The next up on my reading of the 306 greatest books is Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont by Elizabeth Taylor. The book can be found on the Observer Book List.
In general, Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont took me by surprise. It is a fairly short book, with the version I read being just under 200 pages, which is what prompted me to read this book on my list; a quick break while I read through a much longer book. The premise of the story is about an older woman, Mrs. Palfrey, who was looking for a place to live while she was no longer able to, or no longer wanted to, live on her own but had not yet reached the stage of needing a nursing home. The Claremont then became her home, a hotel with a bunch of long time residence, mostly all older in age. One day, while she was walking home, she slips outside a young man's apartment, Ludo, who helped her up and eventually became the replacement for her negligent grandson. And this gets to the core of the story. Mrs. Palfrey is living a lonely existence. Her daughter and grandson have essentially abandoned her and she has no one. And while loneliness may seem at the heart of the story, it was also a rather funny story. Making this a seriously hard book to peg down. I had laughed out loud during several instances of the story. The core of the story is about how older people just kind of get ignored in our society (even back in the 1920's when this takes place) and left to their own devices, forgotten and ignored. But they aren't the only ones. Ludo was also dealing with his own loneliness. As well as all of the characters. They all had their own "things" they were dealing with, leaving everyone to feel all by themselves. As the story wrapped up, it ended with a profound sense of loss and sadness in a situation that I don't wish on anyone but I know countless people go through everyday. The book was excellently written and a joy to go through, with each heart breaking moment counterbalanced with a laugh. I have to recommend this book because it was so, so good. But in the end, it definitely was not an uplifting story at all, but an accurate one about life. Also note that Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont is not written by the actor Elizabeth Taylor, but the author Elizabeth Taylor, who are two distinctly different people (as far as I can tell).
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