If there’s one thing that unites our generation, it’s the belief that retirement can’t come soon enough.

But few take steps to hasten its approach.

Rodney Rothman, on the other hand, did. His new book, Early Bird: a Memoir of Premature Retirement is the story of his time spent in a retirement community — at age 28.

Rothman, a TV writer, finds himself unemployed when the show he’s been working on gets canceled. Instead of getting back in the game, he decides to get out entirely — and move to Boca. There, he navigates the social gauntlet that is retired life — getting in with the “cool crowd” at the pool, joining the beleaguered shuffleboard club, even flirting with the notion of a fling with an older woman.

Rothman doesn’t romanticize old people. He doesn’t ridicule them either. Instead, he gives a view of retirement that’s both honest and human — of real people struggling with their places in the world, the need to feel useful, and what to do when “relaxing” becomes a full-time occupation.

Not all that different from our generation, come to think of it.

Available online at amazon.com or your local bookstore.