Review of Not Dead Yet
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Mokhantso Letsela
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Review of Not Dead Yet
[Following is a volunteer review of "Not Dead Yet" by Mark Fletcher.]
Not Dead Yet by Mark Fletcher is a beautiful collection of short, fictional stories detailing the different experiences of elderly people living in a nursing home. The book starts with the facility’s manager’s story and the challenges she faces with the residents. It then moves on to tell the stories of some of the residents, and lastly, the songs and poems they created. Each chapter is a different resident’s story, and each story is different from the previous one. My favourite chapter is the one about Alexander. Alexander was an uptight old man, widowed, overly picky, and had run a successful chain of clothing stores. Alexander found it a bit tricky to fit in at his new home and say goodbye to being on his own and doing everything for himself. I found myself feeling sorry for him because of how well the writer explained his situation.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It has all the humour, brutal honesty, and sass you would expect from a horde of elderly people. I love how grateful it made me feel to have my life ahead of me. It made me think about all the things I want to accomplish in my active years and how I want to spend my last days. The book also reminded me to not judge a book by its cover and to be more compassionate because people might have had a series of experiences that made them the way they are. It opened my mind. I had previously not given much thought to what life is like for elderly people simply because I did not think that much happened. How wrong I was! In this book, two men fall in love with each other; a group of online protestors is formed; a group of residents figure out a way to secretly jazz up their meals; the residents create songs and poems; and so much more.
There isn’t a lot to dislike about this book. My only dissatisfaction is with the Shorter Shorts chapter. This chapter diverges from the initial style of having one resident’s story. It is a compilation of much shorter stories than I had become accustomed to, about different people instead of one.
For these reasons, I am rating this book 5 out of 5 stars. I found it easy to imagine everything that happened in the book because of how meticulously it has been written. Be that as it may, I would not greatly enjoy a movie made out of this book. I would recommend this book to anyone who would love to see the world from an elderly person’s point of view. I found only a handful of curse words but that they still might be inappropriate for a younger audience. The book is, in my opinion, suitable for people of all religions but be cautioned that there is mention of a same-sex couple. Also, there are neither sexual scenes nor any grammatical errors in this book.
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Not Dead Yet
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on Smashwords
Not Dead Yet by Mark Fletcher is a beautiful collection of short, fictional stories detailing the different experiences of elderly people living in a nursing home. The book starts with the facility’s manager’s story and the challenges she faces with the residents. It then moves on to tell the stories of some of the residents, and lastly, the songs and poems they created. Each chapter is a different resident’s story, and each story is different from the previous one. My favourite chapter is the one about Alexander. Alexander was an uptight old man, widowed, overly picky, and had run a successful chain of clothing stores. Alexander found it a bit tricky to fit in at his new home and say goodbye to being on his own and doing everything for himself. I found myself feeling sorry for him because of how well the writer explained his situation.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It has all the humour, brutal honesty, and sass you would expect from a horde of elderly people. I love how grateful it made me feel to have my life ahead of me. It made me think about all the things I want to accomplish in my active years and how I want to spend my last days. The book also reminded me to not judge a book by its cover and to be more compassionate because people might have had a series of experiences that made them the way they are. It opened my mind. I had previously not given much thought to what life is like for elderly people simply because I did not think that much happened. How wrong I was! In this book, two men fall in love with each other; a group of online protestors is formed; a group of residents figure out a way to secretly jazz up their meals; the residents create songs and poems; and so much more.
There isn’t a lot to dislike about this book. My only dissatisfaction is with the Shorter Shorts chapter. This chapter diverges from the initial style of having one resident’s story. It is a compilation of much shorter stories than I had become accustomed to, about different people instead of one.
For these reasons, I am rating this book 5 out of 5 stars. I found it easy to imagine everything that happened in the book because of how meticulously it has been written. Be that as it may, I would not greatly enjoy a movie made out of this book. I would recommend this book to anyone who would love to see the world from an elderly person’s point of view. I found only a handful of curse words but that they still might be inappropriate for a younger audience. The book is, in my opinion, suitable for people of all religions but be cautioned that there is mention of a same-sex couple. Also, there are neither sexual scenes nor any grammatical errors in this book.
******
Not Dead Yet
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on Smashwords
