Off Our Rockers & Into Trouble

 Off Our Rockers and Into Trouble: The Raging Grannies 
by Alison Acker
Edition: Paperback
Price: CDN$ 19.95
 
Availability: In Stock
  22 used & new from CDN$ 0.01
 

    ‘Off’ Moved, Entertained & Enlightened Me!, Aug 7 2004
Off Our Rockers is the best kind of personal non-fiction. In many ways it qualifies as Chick Lit (the viewpoints are female and outrageous yet highly sympathetic, the adventures non-stop and such a delight to go along on, as a reader and the happenings are memorable). I find myself going back to certain sections in my mind. Simply, it is the story of a group of concerned older women through the eyes of two women, Alison and Betty, who have all the usual urges and surges of their ages and times but know they can make a difference. Fortunately all this happens on the British Columbia coastline where hapless captains of leaky nuclear subs, hopeless heads of legislative security and heinous clear cutters are blatantly abusing their positions,cruising full speed ahead, unthinking about the consequences until some women who have done a great deal of thinking appear. Rather more than a spanner in the works, these are grannies whose songs give a new definition of the word, ’sarcasm.’ The resulting colisions between granny and wanker is most satisfactory in every case. It will make a four star feature film giving Meryl Streep, Barbara Streisand, Maggie from the Potter films, Holly Hunter and that wonderful woman who just starred with Jack Nichols (duh), something in which to sink their teeth (whether or not they are the teeth with which they started life). Most notable is the fact that these actresses are just playing at what these powerful role models are actual living. The 3 pages on how to choose a granny for a gaggle was particularly compelling. It says a lot about what to look for in a long-time friend. Crammed with dignity, respect and rolling around in the woods, ‘Off’ will be shelved as a classic for our grandchildren.