Early Bird
A Memoir of Premature Retirement
Published on 20. November 2006
Book
Paperback/Softback
256 pages
978-0-7432-7058-8 (ISBN)
Description
In this hilarious and insightful memoir twenty-five-year-old Rodney Rothman, burned out from his big-city life, decides to get a jumpstart on the golden years...four decades before his time. He retires and moves to South Florida and finds an elderly roommate, Leslie, a former piano teacher with cats. Rodney throws himself into the easy life, but soon finds that all the softball, shuffleboard, bingo, gambling cruises, canasta and tennis is, well, exhausting. After his newfound friends get over the oddity of a twenty-something retiree, he becomes one of them, though not without difficulty. He plays in a senior softball league and finds that most seventy-year-olds are far better athletes than he is. He plans a return to the stage for a reluctant ninety-two-year-old comedian. He finds himself the unwelcome muse and romantic interest of a seventy-seven-year-old femme fatale. And he becomes the last great hope of his shuffleboard team. But early retirement - the dream of so many - is not quite what he expected. EARLY BIRD takes readers on a humorous, and often bittersweet, journey through the people and culture of retirement. With a deft comedic touch that evokes Bill Bryson or David Sedaris, Rodney Rothman takes you to where you're going after you get the golden watch.
Reviews / Votes
"A hilarious reminder that everybody was young once . . . everyone except Rodney." -- Jon Stewart "A hilarious account of moving into a Florida retirement community at age twenty-eight. . . . Rodney Rothman's premise is so silly and fetching . . . sections had me hooting so hard that I thought the neighbors would be over to check on me." -- Karen Long, The Plain Dealer (Cleveland) "[Rothman] has produced a warm, wry bit of reportage. . . . His descriptions of the loneliness, the cliquishness, the slow-motion desperation of the place ring true and bittersweet." -- Neil Genzlinger, The New York Times Book Review "It's hilarious. It's one of the best books I've read. If you're looking for a book, get this one." -- Howard Stern "Rothman's observations are insightful and clever -- a humorous, Generation X perspective on what baby boomers are about to discover." -- Rocky Mountain News "This book, which has a pretty silly premise, quickly and thoroughly becomes something much more: it's actually emotionally involving, and even profound. It's very funny, because Rothman is always very funny, but it's also truly moving, and, at its core, unspeakably sad. That's not to say it isn't fun to read. It is. It is!" -- Dave Eggers "Old-fashioned retirement at age twenty-eight? Funny -- sure. But Rothman is also riveting, friendly, and the good kind of sad." -- Sarah Vowell, author of Assassination Vacation "A hilarious memoir . . . David Sedaris fans, this one's for you." -- Daryl Chen, GlamourMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 213 mm
Width: 139 mm
Thickness: 16 mm
Weight
236 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-7432-7058-8 (9780743270588)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
12/2006
1st Edition
Simon + Schuster LLC
€13.84
Available for download
Person
Rodney Rothman is now living in Los Angeles. He is a former head writer for the Late Show with David Letterman, and was a writer and supervising producer for the television show Undeclared. His writing has appeared in the The New York Times, the New York Times Magazine, the Best American Nonrequired Reading, The New Yorker, McSweeney's Quarterly, and Men's Journal.