As a young woman, Carolyn Heilbrun made a resolution not to live past "three score years and ten." Taking her own life at the age of seventy, she reasoned, would lend clean closure to a life well lived, and would keep her from the many tragedies of aging--becoming a burden to her children, witnessing the deterioration of her body, falling prey to a crippling disease. But on the advent of her seventieth birthday, she looked back on the past ten years and found, to her surprise, that her sixties had been the happiest decade of all: after fifty years, her marriage had matured into a happy balance of companionship and respect for solitude; she had developed deep friendships with her grown children and a small circle of peers; she had mastered a highly successful career as a scholar and writer. In the poignant, essayistic writing that best showcases her elegant talent and provocative mind, Carolyn Heilbrun celebrates the many pleasures of a mature life.
Filled with wisdom, knowledge, wry humor, and literary allusion, "The Last Gift of Time" is a moving book for all women invested in the pursuit of leading a woman's life to its fullest capacity.

When she was a young, distinguished author and critic Carolyn Heilbrun's solemnly vowed to end her life when she turned 70. But on the advent of that fateful birthday she realized that her golden years had been full of unforeseen pleasures. Now, the astute and ever insightful Heilbrun muses on the emotional and intellectual insights that brought her "to choose each day for now, to live."

Interesting memoir by an early feminist. I don't agree with everything she writes but she does make me think and gives me pause about many things. I wish she was a Christian and then she would know death is not the end. ( )

An eloquent look at life after 60 and beyond? Well, I don't think so. The writings of this author clearly leave the reader with no hope!! If one hasn't discovered a real sense of meaning, of true purpose to one's life... then afterward you end up with 'Woe is me, a circle of regrets ' looking back at my Que Sera choices. I thought at the beginning I would be pointed to one's cheering words of encouragement reaching age 60 and beyond. Instead, I read about a dog, purchasing a home, always doing email and being in isolation with one's own wrong thinking. Only leading to a suicide choice at 77. I was so saddened and disappointed in reading this book. Had the author known the love of God perhaps she would have been given the opportunity to share a true identity of knowing Christ with others and the liberating truth of serving God and others with tremendous joy in her heart? May God's love break through to us at any age, so that we can celebrate and rejoice in His Eternal Gift to us! ( )

Dear Carolyn: I absolutely loved the wisdom and inspiration you shared in this book. You almost perfectly validated all the thoughts and feelings I have had in my sixties and you gave me so much hope for the bright future to come. You beautifully and eloquently explained how to really LIVE life NOW. I checked on you, Carolyn, and learned you committed suicide 7 years after finishing this book. It broke my heart. I have been so perplexed ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ( )