Tales from Rhapsody Home — John Gould

"Once upon a long-ago time, I was a fine-looking young man with fire in my eye, zeal in my heart, and a haircut that cost twenty-five cents." So begins TALES FROM RHAPSODY HOME, 92-year-old John Gould's entertaining look at how he arrived, quite suddenly, at old age and found himself living in a retirement community. With razor-sharp wit and comic sensibility, Mr. Gould offers advice and guidance to those of us ready or not quite ready for the "comforts" of assisted living. The author of books about life in small-town Maine, he turns his critical eye toward a different kind of small town. And he captures perfectly the absurd rules and quaint idiosyncrasies of this brave new world. John Gould is an American original. The rest of us can only hope that when it's our turn to check into a Rhapsody Home, we're lucky enough to have a neighbor like him.