Frank Kermode writes:

Small describes her book as ‘essayistic’, which it exactly is, and its being so causes her and her reader some trouble. At first the topic seems reasonably narrow: ‘What philosophers and non-philosophers have had to say about old age has, in essence, changed very little since classical antiquity.’ But they have had a good deal to say about life in general, and old age is a part of it. So she gives them their say, and in doing so displays admirable discursive energy and a determination to control many strands of argument.

(LRB 13 December 2007)

Oxford University Press | Hardback 360 pp. |ISBN: 9780199229932