In the spirit of the New York Times bestselling A Man Called Ove, this is the heartwarming story of a man who decides to end his life before he’s too old–but then begins to reconsider when he faces complications from the world around him. In an effort to delay the frailty and isolation that comes with old age, psychiatrist Millard Salter decides to kill himself by the end of the day–but first … end of the day–but first he has to tie up some loose ends. These include a tete-a-tete with his youngest son, Lysander, who at forty-three has yet to hold down a paying job; an unscheduled rendezvous with his first wife, Carol, whom he hasn’t seen in twenty-seven years; and a brief visit to the grave of his second wife, Isabelle. Complicating this plan though is Delilah, the widow with whom he has fallen in love in the past few months. As Millard begins to wrap up his life, he confronts a lifetime of challenges during a single day–and discovers that his family has a big surprise for him as well.more
Millard Salter’s Last Day
By jacobmappel
Millard Salter decides he will kill himself on his 75th birthday. He wants to do it now, while he is capable, and not wait until he is to old to take care of himself. He’s respected among his colleagues, he has 3 adult children, one ex-wife, and one beloved wife who’s just passed away six months ago. It’s not that he hates his life and wants to die, He just knows that he doesn’t want to be a bother to anyone. So while he still can he plans to kill himself. So this book follows him through his day. We meet so friends and even his 1st wife. no spoilers so read the book if you want to know how it ends.
What makes a man decide to end his life? One man plans to have his end just the way that he envisages in, Millard Salter’s Last Day, by Jacob Appel. We spend the last day of Millard’s life with him, but will it go the way that he plans?
Today is Millard’s seventy-fifth birthday and he has decided that it will be his last day. He has lived a pretty full and satisfying life overall. He has four children, been married twice, and fallen in love three different times within his lifetime. He would like to end his life on a high note. As a clinical psychiatrist, he understands that he should probably seek assistance, but his age and fulfillments make him feel that he is justified in his decision.
Millard’s first marriage ended in divorce, due to his infidelity with what would become his second wife. When his second wife dies of cancer, he is lost until he finds his current love. She is wheelchair-bound, and she has spoken of suicide from the moment they met.
Millard’s last day of life in his mind is his decision. Three of his four children are where he thinks that they should be, but the other is not. He feels as though he should provide guidance and set the path before he leaves them behind.
I feel as though this novel was in the vein of Mitch Albom in that it allows for the reader to assess their own life. With this novel, the reader can attest to the thoughts and feelings that come when getting older in life. Millard’s character was kind and funny. I really enjoyed meeting him. His story was very interesting, and it felt like listening to the stories older people like to tell when they reminisce about the past. This book is worthy of FIVE stars.
The blurb for this one does a good job of summing up the premise, although some things are a bit misleading. As a psychiatrist, our main character does have an up close and personal viewpoint on the affects that aging can have on the mind and body, and like most of us, he doesn’t want to go through that or be a burden. He takes it a step further and decides to end his life before the inevitable happens.
While the book is well-written, and at times humorous, I had a hard time connecting to this character. The story also requires a bit of a suspension of belief on some of things that happened as well as the possibility that all of it happened in the span of one day. I did continue reading, mostly because I kept expecting someone or something to stop the intended suicide and I did have some curiosity about that aspect. I won’t give that part away, but I will say that with so many distracting side-stories and a character that I found less than engaging, this one was just too easy to set aside for later. I didn’t find that compelling aspect in a story that makes you want to read just one more chapter before turning out the light, making this one just an okay read for me.
Millard Salter’s Last Day is the first book by Jacob M. Appel I have read so I wasn’t sure what to expect. What I found was a humorous tale about this thing called life. This is a standalone book.
The book blurb adequately describes the storyline so I’m not going to repeat that all of that info here. The events in this book take place over a short timeline of one day. While I thought that the storyline would be predictable, I was surprised by twists and turns. This book isn’t great but is unusual enough to make it worth reading.
This is the first book I have read by this author. I received the ARC from NetGalley.com. The synopsis of the story was very interesting to me. I had high hopes for this book. I am a reader and not gifted to be writer. I appreciate all the energy and time it takes to write a novel. I am sorry to say this, after I know the author has invested so much of themselves into this book, that I really disliked this book.
I was so temped at many times to give up and not finish it, but I pushed through it. I don’t like to leave a story before it is ended, although I have been doing that in the past year, when the book I have select was just not for me.
I rated this book 3 stars, since I did enjoy parts of it. I especially loved some of the specific lines of the story. I really liked the idea of the book, I just did not care for most of it. I think all the characters were so much unlikable that I would hate a life having to deal with them. Honestly, I did not come away from this story liking Millard very much either.
Sorry to the author, this story just wasn’t for me.