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Ira Rosofsky

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Nasty, Brutish, and Long: Adventures in Eldercare Kindle Edition

by Ira Rosofsky (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.6 18 ratings

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Read Ira Rosofsky's posts on the Penguin Blog

A candid, humane, and improbably humorous look at the world of eldercare

In nursing homes across the country, members of the Greatest Generation are living out their last days. Life is a succession of pokes and prods, medications, TV, bingo, and, possibly, talking to Ira Rosofsky. With a compassionate eye but mordant wit, Rosofsky, a psychologist charged with gauging the mental health of his elders, reveals a culture based not in the empathy of caretaking, but rather in the coolly detached bureaucracy of Medicare and Medicaid.

A portrayal of what is increasingly becoming the last slice of life for many, Nasty, Brutish, and Long is also a baby boomer's poignant meditation on mortality, a reflection on his caregiving for his parents' final days, and an examination of the choices that we, as a society, have made about health care for the elderly who are no longer of sound mind and body.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A psychologist who has worked for years in nursing homes and assisted-living facilities, Rosofsky presents a disturbing, often moving account of the lives of some of the two million men and women who reside in America's 18,000 nursing homes. Like the police officer or bartender whose perspective on society is shaped by his work, Rosofsky, who professionally sees only problematic residents of institutions, has a slightly skewed (and very grim) sample. However, the dispiriting tenor of the title and the emphasis on confused and depressed men and women are leavened with the author's bursts of wit, his welcome guidance on how to evaluate nursing homes and assisted-living centers and his frank ruminations on his own aging and health issues and the deaths of his parents and mother-in-law. What could have been a morose account of loss, suffering and death is lightened by the humorous and helpful treatment of an emotionally laden topic. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B001TMCF2E
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Avery; 1st edition (February 21, 2009)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ February 21, 2009
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 517 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 236 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #2,737,043 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #521 in Adulthood & Aging
- #997 in Eldercare
- #1,254 in Nervous System Diseases (Kindle Store)

Customer Reviews:
4.6 18 ratings

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4.6 out of 5

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rozarn

Not enough help !

Reviewed in the United States on February 27, 2017

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This book by Ira Rosofsky is very helpful and informative. At the moment I am dealing with my 93 year old mother, whom I have been caring for until her last fall. Her hip broke and then she fell down She has been in a nursing home since Oct. 2016). I have to say the girls who take care of her are wonderful, but there just isn't enough help. She rings her call bell and sometimes it takes 20 - 30 min for someone to answer her call. I know because I go there every day and I bring her into the bathroom. I am going to bring her home soon.

Reviewed in the United States on February 1, 2010

Verified Purchase

This is somewhat of a master work. I'm buying multiple copies to give to others. I'm an accountant who works with elderly folks and their families. I constantly preach about the need for advance planning, delegation of responsibility, etc. My advice is informed by my own experience of having had a mother who lived for 7 full years in a nursing home. I confronted every issue that Dr. Rosofsky details and then some.

His mordant humor is what makes the book so good. It's also a wake-up call for those who will eventually come to realize that there are many tragi-comic events that may affect them as caregivers or patients. There are idealized concepts of how elderly care is supposed to work. Sometimes these cliches are blown out of the water in an explosion of reality. I wish I'd written this book myself.

One person found this helpful

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Bren

Insider's view of rest homes

Reviewed in the United States on May 30, 2018

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Although rest homes have been surpassed by assisted living centers, this book nevertheless has valuable insight into where the money goes and why. Read it to prevent yourself from making the mistakes that lead to costly but unnecessary drugs, forced incarceration into wheelchairs and recreation therapy, and expensive, end-of-life hospital stays. We will all die, but we can have a bit of control over the path that takes us there

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Michael Sklaroff

Nasty, Brutish, Long...and Funny.

Reviewed in the United States on March 25, 2009

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I had enjoyed excerpts from this book on the author's website, but what really works when reading the entire thing is the flow from chapter to chapter. I really like how he integrates his professional and personal experience, and unlike a reporter who's simply done a lot of research, this guy draws upon a wealth of experience.

His knowledge of nursing home practices combined with his own thoughts about his oncoming old age and mortality really make this book come alive. I had orginally thought this would be a dry examination of the state of nursing homes. But it's really a fun book to read, if you can laugh at what might be in store for you. And reading about his own parents made me feel as if I knew them.

This is a good one.

4 people found this helpful

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Richard I. Steinberg

Compassionate, Erudite and Concise

Reviewed in the United States on October 8, 2009

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Ira Rosofsky's "Nasty, Brutish and Long" is absolutely Compassionate, Erudite and Concise. Mr. Rosofsky's compassion seems to come not only from his professional commitment to the mental health of the elderly but to the recent passing of his own parents. The book is erudite as the author has researched the nursing homes industry i.e. federal funding, the pharmaceutical industry, the medical professions involved in caring for the elderly et. al. The book is concise weaving in clinical stories, personal anecdotes a consistently humorous tone along with a wonderfully sharp critical analysis of nursing home politics.

Reviewed in the United States on March 17, 2017

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Loved this book! As someone in their late 60's keeping an eye on their 90+ year old mother in a retirement/assisted living community this book hits home on many fronts. Best of all is the author's wonderful sense of humor. Echo's my sentiments but much, much funnier. Kudos!

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M. K. Backer

bought it and read it, but wasn't extremely happy

Reviewed in the United States on June 28, 2009

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Although I loved the topic, and a few of the pages seemed interesting, don't think he touched the surface of the stories of the people. The system, how he plays the game. I gave it to the Psychologist at the ALF/long term care facility where my Mother in law has lived for almost seven years with Alzheimers.

2 people found this helpful

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N. NATALE

A realistic portrayal of the nursing home world

Reviewed in the United States on March 30, 2009

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This is a well-written, informative and humorous portrayal of every aspect of nursing homes in the U.S. today. It's also grim, depressing, morbid and horrific - but that's because nursing homes are like that. I'm considering the necessity of my 92-year-old mother going to a nursing home, and I'm glad I read this because now I'll do everything I can to keep her out of there. Read this if you want the real story and not the sugar-glazed version.

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Nasty, Brutish, and Long: Adventures in Eldercare Kindle Edition

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