`Once Upon A Midlife` by Allan B. Chinen

Once Upon a Midlife (Classic Stories and Mythic Tales to Illuminate the Middle Years

By : Dr . Allan B . Chinen

Stories that have been told from the different corners of the world were brought together and were presented by Dr . Allan Chinen in his book , Once Upon A Midlife , to create a more compelling way of discussing middle age . Being a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University of California , San Francisco , the author had most probably encountered in person the characters that he was referring to in his discussions

It is

a confident assumption that almost everyone knows a fairy tale when they were young . We could have learned it from home , in school from the television , or the movies . We were exposed to the typical stories of Cinderella , Snow White , Rapunzel , etc . and their Prince Charming . These ladies lived in a far away kingdom . Their fathers , the kings of their kingdom , died . And so they were left to the hands of the wicked step mother . Prince Charming will come to the rescue and they will live happy ever after . This idea will be challenged upon reading Once Upon A Midlife . The book offers the tales and myths that were gathered from different countries . But these are different from the fairy tale we all know

It takes natural creativity and enormous knowledge to be able to create this very interesting yet , very substantial material which concerns middle life especially among couples . It is important to take note of the author 's reading after each tale that explains more of the underlying theme that on the other hand , gives a contrast or comparison between two different stages : youth and middle age

Overall , the book is helpful to understand a phase in life that everyone has to go through . This is something that will be read through the years and we will continually be astonished with the commendable insights imparted in this published material . Moreover , this is not another book that is stocked in one 's bookshelf . Like , any other fairy tales , this will be read and retold many times , but not to children , but for people who feel like their moving on to a deeper wisdom . Those who felt like they have lost their youthfulness will marvel into different stories that clearly imply that being in the middle age doesn 't exclude somebody from another culture or country , or from the language that they use . By reading the author , he takes the position that anyone in this phase , wherever they are , they will agree that things change from what they were . Since the day they accepted that they are not young anymore and from then on , they gained a deeper sense of being

I personally picked three tales from the book that I really found to be interesting . First , The Elves and the Shoemaker ' a tale from Germany , the story used by the author to describe the loss of magic or the loss of youthfulness . The second one , The Magic Purse...