"Flee, Fly, Flown" by Janet Hepburn

Synopsis:
When Lillian and Audrey hatch a plot to escape from Tranquil Meadows Nursing Home, "borrow" a car, and spend their hastily planned vacation time driving to destinations west, they aren't fully aware of the challenges they will face. All they know is that the warm days of August call to them, and the need to escape the daily routines and humiliations of nursing home life has become overwhelming. 
 Flushed with the success of their escape plan, they set out on their journey having forgotten that their memory problems might make driving and following directions difficult. Their trip is almost over before it begins, until they meet up with the unsuspecting Rayne, a young man also heading west in hope of reconciling with his family. 
As Lillian and Audrey try to take back the control that time and dementia has taken from them, Rayne realizes the truth of their situation. But it's too late - he has fallen under the spell of these two funny, brave women and is willing to be a part of their adventure, wherever it leads them.

Review:
The story is told from Lillian's point of view and she has Alzheimer's Disease.  I am lucky never to have had anyone in my family with this disease so I can't verify the validity of the author's portrayal of it.  But if this accurately describes what Alzheimer's Disease is like, I hope I never get it.  I also hope I live a long, active life.  Being young, I can't predict what my future holds but this book has made me think about what kind of old age I would like to have and how I will treat my mother as she ages.

I consider this book to be the Canadian female version of Jonas Jonasson's "The Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared" because it's another book about elderly people escaping their nursing home/retirement home/whatever politically correct euphemism you want to use.  It just doesn't have as much suspense and historical events.  "Flee, Fly, Flown" focuses more on the personal lives of the main characters.  Some readers might find the plot somewhat far-fetched simply because it runs primarily on circumstance.

"Flee, Fly, Flown" is one of the titles nominated for the 2014 Ontario Library Association's Forest of Reading Evergreen Award.  It is the only title on the shortlist that was/is of any interest to me and I am glad I read it.  It gets my vote!

Read on,
Paula

Another Terry Fallis visit

I attended another Terry Fallis author talk.  It reinforced what a great speaker and how naturally humorous he is.  Having read his novel "No Relation" earlier this year, it was nice to get the rehashed version during his talk.  Listening to him read a scene from the novel also reinforced that authors are the best people to read their own works because they have a unique personal insight and so can bring more life to it than anyone else possibly could.  I mentioned in my review about wanting to listen to the podcast versions he has made of all his books but I have not previously done that.

During his talk, he also gave an overview of Ernest Hemingway's life.  I am not overly familiar with Hemingway aside from reading "The Old Man and the Sea" in high school.  If the ending hadn't been so defeatingly depressing, I would have liked the book a whole lot more.  So it was surprising to learn that his later years were overshadowed by depression and illness that affected his ability to write.  This has revived my own interest in writing, even if it is just for myself.  Terry Fallis said he didn't write his first novel until he was 45 so it's not too late for me if I decide to try it.

Terry also gave us an overview of the novel he is still in the process of writing now.  This is the second time that the brief synopsis of his upcoming novel has had me eagerly awaiting its publication.  It happened that way with "No Relation" and now again with "Poles Apart", the working title.

There was a book signing at the end of the talk and my friend bought a copy to get signed.  I told him that because of the James Moriarty storyline, I visited the Toronto Reference Library just to see the Sherlock Holmes collection they have.  I had not heard of it until I read about it in "No Relation".

It was a bookishly inspiring night for me and I am so glad I went.  Terry says that his new book should be out sometime in the fall of 2015.  Just in time for the Word on the Street festival??  If so, perhaps we will see him there.

Read on,

Paula

Book bingo update

Well, it is officially autumn now so I thought I would let you know the results of my summer Book Bingo.  I am happy to say that I did get a Bingo!  I happened to read one book that qualified for four squares in a row.

"The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out The Window And Disappeared" by Jonas Jonasson:

• By an author of a different gender
• Translation
• Borrowed from the library
• By an author of a different culture

And I am halfway through the complete Sherlock Holmes collection but I have finished "A Study in Scarlet", "The Sign of Four", and the twelve stories in "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes".  I counted that for the 'A classic that you should have read in school'.  If I had read a cozy mystery, I would have had two bingos on the same card.  I liked doing the bingo and would be interested in doing it again next year.  This year I read what I wanted and hoped it would fit something on the bingo card.  Next year I would like to try finding titles that specifically fit the bingo card.

Did you get a bingo?

Read on,
Paula