Struggled a Bit With This One, But It Has a Kind of Beauty
When the Cranes Fly SouthI found this book depressing, possibly because it deals with a man in the last year of his life, and I see my dad-in-law's frailty and frustration at his own physical and cognitive decline in it. Bo is a frail, elderly man who loves his dog. His son thinks the dog should be rehomed, and that's not the only conflict between them, even though they care about one another. Bo loves and misses his wife. He constantly thinks as if he were talking to her, but she has dementia, lives in an institution, and does not recognize her husband and son. He recalls his childhood, how he loved his mother but suffered under his dad's ungovernable temper and cruelty, and his working life in which he met his best friend. I had to skip to the end because it was depressing me, and I'm happy to say that Bo and his son come to understand one another better before his death. It's beautifully written, but I'm not sure I'd recommend it.