Review of “Daylight Saving Time” by David W. Berner

Score: 92+/100 (9.2+ out of 10)

Daylight Saving Time is a powerful, eye-opening, contemplative memoir by David W. Berner. In this book, Berner reflects on the finiteness, relentless passage, and general concept of time as he finds himself entering into his twilight years at the age of 63. However, you don't have to be a retiree or near the retirement age to understand and appreciate this book. The truth of the matter is, we are all aging and we are all dying. We are all experiencing the relentless pace and passage of time.

We notice it in the new buildings that are being constructed, the old buildings that are being demolished, the new businesses being started, the old businesses closing their doors; the wrinkles developing on our skin, the white and gray hairs that sprout up; the number of friends and loved ones we have to say “goodbye” to and bury.

Berner does an excellent job at showing how time has haunted (and continues to haunt) him. It stalks him like a ravenous lion waiting for him to grow sickly, weak, and to fall behind the rest of the herd. But Berner won't go down without a fight, and he won't let a number (his age) dictate what he can and cannot do. He's not dead yet!

The inciting incidents of this book are the deaths of the author's elderly parents, something which forces Berner to consider his own mortality and remaining time on earth. To that end, he and his wife begin working toward creating a last will and testament along with further appreciating the world around them.

There are some beautiful and powerful quotes in this book. Here are some of our favorites:

“Time backward is just that. Gone. Time forward is still ours."

“I want to write. Life without the kind of examination that writing brings would not be worth it.”

“The coldest time of year is nearing, but it will eventually restore us and bring warmer days, and like the seasons with my old friend, it, too, will come to an end.”

“Cold and darkness do not stop the endless patterns of life.”

“It is the America where the blue-collar man, the working class, was born. It doesn’t matter if you never toiled in a mill; it only matters that the ones before you did, big men who bulged from their shirts, who celebrated with a shot and a beer, who inhaled smoky air and then demanded their industrialist bosses find a better way, the men who insisted that the steel they produced also produced durable men who could live to love their families for a long time. Those unbendable beams—the real and the ones constructed in men’s souls—remain, holding up everything.”

“What would being alone, truly alone, be like? The children gone on their own, my wife gone, my dog
gone. It triggers a level of melancholy, but it does no good to contemplate what might be. The poets and the sages encourage us to live in the here and now, to hold tight to the present.”
“...the simplest truths sometimes are the most profound.”

“Now, coffee at its richest is black, deep, and dark. Time changes us. Time changes taste.”
“Here I am aging; growing older with wrinkles around the eyes, gray hairs on my chin, transformed and evolved. I do not wish youth to return, and I do not fear this journey of growing old.”

That last one in particular really touched us. At what point do you—as an aging human being—become content with your aging? Many look back toward a golden age of their youth, a golden age which can never return. Many fear aging. Yet... in the powerful latter passage, Berner accepts it.

You may have also noticed that the writing in this book is quite eloquent, even poetic!

The author is able to tie a lot of different things in life and nature to the process of aging.

One of our favorite motifs is the use of the old guppy, Donna, one of Berner's last surviving pets. Donna is elderly too (in fish years), yet Berner is unwilling to put her out of her misery. To him, Donna is still a living being with more to accomplish and life still to live. It is a little humorous to hear him talk about his fish like a human, even saying that Donna is in hospice, however, it's also a bit sad and sobering.

Berner also talks about other things that relate to aging like the smoking of a cigar, Venus (the “morning star”), the Joshua tree, and weeping willow trees.

Speaking of weeping willows, we really loved that the author contrasted the popular view of them (that they represent grief) to how the author has come to view them: that they're tough, strong, and hardened by life. They endure cold winters and hot summers. They're more than just “grief trees.”

It's also beautiful that the author talks about how age effects the senses. He tells us that there are “songs I can't hear” and some tastes he can no longer stand (or taste).

The main weakness of this book (from an enjoyability perspective) is that it gets really bogged down in all of this existential, philosophical stuff and rarely seems to progress. This book—perhaps fittingly—almost seems stuck in time.

Still, it's a well-written book with a lot of spirit and weight behind it.

Check it out on Amazon!