These five books might not always be found in a bookstack together, but I wanted to share them with you in one. I struggled with what to title this post and what should I say on a graphic? I know why I’m stacking them together, but how to condense it into a concise title?
Helen Cartwright and Ove and Frederick Fife and Theo and Sybil Van Antwerp have all lived decades. Toddler, Teenage, Twenties, Thirties, Middle-Age. It’s all behind them. Eyesight is failing. Mobility offers challenges. Memory mixes memories, but they remember.
Each novel offers a look back at a life lived. They dwell in reflection and remembrance while each aging protagonist also fumbles for a way forward into whatever days they still have.
I loved each book. I listened to The Correspondent, Sipsworth, and The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife. I found the narrations well done and lovely to listen to,
I read physical copies of A Man Called Ove and Theo of Golden. Both stories captured tender places in my heart and brough tears to my eyes. Both narratives made me laugh out loud. If a book or movie makes me laugh and cry, it’s usually gonna be one I love. In short, stories that make me feel.
Ove and Theo, in their unique ways, make people feel seen. In the last two years, when I encounter stories – books, essays, movies, personal conversation – where someone offers an act of extravagant kindness to someone – be it a spouse, child, neighbor, friend, stranger, aunt, teacher, employee – I cannot stop the tears. They well up, drip, make the ache liquid before I’m even aware of the activation. I can’t name why exactly, but I have a couple theories.
One ~ Our nation seems to lack empathy and compassion and copious generosity. The good stories don’t attain top billing. Many people who claim Christianity don’t truly live out the values Jesus imagined and lived. My own duplicity glares at me. Much as I love the good side of the internet, it’s also tossed us multiple ways to be self-consumed.
Two ~ I believe we all carry a bittersweet ache to be truly seen. The ability to offer this gift to someone is an act of courage, a movement in vulnerability, an intertwining of humility and selflessness. It requires a lot of intention and attention. Not many have it. I haven’t often found it or encountered it. Rarely have I been able to hold space in it for another person.
Theo of Golden holds a twist of fantasy and the goodness and gentleness and desire to speak life into others made me love it.
In an aside, during the last episode of Parks and Rec, my eyes blur when Ben hands Leslie her years-long dream. An act of selfless abundant generosity undergirded by a deep love for another person. It undoes me. These actions and stories containing characters willing to see someone else.
Threads that Connected these Novels for Me
Each book gives us a glimpse into life in an elderly body, the reality of more years behind us than before us, and remembrances of rejoicing and of regret.
This is where we’re headed. We will almost all reach the stage where our lives are set at the end of life.
We’re always learning something new or floundering to find new routines. Many times this is forced on us without our consent.
Life carries a large amount of loneliness and longing.
It only takes a few connections for us to find purpose.
All of these books carried tones of hope and resilience and goodness.
I’d Love to Hear
If you’ve read any of these titles, I’d love to hear your experience of the books. If you haven’t and read them in the future, come share with me your insights. Happy reading, comrade friends!
links to books are my affiliates….thank you!
Reading and Book Accessories
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