Early Bird

In this hilarious and insightful memoir twenty-five-year-old Rodney Rothman, burned out from his big-city life, decides to get a jumpstart on the golden years…four decades before his time. He retires and moves to South Florida and finds an elderly roommate, Leslie, a former piano teacher with cats. Rodney throws himself into the easy life, but soon finds that all the softball, shuffleboard, bingo, gambling cruises, canasta and tennis is, well, exhausting. After his newfound friends get over the oddity of a twenty-something retiree, he becomes one of them, though not without difficulty. He plays in a senior softball league and finds that most seventy-year-olds are far better athletes than he is. He plans a return to the stage for a reluctant ninety-two-year-old comedian. He finds himself the unwelcome muse and romantic interest of a seventy-seven-year-old femme fatale. And he becomes the last great hope of his shuffleboard team. But early retirement – the dream of so many – is not quite what he expected. EARLY BIRD takes readers on a humorous, and often bittersweet, journey through the people and culture of retirement. With a deft comedic touch that evokes Bill Bryson or David Sedaris, Rodney Rothman takes you to where you’re going after you get the golden watch.

Author Biography

Rodney Rothman’s articles have appeared in the New York Times, The New Yorker and McSweeney’s, among other publications. The creator and producer of the critically acclaimed television series Undeclared, Rothman is currently working on a pilot with Richard Linklater.