From the book jacket: Tom Johnson has turned 85 and has suffered a few “events,” though he knows his mind is still sharp. His adult children want to move him out of the homestead lake house and into a retirement home. But Tom resists in a most clever way. He slips away from his remaining family and sets out to find the only woman he ever loved, a woman he met in the Netherlands where he was stationed during World War II.

My reactions
If it hadn’t been for an F2F book club I probably would never have come across this little gem of a novel. I loved these characters (or loved to hate … in a couple of cases). In a short work the author addresses issues of aging, marriage (good and bad), lost opportunities, holding on to one’s dreams, taking chances, being responsible, and the meaning of love.

We were fortunate to have the author present for our discussion and a number of interesting points were brought up that had me rethinking some of my reactions. Our multi-generational group had some decidedly different points of view depending on our own ages. (Those characters I loved to hate at first now seem to have a few redeeming qualities.) ( )

very, very good novel of an elderly American man, freed by circumstance and good planning, who escapes his well-meaning offspring (and the not-so-well-meaning one) to discover what remains of his past and the love of his life, lost in the aftermath of WWII. ( )

A thoughtful and pleasing book, which I liked far more than the book-clubby cover led me to think I would. As I get older I'm more drawn to stories about people navigating the issues of old age—I guess that's predictable—and I liked the protagonist a lot, and I thought the big ambiguities of life, both external and his own, were handled well (and not avoided just because they'd be knotty to write, which I appreciate). There's definitely more here than meets the eye, and even if I'm still not 100% sure about Ferry's narrative choice (omniscient, offscreen throughout), I think he pulled it off admirably. ( )