Leisure Seekers by Michael Zadoorian
Summary: see Booklist below
Booklist Review
*Starred Review* Ella and John Robina, eightysomethings, take off in their Leisure Seeker RV against the will of their son, daughter, and doctors. Destination Disneyland, via Route 66. Ella has refused further treatment for cancer, and John's Alzheimer's is four years advanced. So they leave the Detroit suburbs and head west. Ella navigates and narrates their trip and their lives while John, who veers from sentience to senility and rage to tenderness, drives. Crumbling, kitschy Route 66 triggers Ella's thoughts. This is a purely character-driven novel, and Ella is a remarkable creation: she's honest, tough, strong, funny, usually in pain, cranky, and frightened. Her narration is matter-of-fact, but laced with snarky one-liners. Having braved Chicago's chaotic Dan Ryan Expressway, she comforts readers: Between the two of us, we are one whole person. John is a distressingly realistic portrait of a person with Alzheimer's; Ella never knows when he'll have a moment of lucidity or fly into a dangerous rage. Her middle-aged children's panicked demands that the couple return home will resonate with any adult who has feared for a parent's well-being. Zadoorian, whose debut novel, Second Hand (2000), was widely praised, has surpassed his initial success. The Leisure Seeker is pretty much like life itself: joyous, painful, funny, moving, tragic, mysterious, and not to be missed.
USA Today
…The runaway couple are John and Ella Robina. They defy their doctors and children for a final vacation in their RV, driving from Detroit to Disneyland.
He's a retired auto engineer whose memory comes and goes (mostly goes). She's the wry narrator, a housewife who has led a "completely unremarkable life" — not that she's complaining. That she saves for her cancer and other ailments.
They follow "the Mother Road," fabled Route 66, or what crumbling stretches of it they can find. Call it Kerouac-lite. It's On the Road with shorter sentences and less drugs and sex.
Zadoorian, 51, whose father had Alzheimer's and died five years ago, has done his homework along Route 66, which he discusses in a video on YouTube.
Doctors, nursing home administrators and officials at Disneyland won't like parts of The Leisure Seeker. Nor will everyone like the ending. But as Ella defiantly puts it, "It is not your place to say."
Beth’s point of view:
A patron was checking out this book and I read the back cover and thought it may be a good book for the blog. I read The Leisure Seeker by Michael Zadoorian and laughed out loud. At first I felt a little uncomfortable, but soon I was engrossed by the characters. I could relate to the plight of Ella and her husband, John, as well as their children. How wonderful to find the various connections with real life situations. I love travel books and enjoyed the places described in the book. The end will blow your mind!
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