I need to start off by saying that there is absolutely no significance behind why I chose to read this book. Technically, I came across it by chance, as I was looking through a few book summaries and this one looked interesting, plus it seemed like an easy read, so I decided to try it. Well, it turns out this book was nothing like I thought it would be.

First, the premise: 79-year-old Theresa Smith is suffering from a crippling terminal illness plus a plethora of other health issues. She lives by herself in an upscale convalescent home named Leonard Cohen Court (LCC for short), surrounded by other eccentric but amiable seniors and occasionally visited by her 2 adult daughters Abigail and Saskia as well as teenage granddaughter Poppy. One day, she is paid a courtesy visit by a health advisor from the nearby Makeway Clinic who tells her about a process called Life Enhancement. After that, a “health negotiator” from the same clinic shows up and after much persuasion, she eventually accepts the process, signs an agreement contract, and makes an appointment to have the process completed. The story begins with Theresa lying on a bed in a room at the clinic, on the day of the appointment, having a one-sided conversation – supposedly with Poppy, whom she believes is sitting at her bedside one minute but then the next minute is lying on her own bed in her own room listening to music -- and from there, on the brink of death, Theresa takes a long hard look at her life and in doing so, tries to seek justification for deciding to accept this “life enhancement” procedure. She wavers back and forth in her decision, at times thinking she wants it, at times thinking she doesn’t. In the end, after reviewing the details of her life, she finally decides that she doesn’t want the procedure after all….but is it too late?

Off the bat, it was very obvious from the start that this book is a satire, though it doesn’t become clear, to me at least, until about half way through the book that the “world” Theresa Smith is living in is perhaps not real – that it is essentially a dystopian world where things seem to happen one way one minute but then changes course the next minute and in the end we are left wondering whether those things ever occurred in the first place.

The first half or so of the book was entertaining enough and at times, I even found myself chuckling at some of Theresa Smith’s observations about the people around her – be it her family, her friends and neighbors at the senior home, or the strangers who visit her. However, after the halfway mark, I started to lose interest, especially when some of the details started to repeat and became more tedious to read. The last third or so of the book was a bit of a chore to get through. There was a lot of dialogue that seemed like pointless conversation – conversations that were at times mundane, at times nonsensical, at times thought-provoking. The author deals with many sensitive issues in the book: in addition to the main topic of assisted suicide, there is also commentary (albeit subtly) on terminal illness, death, attitudes toward the elderly, family relationships, generation gap, social norms and conventions, education, politics, etc. In a way, it was a bit TOO much and at one point, I struggled to keep up. I also felt like the book was way longer than it needed to be and the flow was a bit off – some of the “stories” about Theresa’s past felt like they were randomly inserted in sections where they didn’t belong while other anecdotes and recollections made perfect sense where they occurred.

While the story is cleverly written, with a good amount of wit and sarcasm scattered throughout that did make the story entertaining at times, it is very obvious that this book is not for me. I appreciate the author’s efforts though and she truly did do a great job in her development of the main protagonist in the story Theresa Smith. Even though I wasn’t really able to get into the story itself, I still felt for Theresa and her struggles and ended up genuinely liking her as a character. I also appreciated the fact that the book did give me some “food for thought” on a few issues, which is something that I think most of us look for in every reading experience. In that regard, despite this book not being for me, I still found the reading experience satisfying, though obviously it won’t be a book that I have any intention of re-reading.

I'm not sure how to review this because I did not finish. I did not find anyone appealing or the plot interesting. I think Walshe has some valuable things to say about end of life issues but this book was just not for me.

Very strange story. I read the first two chapters trying to find something to like about this book. Unfortunately that didn't happen.