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The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen, 83¼ Years Old

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I took a lot from this book and found it a pleasure to read. There is a lovely humour that runs through this book that is all deprecating, for example… Conversely, Hendrik displays a charming personality and is more caring and gentle which has become a rarity in today’s society. Hendrik pledges to try to be more assertive but he cannot help but be a more giving and thoughtful person. Hendrik’s diary entries are not simple prose but lengthy rants about whatever has got Hendrik’s goat that day. The language used is not simple but very mature and his range of vocabulary is spectacular. What a change this was from my usual genres, but I'm so glad I read it, it was a pleasure and an honour to share Hendrik's life, if only for a year!

Hendrik Groen Series by Hendrik Groen - Goodreads Hendrik Groen Series by Hendrik Groen - Goodreads

When one of the residents passes away, the room is taken by Eefje. She is a quiet, thoughtful woman – and Hendrik is smitten. He smartens himself up, nervously hosts a get together over cups of tea with both Eefje and Evert and wishes he’d met her half a century sooner. Everybody wants to live forever, said Jonathan Swift, but nobody wants to grow old. The satirist’s opinion might have been reinforced had he lived to read Hendrik Groen’s account of a year spent in an Amsterdam nursing home, a book that became an instant phenomenon when published in the Netherlands a couple of years ago. A joy to read. An entertaining and uplifting story of a man in the winter of his days' John Boyne, Irish TimesAnd here’s another to how the Dutch have made use of their cycleways which Australia can only envy. Sigh . . . Of the five senses, my nose still works best. Which is not always a blessing in here. It smells of old people."

Hendrik Groen - Penguin Books UK Hendrik Groen - Penguin Books UK

This book enables you to enter the very often closed world of life for 80 plus year olds in residential care homes. Although this book is set in Amsterdam, the attitudes, issues and problems are worldwide. Since he lives in a retirement home, he starts documenting the daily grind against which he rebels and in the process writes a very juicy and nearly scandalous expose. The book is written in diary format written by an 83-year old man starting January 1, 2013 and ending on New Year’s Eve December 31 of that year. Henrik lives in an assisted living facility (aka ‘care home’) in the Netherlands along with a whole cast of characters some of whom don’t make it to the end of the book because they’re dead. He and some friends did create a club called the “Old-But-Not-Dead-Club” where every other week they go on a field trip…always to fun places (e.g., a cooking class, a Pixar movie). Places more exciting than engaging in sing-alongs at the care home. The inhabitants have been informed in a short letter that it is now official: the extensive renovations to this building are to begin in November. “I hope I’ll be dead by then,” said Mrs. Vergeer, and she meant it too. “You should never report an old plant,” said Mr. Apotheker. He must have repeated it at least five times. What an old whiner. If they’re thinking of repotting him, let them plant him head down.I wish I could meet Hendrik Groen because I know I would absolutely love him. This book is one of the most touching, heart-wrenching stories that I have read in a while. Groen resides in a state-funded nursing home in Amsterdam. At 83 years old, he decides to start writing in his diary to pass the time and to “give the world an uncensored expose´: a year in the life of the inmates of a care home in North Amsterdam.” Hendrik Groen proceeds to do just that; I cannot count the times I laughed out loud, and plenty of times I cried as well. When the elevator door slid open, there were already two rollators and one mobility scooter inside, but Mrs. Groenteman thought there was still room for herself and her scooter. She revved the engine a little to hard, sweeping the others into a great pileup. It took half an hour to extricate all the dinged metal and trampled oldies. The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen, 83 ¼ years old' by Hendrik Groen is a year in the life of Hendrik Groen who lives in a nursing home. My only worry when I started this book was whether it could hold my interest for the complete year of the diary. I needn't have worried the book did more than hold my attention it was full of little anecdotes that amused and even laugh out loud at times. There are some wonderful characters in this book and even a love interest. Some of the residents form a club called the 'Old-But-Not Dead Club' and this gives the members new hope and entertainment to help them through their old age. I really must make a point of asking my geriatrician next time if there’s anything that can be done about the leaky part or if I’ll just have to resign myself to wearing diapers. Not so long ago I used to think that was when one lost one’s last shred of dignity, but I realize that I have now lowered the bar a bit. The frog in the cooking pot, that’s me.”

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