for me to get through, not because it was poorly written but quite the contrary. Kidder's lucent prose brings the sadness and loneliness of the nursing home to vivid life. It's possible that reading this soon after my own grandmother died, much diminished, was unwise. It......more

I love Tracey Kidder's book Among Schoolchildren. I recently reread it, and realized that he had a number of other titles I hadn't tried. So I reserved this one without really looking at what it was about. A couple of months ago, I fell and broke my hip. I had surgery, followed by several weeks reha......more

What I liked about this book was the ability of Kidder to make you feel like the characters were alive and their thoughts and feelings were on the pages. A lot of emotion and thought-provoking information especially if you have a relative in a nursing home or even just an older friend or relative th......more

Not one of Kidder's best books (Mountains Beyond Mountains and Rough Sleepers remain my favorites). Nevertheless it is a good read. Since my husband and I are taking care of his 93 year old mother and we are not young ourselves, the book hit a little too close to home at times. It was nice to see pe......more

Tracy Kidder is an old friend. I welcome any opportunity to read something he wrote. There is vigor and bitter reality and calm truth and pulsing delight in his stories. Whatever your age, try Old Friends. You’re going to be someone’s old friend, sooner or later. Learn to think about how it’s going t......more