Perhaps most of all, Mr. Angell — like Updike and White — is a prime noticer: a sharp-eyed collector of details, gathered over the course of nearly 10 decades, and dispensed here, with artistry and élan, in these jottings from a long and writerly life.
The pieces in This Old Man range from literary criticism to baseball writing to first-person essays to light verse and personal correspondence. The collection suffers slightly from an editorial penchant for over-inclusion. Fewer comic haikus and personal letters would have made for a slimmer, more consistently engaging volume. But the best pieces are very good indeed.
He may be old — ancient even — but his voice on the page is still as nimble and strong as that of the kid who talked his way into LaGuardia's office. As Angell tells it straight, it's not much of a pleasure to be very old, but it is a great pleasure to spend time in the company of This Old Man.
Some of the writing is terrific, some very slight. Is it modesty, vanity or both that has prompted the author to include the weak with the strong, the trivial with the pungent, so that readers may get a chance to see him in all his moods and musings? Whichever the case, not only is no harm done, but there is a certain generosity operating here, an assumption of friendship between reader and writer, the way one is pleased to hear what a friend has to say no matter what the occasion.
Those less devoted than this reviewer to (a) New Yorker lore and (b) baseball may sniff at some of the morsels or find a higher portion of filler. But the best things are so indisputably fine that patience is richly and repeatedly rewarded.
This Old Man might not fit Angell’s definition of a weighty professional accomplishment, but it’s nonetheless a charming addition to an estimable—and time-tested—career.
Editor Angell could have used an editor in selecting more interesting 'pieces' and fewer awful haikus and dull literary appraisals including his clunker on Lolita. There are standouts in This Old Man, particularly the title essay, but we are forced to wade through too much ordinary work to get to them.
Combined, these pieces represent a generous and richly focused collection of Angell's writing, sure to engross and likely inspire readers to reflect upon the gifts that come with age and experience.
