2018 book 123

Joanna Cannon's Three Things About Elsie 
I actually finished this last night on the plane, but still haven’t decided how I feel about it. It’s centered on an 80-something woman in an assisted living facility in England, who has fallen and is waiting to be rescued, and in the meantime is narrating her recent adventures—starting with the arrival of a new resident, who she’s convinced is someone who supposedly died in the 50s, using a false name for nefarious purposes. This is an interesting portrayal of dementia, and the parts from the POVs of two of the facility's staff round out the picture. And I like the little connections Cannon makes throughout the story. But I just found the ending to be a bit muddled, despite having guessed one aspect of it on page three. Not to say I wasn’t crying about it on an airplane (apologies to the teen girl next to me), and I didn’t need the story wrapped up in a bow, but I’m not sure it actually made sense. Still, pretty entertaining and touching stuff. B+.

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book is available now.