On the Bright Side The New Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen by Hendrik Groen

 

"It's at moments like these that you need friends to rescue you from complete apathy and give you a kick in the behind: no whining! Another day the roles may be reversed and it's your turn to cheer someone up and help them get through the day. If you're alone, you can't do it. You'll sink into total lethargy, unable to haul yourself out of your chair by the window. Then you're dead before actually dying. You have to keep yourself from falling into that trap. That's what our club is for: Old But Not Dead. It sounds a bit pathetic, but it's the truth."

          -from the NEW diary

After reading Hendrik's first Secret Diary, I couldn't resist diving into this one! Being married to an octogenarian and not far from that age myself AND living in a retirement community, or care home as Hendrik describes it, I can SO relate to the stories he tells! Elevator queues to complaints about food and overexposure to other's aches and pains are all things we have experienced. Hendrik tells all in such a humorous way. And although much of the book is funny, there are poignant passages, too, when Hendrik loses 2 close friends---one in each diary. Definitely a disadvantage to becoming good friends with folks of 80+ years!

In his 85th year, Hendrik hears rumors that the care facility where he resides may be shutting down in the near future. He and friends from the Old But Not Dead club find a way to make up the majority of the resident council in order to investigate and, hopefully, stop such a thing from happening.

I must rate the book a 5, even though I am a little disappointed to find out these diaries are actually fiction and Hendrik Groen is a pen name for a Dutch author who may be much younger that the book's Hendrik. The diaries seem so realistic from my point of view, I was comfortable believing he could be a resident in my own "care home"!