Old Heart by Peter Ferry- 256 pages
Book Blurb:
Tom Johnson has turned 85 and has suffered a few “events,” though he knows his mind is sharp. His oldest son, who had Down Syndrome has died, and his remaining two children want to move him out of the homestead lake house and into a retirement home in town. What Tom wants to do is to find the only woman he ever loved, a woman he met in the Netherlands where he was stationed during World War II.
And so he slips away, deftly covers his tracks, and begins his search for her in Eindhoven. While his children try to track him down and then have him extradited back home, Tom delves into love and loss and the value of memory. Soon he catches sight of a woman he believes to be Sarah, the love he lost almost a lifetime ago.
He will have to fight for her affections and forgiveness, even as he fights for the legal right to stay in the Netherlands in the name of love and family and all the remaining rights of an old man.
My Review: 4 stars
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Old Heart is a tragically beautiful story of a hardened man trying to live out his twilight years in his own graceful, yet secretive way. This of course upsets the balance of his kids, grandkids, friends and mentors, so to stop the madness, he chooses to runaway.
For a moment, when starting this book, I felt I was getting myself into another The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared sort of book. However these books couldn’t be more different. Old Heart is written with a sense of poetic justice and a strong literary presence, while the other was much more comedic.
At the heart of this run away adventure is the main protagonist’s search for his long lost wartime love and at the chance of finding her, brings happiness. His commitment to his lackluster and loveless marriage is aptly portrayed and equally sad. It’s foiled brilliantly with his love and subtle partnership he has with his son Tony.
The book covers much in its 256 short pages: going to and coming home from war, marriage, children, aging gracefully, family pretenses and truths, nursing homes, death, travel, dementia, looking back instead of forward and then finally, seeking your truth.
Quotes I liked:
“He labeled them “the Undivorced” because they were people caught on a cultural cusp. Such partnerships were bound together more by duty and loyalty than by love.”
“You know that life is both tragic and beautiful, that you are entitled to nothing, and that every day is a carefully wrapped present, including this one.”
“Don’t believe in an afterlife. Except children. They’re your afterlife.”
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