Scary Old Sex Paperback – February 7, 2017

This collection of seven longishly-belabored literary stories disappoints as often as it pleases. After slogging through to the end, I cannot escape the impression of a blandly competent author seriously out of their depth. In tone and style, most of these stories have the feel of superannuated student exercises, assignments turned in for some late-sixties undergraduate creative writing seminar, aping the modishly arch nihilism of the day, every detail, no matter how trivial, unfailingly observed with a cold clinical detachment and precious little sense of proportion, direction or purpose. Many of these pieces seem to have been taken out of mothballs, the hopeful typescripts dusted off after decades, lightly revised to a minimum standard of editorial presentability and published to great fanfare, no doubt along with the percussive popping of half-a-dozen self-congratulatory champagne corks.Even in the two stories I came close to liking—“Night Call” and “Artifact”—there’slittle or no emotive range in these narratives. Bitterness and ennui are Heyman’s go-to emotions, and she goes to them with tedious frequency. The female characters, whether young, old, or middle-aged, seem to have nothing better to do than break down and cry at the drop of a hat, or complain shrewishly about the lack of sexual satisfaction in their all-too-ordinary lives. The men are emotionally clueless, shallowly articulate, and indifferently characterized—current husbands always coming up short against former dead ones. Children are the ever-present bringers of chaos, either too good or too stupid to live. Conflict amongst these ‘types’ too often feels forced and over-effortfully imagined. Everybody has a torturously-detailed backstory that ultimately adds nothing to the reader’s understanding. Amateurish head-hopping, inconsistent point-of-view, lack of narrative direction or coherent structure, downright foolish attempts at getting into the heads of characters the author clearly knows or cares nothing about—in the end creating a soggy non-critical mass of ho hum.No! No! No!What disturbs and disappoints me most as someone who cares deeply about great erotic writing, is Heyman’s stultifyingly conventional approach to sexual subject matter, especially where ‘old sex’ is concerned. Where the hype has led readers to expect something revelatory, daringly paradigm-shifting in the literary exploration of geriatric eroticism, what we get is the all-too-familiar horror and disgust at the prospect of physical decay and declining performance, still measuring everything against the insipidly narrow, bourgeois vision of youthful health and beauty. In this regard, at least, the title of the collection is apt: as Heyman would have it, sex is scary—old sex is even scarier.Books like this suck all the air out of the room for serious writers who care about quality and sincerely desire to explore new erotic frontiers. Use sex to sell something second rate like this, and no one will give a truly worthy book a second look, no matter how genuinely mature, inspired, thoughtful, well-crafted, and brilliant that book may be.Not recommended.

The stories were a disappointment, maybe because there was so much hype about this book. I bought it because of the very favorable review in the New York Times and other publications. I also bough it out of curiosity given that I now qualify as a “senior citizen”.This is the blurb in The Week magazine: “Viagra tablets, stretch marks, strange moles: Oh my!” said Dwight Garner in The New York Times. The seven short stories in Arlene Heyman’s collection often pay “sustained and stylish” attention to the sex lives of seniors, and “there is no gauzy film on this writer’s camera lens.” Not every story is neatly built, but Heyman is “so rueful and funny and observant” that you want to follow these beautifully imperfect characters into the bedroom. Their fumbling trysts “generate a lot of heat.”Well, I found very little heat. All the stories do mention some sexual activity between older people and some not so old. But it is the exception rather than the rule. Most stories have a paragraph, some have half a page or at most a page. The rest is a very regular story, nicely written but devoid of any drama, expectation, tension, interest. I guess the reason you keep on reading is to see if there is more action, because for the story's story you would just stop. If you remove the few mentions the stories are rather boring. Even with the actions, there not exciting.I would be tempted to qualify the marketing of the book as a gimmick to get more readers as this is neither “scary”, nor “sex”. Maybe “old” yes. I believe that without the “sex” in the title it would sell a lot fewer copies.

If you're young and reading this book, you'll be depressed. If you're older, you may read something that strikes an uncomfortable chord. Sex when one is older is rarely as exciting, thrilling, wonderful as when one is young. But not all the stories have to do with sex. One is centered around a truly awful old lady in a nursing home, who is domineering, totally unlikeable and makes one afraid of living too long. Another centers around a 19-yr-olld who is having an affair with a man, somewhat unattractive, who is in his 50's. This one I believe is autobiographical. The stories are all somewhat depressing and all very, very real. I almost gave the book 3 stars because of the depressing part, but the writing is good and true so that would be wrong. Would I recommend it to a friend? Probably not, because we are all seeing these things happen in real life and that is depressing enough.

Several short stories. From excellent to OK. As a 70 year old man, some of the content seemed unrealistic - the author didn't get the male perspective right, in my opinion. Possibly some female readers might feel the same way about some of the female characters. I imagine readers without enough accumulated age and experience might find parts disgusting. I felt a little of that. Definitely worth reading though. Thought provoking and poignant, especially the story involving 9/11. There is not much else around written from an older perspective; the roles of sex and intimacy in nurturing the ties-that-bind even when physique and energy wane.

Well crafted stories with novel elements about women who are scientists doing real biological laboratory science. A bit of Jewishness. And - every now and then - a bit of experimental sex. Very human. Very enjoyable.

One of the best collections of short stories I've read recently. As a 66 year old person I yearn for stories that include a POV that includes characters my age. The stories are not all about sex and the stories are not scary. No the stories are insightful and surprising. The story where a man is called by his father's mistress and he find his father dies in her bed. The man does something shocking the protect his mother as wel as his father's reputation is great. A young boy coping with a father dying with cancer is moving. For me the short story is the best way to tell a story. Scary old sex is a wonderful example of storytelling at its best.

Newspaper reviews seemed promising but the book was a big disappointment. I found the writing very self-conscious. The stories all made the point that life has an unpleasant side (as in the 'old') juxtaposed with a 'sex' (remembered, fading or actual) side, but the the contrast felt contrived rather than illuminating.

Read like an erotic novel. Predictable and tedious. Expected a more professional input from a psychiatrist who would have the ultimate access to a patient's disclosures.

It wasn't quite what I expected

Brilliant - so many wonderful stories it's hard to choose a favourite

not bad