Review: THE ROAD TO TENDER HEARTS

Title: The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett

Book Beginnings/First Line Friday quote:

Things were falling apart at the nursing home in Pondville, a small town in the armpit of Massachusetts..

Friday56 quote:

He was dead, they said, already, so she didn't need to hurry to the hospital.

Summary: 

A darkly comic and warm-hearted novel about an old man on a cross-country mission to reunite with his high school crush—bringing together his adult daughter, two orphaned kids, and a cat who can predict death. (Publisher)

Review: This book is morbidly funny. People are dying all over the place. In fact that is why I didn't mind including what seems like a spoiler in my Friday56 quote. There is so much death in this book it is honestly laughable. But underneath all the silliness, the book covers a whole plethora of serious topics -- death of a child, death of a parent, divorce, grief, alcoholism, loneliness, paternity, child abuse/pedophilia, murder, foster care, and serious illnesses like heart disease and cancer. I've probably forgotten to mention a few but you get the idea -- serious stuff but handled in a light-hearted way. 

It took me a long time to get going with The Road to Tender Hearts (too much eye-rolling?) but once I did I was on a race to finish it as fast as I could. Lucky the book club meeting and the library due date coincided. Both spurred me on. And do you know what? After all the silliness and insane number of deaths, the ending was nearly perfect and quite poignant.

I just got back from book club where we discussed this book. Everyone loved it and we basically laughed our way through the meeting recalling all the funny points in the book. This is author Annie Hartnett's third book. She wants her characters to gain insight and grow emotionally by the end of each of her books. Her characters in The Road to Tender Hearts all did this in spades.

My rating: 4.25 stars.

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-Anne