Oh, this book is a gem!
Written at age 85, Effie Leland Wilder's bright and lively portrayal of life at FairAcres, a retirement home in the south, gives a fresh, genuine perspective on end-of-life issues. Packed with humorous anecdotes and sober musings alike, Effie also slips in so many references to poets and authors that I am making a list as I go, using my "bookmark" paper.
I was already hooked and eager for the sequel, Over What Hill?, when I reached the clincher: her protagonist adores Ogden Nash, and any friend of Ogden Nash is a friend of mine!
I was introduced to Ogden Nash in 10th grade, I believe, while putting together a collection of poetry for an adventuresome English teacher's assignment. His name alone, satisfyingly full of consonants, would have been enough, but I also loved his sometimes flippant subject matter and especially (betraying the rebel in me) his deliberate disregard for the rules of metre and rhyme.
Wikipedia alerts me to Effie Wilder's authorship of three other books: Older but Wilder, One More Time, and Oh, My Goodness! I am sorry to see that Mrs. Wilder passed away in 2007 at the age of 97. I would have liked to write and thank her for her excellent literary contributions, perhaps strike up a correspondence.
I also wonder if she was any relation (by marriage, of course) to Laura Ingalls Wilder....
