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There are currently 48 member reviews
for The Big Finish
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Eileen F. (Media, PA)
Drama in assisted living facility
An assisted living facility is not your usual setting and octogenarians are not your usual characters. Fast paced story about family and friendship. The characters will keep you interested and touch your heart.
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Susan S. (Springdale, AR)
The Big Finish
The Big Finish should definitely be packed in your travel bag for some light reading at the beach or on a trip. It's a fast moving easily followed novel with just the right number of characters… a book you can sit back and read like a magazine. I don't think the plot is "meaty" enough for a book group discussion, but I thoroughly enjoyed it and will recommend it to my friends.
I found myself rooting for Carl and Duffy, two octogenarians in an assisted living facility, to overcome their demons and rally around Josie, Carl's alcoholic granddaughter. In a matter of just 5 days, entire lifetimes of choices and regrets are exposed. Family and friendship, guilt and pride, trust and truth all combined to endear these two men to me and made them men I would be happy to call Grandpa.
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Becky H. (Chicago, IL)
sympathetic to the plight of older persons
Duffey, the unrepentant reprobate, and his side kick, Carl, are roommates at the "nice" assisted living home. They live in fear of being tossed out and forced to move to the "hellhole" of the only full nursing home in the area. Nora is the nurse who makes life bearable. Anderson is the aide who aids and abets Duffey and Carl and all the other inmates at the 20 bed Centennial Assisted Living Home.
The activities mentioned all ring true as do the shenanigans the inmates get up to. Told in spare and occasionally uncomfortable prose, the tale is filled with gentle humor and lots of empathetic sympathy. The senior citizens are never disparaged except by the home's kill joy and money mad proprietor. When 19 year old Josie enters their life needing a place to stay and help with her life choices, the fun begins and doesn't end until the Big Finish.
Lots to think about and discuss in book groups, especially ones that have a few older members or members with loved ones in assisted living or nursing homes. The importance of hope, honesty, friendship, and sympathetic attention is laid forth with good natured respect.
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Barbara B. (Evansville, IN)
Unexpected Events at Assisted Living
Dotted with lighthearted laughter and serious moments, Carl and Duffy reign supreme at the Centennial Assisted Living home where they are roommates. Their lives change suddenly when Carl's granddaughter climbs through the window into their room. Josie has no other place to go, so she begins her slightly unwelcome hideaway at the assisted living facility. The novel quickly becomes realistic, and the characters all mesh as the 5-day encounter makes everyone value life tremendously. The author does an excellent job of storytelling from Duffy's 88-year-old point of view. The happy banter is ongoing, although the heart crushing grief of life and loss occurs just as often.
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Dorothy M. (Maynard, MA)
The Golden Years Aren't always
Brooke Fossey has set her debut novel, Big Finish, in an assisted living home whose director is eager to move residents out as soon as they begin to need more assistance in order to bring in more lucrative guests. Duffy, who tells us this story, is a man whose life has been spent with alcohol, drugs and quick sex. He is not a man to go gentle into that good night. Now in his late 80's with no family and only one friend - his roommate Carl - he is faced with a situation where he might achieve redemption - if he only has the strength and will to make it happen. Duffy is an amusing curmudgeon when he isn't being an angry one but this book does a great job of looking at how difficult aging can be and how limited life is when someone else controls every activity. There is light at the end of this tunnel and a hopeful - if not totally happy - ending when several of the residents and staff come together for a BIG FINISH. I enjoyed this book and think it will appeal to readers who liked A Man Called Ove.
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Portia A. (Monroe Township, NJ)
What's next?
As an 87 year old woman I really appreciated this book. I could relate to the elderly in assisted living because that may be next on my agenda. Read it and laugh or read it and weep. Or both.
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Melinda H. (Cornelius, NC)
Cute
This is a cute, albeit predictable story. Although I enjoyed the book somewhat, I never connected with the characters in a way that made me say "you must meet my new friends". The summary on the back of the book tells you everything you need to know, and it's not hard to fill in the gaps, or see the ending. Unfortunately, this is a story that has been done all too often in the recent past. I gave it a three because the writing is engaging and believable.
