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eorI finished May Sarton's "At Seventy" a while back. It was a book my mom found somewhere and left at our house one year. She was an omnivorous reading and was always picking up random books. Before starting this book I'd never heard of May Sarton, so I didn't start with any preconcieved picture of her. This journal starts on her 70th birthday and ends a year later.
Her journal was easy to read and felt real, not like a liary where everything has been polished up. As I read, I realized how much I resemble a 70 year old lesbian. She wrote a lot about the birds at the feeders, keeping squirrels from eating all the seeds in the feeders, what she was going to plant in her garden (flowers for her), the weather, the fact she really wasn't accomplishing all she thought she should, and how many letters she needed to write. Although her volume of letters is drastically different than mine, there were some days she mentioned writing 24 letters in one day!
In all it was nice to read about a very normal life at 70. She was still living in her house, by herself. She did need a bit of help to stay caught up on the house and garden, but she was doing the bulk of the mundane functions of keeping house. She was still very active, writing travelling, and giving readings. Even though some of her friends were dying, she had other friends considerably older than her who were still vital and active.
20. May Sarton "At Seventy: A Journal"
21. Asimov's May/June 2020
Her journal was easy to read and felt real, not like a liary where everything has been polished up. As I read, I realized how much I resemble a 70 year old lesbian. She wrote a lot about the birds at the feeders, keeping squirrels from eating all the seeds in the feeders, what she was going to plant in her garden (flowers for her), the weather, the fact she really wasn't accomplishing all she thought she should, and how many letters she needed to write. Although her volume of letters is drastically different than mine, there were some days she mentioned writing 24 letters in one day!
In all it was nice to read about a very normal life at 70. She was still living in her house, by herself. She did need a bit of help to stay caught up on the house and garden, but she was doing the bulk of the mundane functions of keeping house. She was still very active, writing travelling, and giving readings. Even though some of her friends were dying, she had other friends considerably older than her who were still vital and active.
20. May Sarton "At Seventy: A Journal"
21. Asimov's May/June 2020
