Leisureville: Adventures in America's Retirement Utopias | 
 enlarge | Author: Andrew D. Blechman
Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press
Category: Book
List Price: $25.00
Buy New: $14.50
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Avg. Customer Rating:  35 reviews
Sales Rank: 12999
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 6.3 x 1.1
ISBN: 0871139812
Dewey Decimal Number: 306.3809759
EAN: 9780871139818
ASIN: 0871139812
Publication Date: May 13, 2008
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Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand new item. Over 3.5 million customers served. Order now. Selling online since 1995. Order with confidence. Code: B20080721215920T
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Product Description
When his next-door neighbors in a quaint New England town suddenly pick up and move to a gated retirement community in Florida, Andrew D. Blechman is astonished by their stories. Larger than Manhattan, with a golf course for every day of the month, two downtowns, its own newspaper, radio, and TV stations, The Villages is a city of nearly one hundred thousand (and growing), missing only one thing: children. More than twelve million people will soon live in these communities, and to get to the bottom of the trend, Blechman delves into life in the senior utopia. He offers a hilarious first-hand report on all its peculiarities, from ersatz nostalgia and golf-cart mania to manufactured history and the residents’ surprisingly active sex life, and introduces us to dozens of outrageous characters. Leisureville is also a serious look at a major and underreported trend, only to get bigger as the baby boomers retire. Blechman travels to Arizona to show what has happened after decades of segregation. He investigates the government of these “instant” cities, attends a builder’s conference, speaks with housing experts, and examines the implications of millions of Americans dropping out of society and closing the gates on kids.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 30 more reviews...
 Raining on the parade of Golfer's Utopia! Hilarious! July 24, 2008
I wasn't sure what to expect when I first picked up this book. However once I started reading I couldn't stop. Blechman's perspective and quirky humor made me laugh out loud. This book is funny and also sad but true. The premise of this book is that a large block our our aging population has opted to spend their remaing years in a high school version of Utopia. If you think spending the rest of your life on a golf course is a good idea, then you will hate this book! But if you care about other people and want to make a contribution to life and actually develop a conscience, then you will be appalled at what the "Leisurevillers" have chosen. I think this is an important book and would not be surprised if it becomes required reading at the college sociology level. This is a GOOD BOOK. I highly recommend it!
 Leasureville July 20, 2008
The author of this book missed a golden opportunity to create a viable work about the vast changes happening to the baby boomer population just now beginning retirement. Instead, he chose to concentrate on such silly things as how "age restricted" developments are, in his sad little mind, a "vast discriminatory action". Obviously he is upset because he is too young to move to the Villages. He also has an ax to grind with anyone who became very rich by hard work, and/or is a Republican. He claims he prefers his broken down hometown with derelicts living above stores, crumbling infrastructure, and smelly dumpsters to the beautiful, clean, well managed towns available to the residents of The Villages. The fact that he openly admits to driving a car that left a puddle of oil everywhere he went in The Villages, and that he didn't care about it is a sign of his lack of character. He spent a very small amount of time actually at The Villages, and didn't even interview some of the people he chose to demonize. This is just another sign of his lack of character. I also have a problem with his assumption that any woman who plays softball must be a lesbian.
Anyway, being a resident of The Villages maybe I am a bit protective of our wonderful life here. I do think the author was able to accurately portray our daily life, and the love we all have for this place. He is correct when he says all we do is play all day and drive around in golf carts. We worked all of our lives, scrimped and saved to be able to earn enough money so that we can live like this. Maybe he will understand when he grows up, but with his major character flaws I doubt it.
I LOVED this book - Dennis Nagy (Author Dating 9-11) July 19, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I am seriously thinking about retirement in the villages, this book was THE BEST ! If you are thinking of retiring to ANY adult (over-55) community, this book is a great primer. It talks about the social atmosphere, the politics, the government and the finances. It's NEVER boring and always insightful. I DID disagree with the authors conclusion, but thats probably because I am at least a generation and a half older and I can appreciate the laid back aspects of the other retirees that he profiled in the book. This was worth every penny and I couldn't put it down...now I am lending it to many of my friends.
Leisureville July 16, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
A very interesting and thorough job of investigative reporting by an up and coming author. It will be interesting to look 35 years in the future and see if the author spurns retirement community living that he so vermently opposes at this juncture in his life. He takes seniors to task for dropping out to a childless environment. I'm retired and work part time in The Villages as a Facility Supervisor at one of their recreation centers. I chose another 55+ retirement community to reside in for various reasons I won't go into for purpose of this review. Be that as it may, children are far from absent from this environment. Family pools abound with the little rug rats year round. The Villages sponsors an 8 week program for grandchildren in the summer that is called Camp Villages that provides a mariade of activities for kids.
While not a perfect community, The Villages, of 64,000+ residents spread over 3 counties and some 40+ square miles provides a unique lifestyle not found anywhere else in the United States.
Well worth the read for the millions of baby boomers considering their retirement plans and what retirement communities have to offer.
 Leisurevilles - Not for Everyone July 14, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Many Baby Boomers, as we draw closer and closer to the magic number that will allow, or maybe require, us to retire from full-time employment, find ourselves at least a little bit tempted to move into one of the hundreds of age-restricted communities that are popping up all over the country. After all, we reason, we have spent a lifetime paying taxes (including school district taxes for decades after the graduation of our last child), commuting to and from work, and tolerating the unruly behavior and noise of all those kids who live next door and down the street. Don't we deserve to live our last couple of decades in peace and quiet, among people who share our interests and concerns, and away from the noise and clutter of those not as far into life's journey as we are?
Andrew Blechman became intrigued by the concept of age-restricted communities when two of his neighbors moved from their longtime home in New England to The Villages, a Florida community designed for people wanting to immerse themselves in a lifestyle of leisure activities and relative isolation from the rest of the world. Blechman became so curious, in fact, that he moved in with his old neighbors for a few weeks to live that lifestyle for himself. Leisureville: Adventures in America's Retirement Utopias is largely the product of what he learned from the time he spent there.
Anyone considering residence in a community similar to The Villages would be wise to read Blechman's book because of his firsthand reporting of what it is like to live in a place almost completely dedicated to boiling life's experiences down to a few simple pleasures. Golfers and those into arts and crafts seem to love the place, as do those who want to cram in as much drinking and sex into the remainder of their lives as possible. But you have other interests, you say? Well, then in all likelihood you will want to avoid the lifestyle offered by The Villages and other communities like it and opt for a more traditional retirement location.
Do you resent being pandered to or brainwashed? If so, you will probably find the community-controlled newspaper, radio and television outlets that pretend that nothing bad ever happens in places like The Villages to be more than a little ludicrous. Even the "reporters" who are supposedly paid to function as news gatherers eventually come to resent all of the censorship necessary to keep smiles on the faces of community residents.
But more importantly, Blechman points out the important social issues that need to be considered before committing to life in any of America's "Leisurevilles." Is it right for retirees to yank their support from the communities whose services they have enjoyed for a lifetime? Are they abandoning their generational obligations by deciding not to serve as readily accessible role models to their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren? Now that they have the luxury of so much free time should they be using some of it to better their communities by working for social or structural changes from there?
Those are just a few of the questions that Blechman asks in his book. There are good arguments to be made on both sides of the issue as to whether or not age-restricted settings like The Villages are a good thing or a bad thing. For some people, these communities offer exactly the lifestyle most suited to their retirement years. For others the very thought of moving into such a community is mind numbing, at best, and horrifying, at worst.
Leisureville moved me one giant step closer to deciding what kind of retirement setting will be best for me and my wife. But I also came away from the book with the understanding that, although age-segregated, gated communities have no appeal to us, they will appeal to many others - and are absolutely perfect for some.
Personally, I am certain that we would be bored in a community where golf, alcohol and casual sex are such prominent parts of the lifestyle that everything else seems secondary. For us it is more important to remain close to family and to enjoy the benefits of living in a diverse community with so much more to offer than golf courses, bars and community centers. I sincerely believe that aging is as much mental as it is physical, and that the mental part is much easier to govern while surrounded by family, a diverse group of fellow citizens and neighbors, museums, university access, and live sports and entertainment choices.
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