Disclaimer: Should you choose to purchase the featured book, via this post, I will receive a commission from Waterstones.
A highly-entertaining read about the ups and downs of being over eighty years old and stuck in a care home.
The diary writer, Hendrik, has to put up with all the grumbles, farts and burps of his elderly companions and, at times, finds it hard to hold his tongue. As the months go by and he finds himself still alive, Hendrik can contain himself no longer.
Along with his best friend, Evert, he starts a rebellion. Four others residents are recruited and, the gang, plan trips out to take classes in golf, portraiture and cooking. This is all much to the disgust of the care home’s cook, who takes offence when residents turn down his meatballs to dine out elsewhere.
Absolutely, not a book restricted to the author’s fellow oldies, or to those native to the Netherlands. The issues raised by Hendrik will be familiar to anyone affected by the petty rules and regulations of institutions, driven more by profit than compassion. Consider the UK’s Academy Schools, privatised rail companies, and the increasingly desperate tactics of its NHS. How much did it cost you to park the last time you paid a hospital visit to a sick friend or relative?
And things really start to hot up when Hendrik asks the Director for copies of the policies that apparently forbid the pensioners from using the kitchen facilities to rustle up their own culinary treats. In comes a doddery-retired lawyer time on his hands and a wooden spoon of his own!
Loved this book so much that I abandoned my blog for a whole day, so I could have my starter, main course, and pudding all in in one sitting!
Admittedly, I also needed to check out the competition! I did, after all, begin my own ‘Not-So-Secret Diary of a Newly-Qualified Teacher’, just a couple of days ago, with the very promising first entry: Lack-Lustre!
So what are you waiting for – get reading! First, read ‘Lack-Lustre’. Next, tuck into ‘Henry Groen’! Enjoy the feast!
Copyright owned by Jay Cool, July 2019
Links to other book reviews by Jay Cool:
The Silly-Savvy Salopian in Suffolk: read, believe and write ... 