Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
A bittersweet and hilarious novel about a marriage whose decades-old routine is suddenly upended.
Walter Schmidt has lived his whole life within the narrow, "comfortable" confines of traditional gender roles: he has made it to retirement without learning how to fry an egg or use a vacuum cleaner. After all, he could always count on his wife, Barbara. But when one morning she can't get up from bed anymore, everything changes.
With biting humor and great warmth, Alina Bronsky writes about how Walter, nearing the end of his life, is suddenly forced to reinvent himself as a caregiver and house-husband, and become the caring partner he never was in all his years with Barbara.
Little by little, Walter's rough facade begins to crumble--and with it his old certainties about his life and family.
Synopsis
"Cheerful, clever, and full of compassion." WDR 3, Mosaik
"Sprinkling what could be a sad tale with plenty of welcome humor, Bronsky makes us root for her unlikely hero." Booklist
Walter Schmidt has lived his life within the comfortable confines of a traditional marriage. He doesn't know how to fry an egg or use a vacuum cleaner. His wife Barbara has taken care of such things while also rearing their children and managing their social life. Walter has always been able to count on Barbara. Then, one morning, she won't get out of bed and everything changes.
In this bittersweet and darkly funny novel, Alina Bronsky tells the story of a man called Walter who in the twilight of his life is suddenly forced to reinvent himself and start from scratch.
"A wise, carefully constructed novel about fragile hidden identities, whose ending reads like a deeply felt beginning." Elena Lappin, The Washington Post
"Warm, poignant and acerbically funny...A sharp-eyed and unsentimental character study of one man and his blinkered view of the world around him." Malcolm Forbes, Star Tribune
Synopsis
A WASHINGTON POST BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR
A bittersweet and hilarious novel about a marriage whose decades-old routine is suddenly upended.
Walter Schmidt has lived his whole life within the narrow, "comfortable" confines of traditional gender roles: he has made it to retirement without learning how to fry an egg or use a vacuum cleaner. After all, he could always count on his wife, Barbara. But when one morning she can't get up from bed anymore, everything changes.
With biting humor and great warmth, Alina Bronsky writes about how Walter, nearing the end of his life, is suddenly forced to reinvent himself as a caregiver and house-husband, and become the caring partner he never was in all his years with Barbara.
Little by little, Walter's rough facade begins to crumble--and with it his old certainties about his life and family.