Hendrik Groen: The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen, 83 3/4 Years Old

And now I have finished reading The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen, 83 3/4 Years Old, though never to be truly finished with it. 

⛅☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️

Have you noticed?
Very few novels feature a senior citizen or elderly person as its main voice. I myself can only think of a few that I have read. I think I have simply not given it any thought or made any effort to do so; now I look forward to reading more books with mature characters. The author of this book has written a follow-up to this book called On the Bright Side. I might give that one a go.
(Not right away; my stack of books is TALL...)


So Hendrik.
A Dutch pensioner living in a retirement home in the Netherlands in 2014, keeping a journal for a year in order to amuse himself and to keep his negativity to minimum in the real world of being institutionalized. 

Wednesday, January 2 ~ For I, Hendrikus Gerardus Groen, am ever the civil, ingratiating, courteous, polite, and helpful guy. Not because I am really all those things, but because I don't have the balls to act differently. I rarely say what I want to say. I tend to choose the path of least confrontation. My specialty: wanting to please everybody. My parents showed foresight in making me Hendrik: you can't get any blander than that.

I read about a dozen reviewers of this book who didn't care for the read at all. Henrik is grumpy.  People are unhappy in the nursing home.  It was boring.  He is surrounded by bothersome people.  People are obsessed with death.  Interestingly enough, I think that that was the point! That is what it is like in a nursing home, tedious, unpleasant, annoying, end of life. 
So, good call.

On the other hand, I found Henrik's voice compelling, even important. Can't we listen? Can't we hear? People at that point of life do think about death; they even think about bringing about their own death. Living in a crowded facility is annoying. Having overseeing bodies monitor your behavior and maintain bullshit rules over you makes all of us fricking grumpy. No one enjoys living in an institution that smells. No one likes to lose their autonomy bit by bit, or all at once, for that matter.

Henrik shares The House of the Setting Sun, the assisted-living center, with the usual group of advanced-age miscreants and chair-sitters: those who complain of their stomach issues, those who hate the pea soup, those who love the custard, those who gossip incessantly, those to report rule-breakers to the local authorities, those who fear losing their memories, those who focus on the indignities of getting older, those who complain about the food, those who sit silently, those who fart or who smell or who have bad hygiene, those who consider suicide, those who are lonely. Sure, Henrik is grumpy.
It's real life, Man.

But it wasn't all grumpy. NO!
In fact, it was amusing, wise, irreverent.
In response to the deathly hallows and hallway deaths, Hendrik and his closest friends create the Not Dead Yet Club and decide to take themselves out into the world to enjoy life on their own terms. And I admired their chutzpah. I'm pretty sure they went out for fun more often than I have this year. They certainly imbibed more than I have this year! The Not Dead Yet Club looked for, and found, sunshine and joy. We all need a group of friends like this.

Reading this book, I laughed out loud enough times and I stopped-to-give-it-some-thought enough times that I have to give this book a very glowing review. I enjoyed Henrik and his wonderful band of friends. I loved their sincere love and affection for one another in the ever-shrinking life and times of a person living in an old folks home. I even appreciated the less-than-savory realities of denying, fighting, accepting the aging body and the aging mind.

Give it a go.

Some of my favorite moments in the book include a day trip to a winery, Henrik's friendship with Evert, the woman who broke her leg climbing onto kitchen cabinets to clean them, the hilarious fire drill, the dead fish, and Henrik's freedom brought to him by his motorized vehicle. 

Here are a few excerpts from various days in the diary, for your reading pleasure

Friday, June 21 ~ Humans really are rather misshapen and ugly animals, I fear. With a few exceptions, people are much nicer looking with clothes than without. Only children are beautiful when they're naked. But the older you are, the more layers of clothes, please.

Sunday, June 30 ~
"What are you scribbling all of the time, Henrik? Let me read it!"
"I'm working on my memoir. You can all read it, but not until it's finished."
Then they'll usually want to know if they're in it, and I'll say they are, no matter who it is. "Only good things," I'll reassure them.

Saturday, September 28 ~ When the elevator doors slid open, there were already two rollators and one mobility scooter inside, but Mrs. Groenteman thought there was still room for her and her scooter. She revved the engine a little too hard, sweeping the others into a great pile up. It took half an hour to extricate all the dinged and trampled oldies. The groaning was deafening, although the injuries were barely perceptible to the naked eye.

Saturday, October 19 ~
"Ah yes, we live in uncertain times," I chip in. "Life is a five-thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle with no picture to follow."

For sheer chutzpah I give Henrik and his 365-day diary 8 stars.

Comments?

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