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Title: The Pleasure Was Mine
ISBN: 0312339321
Author:
Tommy Hays
Publicate Date: 2005-03-01
Publish: 2005-03-01
List Price: $23.95
Average Customer Rating: 5.0
Format: Hardcover
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $4.79
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $3.00
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| Customer Review: |
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1: LANGUAGE/MESSAGE=THOUGHTFUL REFLECTION
Tommy Hays has written a wonderful story, from personal experience, and keeps your attention fixed on the narrative. His use of language approaches that of William Faulkner with subtleties and turns of phrase that make you wonder why you never thought of using those words. The story has several sub-plots and nuances that grab you and keep you turning pages with enthusiasm. Thank you Tommy Hays for putting ink on paper.
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2: Excellent!
A friend loaned me this book to read when I traveled to my parents to help my father take care of my mother who suffers from Alzheimer's.
This story was tender and beautiful. Very well written. A must read for anyone who has a family member suffering from Alzheimer'. A caregiver might feel better understood and even have a chuckle or two.
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3: Explores emotions and ideas not usually touched
I read this book as part of Greenville, SC's Amazing Read program. The book tells the story of 3 generations coming together to battle common problems: Alzheimer's, car accident, single parenting. It is told from the father/grandfather's point of view, a simple housepainter. The prose flows like an easy conversation over coffee. No long descriptions of how the rain fell through the trees, but enough details to create an image.
The story has twists and turns to keep the reader interested, but the story is a bit predictable by the end. As I finished reading, I felt the characters, understood them, loved them and learned from them.
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4: Talk about Pleasure!
With elegantly-crafted understatement Tommy Hays compassionately relays problems spawned by "Alzheimer's in the family." At the same time, he manages to sensitively honor the reader's comfort zone. The result is a triumph for the author, for the reader, and for characters whose real life challenges and choices point the way for the rest of us. Thank you, Tommy Hayes.
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5: A Wonderful Story of Undying Love
We all probably know a Prate Marshbanks. He's a good person who thinks he's as tough as can be, but in reality he's a softie. Family comes first, not afraid of a day's work, intelligent but his greatest asset is common sense. We all know the type, and if by chance you don't, Tommy Hays creates this exact character in his book THE PLEASURE WAS MINE.
THE PLEASURE WAS MINE tells the story of Prate, who in his senior years has to take care of his wife Irene. Irene was once the most beautiful girl in the town, a lawyer's daughter, and English teacher, someone who in Prate's estimation was too good for him. Yet the two have a wonderful marriage, raise a son together, and at least as far as Prate is concerned, the two never fall out of love. This love and dedication is being tested now that Irene has Alzheimer's. Prate spends most of his days caring for Irene, but his routine is disrupted when his son Newell calls and asks him to baby-sit for Jackson, Newell's son. Prate reluctantly agrees believing his widowed son may need some time away but he wonders how he's entertain a sullen, bookish, and somewhat quirky young boy like Jackson. The two bond, and this bonding creates a new family dynamic.
The beauty of this book is due to Tommy Hays' carefully structured writing. This book could easily go in at least five different directions, but Hays is careful to present the story through Prate's eyes and by doing so, we become immersed in this man's story and grow to feel for him and the other characters in the story. Readers may think that a husband caring for an ailing wife with Alzheimer's is similar to the story of THE NOTEBOOK, Hays avoids sentimentality. Prate always has a bit of an edge which keeps him real and anyone who either has cared for someone with Alzheimer's, or knows someone who has, will appreciate the accuracy of the story and Prate's emotions.
I know I'm not the only reader who fell in love with this book, and it's my guess that others will too. Enjoy!
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