One of Goodreads Top 25 Feel-Good and Escapist Books to Read in Quarantine as seen in USA Today“[A] funny, winning debut.”—People“Delightfully quirky and endearing…an absolute pleasure to read!”—#1 New York Times bestselling author Emily GiffinMeet Duffy, an old curmudgeon who lives in an assisted living home. Meet Josie, a desperate young woman who climbs through his window. Together, they’re … home.
Meet Josie, a desperate young woman who climbs through his window.
Together, they’re going to learn it’s never too late—or too early—to change your ways.
For Duffy Sinclair, life boils down to one simple thing: maintaining his residence at the idyllic Centennial Assisted Living. Without it, he’s destined for the roach-infested nursing home down the road—and after wasting the first eighty-eight years of his life, he refuses to waste away for the rest. So, he keeps his shenanigans to the bare minimum with the help of his straight-laced best friend and roommate, Carl Upton.
But when Carl’s granddaughter Josie climbs through their bedroom window with booze on her breath and a black eye, Duffy’s faced with trouble that’s sticking around and hard to hide—from Centennial’s management and Josie’s toxic boyfriend. Before he knows it, he’s running a covert operation that includes hitchhiking and barhopping.
He might as well write himself a one-way ticket to the nursing home…or the morgue. Yet Duffy’s all in. Because thanks to an unlikely friendship that becomes fast family—his life doesn’t boil down the same anymore. Not when he finally has a chance to leave a legacy.
In a funny, insightful, and life-affirming debut, Brooke Fossey delivers an unflinching look at growing old, living large, and loving big, as told by a wise-cracking man who didn’t see any of it coming.
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Delightfully quirky and endearing, this sweet story about the bond between an 88 year-old man and a troubled young woman is an absolute treat to read! If you need something fun and heartwarming to take your mind off of all the grim news out there, this book will definitely do the trick!
Duffy lives in an assisted living home and Carl is his roommate. During the years that they’ve both been residents here, they’ve become best friends (in fact, Carl is the only friend that Duffy has ever had) and know everything about each other’s lives. Or do they? Duffy finds out that there is a lot he didn’t know about Carl, when a 20ish year old woman with a black eye and the small of alcohol on her breath climbs in the window of their room and claims to be Carl’s granddaughter. Josie wants to stay in their room for a week – she says to get to know her grandfather better but Duffy knows that there is more to her story. Duffy knows that he needs to stay on his best behavior at the home because he has nowhere else to go but a nearby nursing home where people are sent to die and doesn’t have the quality of care that he is getting at Centennial. He sees no choice but to get rid of Josie but Carl wants to get to know his granddaughter better and wants her to stay in their room for a week and keep her hidden from management. Despite the fact that he thinks it’s a really bad idea, Duffy’s friendship with Carl is so strong that he agrees to let her stay. Before long, this crotchety old man who never married or had a family, starts to feel like Josie is part of his family and he strives to help her with the demons in her life no matter what the repercussions will be in his life.
This is a book about aging, love and most of all friendship; it’s about making family out of the people that you care about loving them the best you can. It’s a wonderful look at bravery and love in old age when you can help someone in your ‘family.’ Duffy is a wonderful, well rounded character who I fell in love with and really enjoyed his journey. It made me laugh and I shed a few tears, too, but I was rooting for Duffy all the way through the book.
Thanks to BookBrowse for a copy of this book to read and review. All opinions are my own.
With all the hype about this book, I was looking forward to reading it. I expected a cute, funny mystery with seniors investigating. Instead, it was 2 old men who acted out in very silly ways. I’m sure it got better but after the first couple of chapters, I wasn’t investing in the story and didn’t like the characters so I stopped reading it.
Missing the spark of similar books … just a downer … couldn’t finish.
Okay, I really wanted to like this book more. Not to mention the title makes me think something great and wonderful is about to happen, but chapter after chapter not much did. While I had high expectations, as most did, it just didn’t hit the mark. Now, I didn’t expect it to be some happy-go-lucky story, but I did expect it to be a lot more humorous based on the description. It was big-hearted and that was nice, but overall it took a while longer to read because it sort of felt like I was reading it behind Duffy and his slow-moving front wheeled walker. Ms. Fossey’s debut shows she can write, even if it wasn’t a 5 star book, and I look forward to reading her next book.
Lots of fun, a very enjoyable read.
Very sweet. Very likeable characters. A fast read.
A book of redemption and helping others when you think you don’t want to. The dialogue was witty and the ending was just fantastic. Thank you for such a delightful read.
Cute but kinda sad is the best way I would describe THE BIG FINISH.
While this had laugh-out-loud funny bits, the plot was heavily overshadowed by alcoholism. I honor anyone who has gone through the detoxing process, I just didn’t enjoy reading about it in such detail. —(The physical symptoms of shaking, puking, moods swings, feenin’ for the next drink, using others, etc.) They were spot on, bravo, but a little intense. Little glimmers of sweetness littered the story that were absolutely hilarious but this was a heavier read for me because of how realistic everything was. Alcoholism runs generations deep in my family, reading about it in books isn’t necessarily the escape I look for whilst reading. This was not a feel-good book for me, but I did end up shedding some tears at the end. The emotional punches in this book were GOOD, I just wish the focus would have been more action-based and less intensity focused on alcoholism and everything that comes along with that.
I had a hard time liking the characters in this book. I found myself liking some of the secondary characters best. One of the main characters flipped back and forth between being a secondary character and the main one, even though the tale is narrated through him, it was strange. People who have gone through the same things in life as us will always understand at a depth others will not, so I can’t complain too much, it was just strange how much it focused on this aspect. I liked the storyline more than the drawn-out details.
If this were to be featured on TV it would be shown on Hallmark, HBO, or a Netflix Special. It’s one of those books you’ll laugh, cry, and maybe even want to yell and cheer for the characters, after all, you can only get away with so much in an Assisted Living Home. One must learn to keep their humor, no matter the age.
Not my exact taste, but an alright story that I think others will enjoy. I’d check out more of this author’s works about a different topic that wasn’t so personal to me, for sure. This was a bit drawn out but I feel big potential here. PS.-This cover is great:)
Much gratitude to the publisher, Berkley (an imprint of Penguin Random House) for the paperback ARC I won via the Goodreads Giveaway Program. I was under no obligation to write a review, my honest opinion is freely given.
Five big, happy, heart-breaking, and heart-mending stars. Well done.
Great light read. Needed some humor verses nonfiction.
First, I love debut authors. Their books are original. Second, this book is billed as a light summer read. I wonder if the reviewers took the time to read it, as it is so much more. It is witty and describes the plight of aging to a tee. It also depicts generational relationships. In an assisted living center, Duffy and Carl room together. One night, Carl’s twentysomething granddaughter climbs through the window. She is beat up, shoeless and obviously in need of help. The story continues from there, but in no way how you would expect it to. Enjoy this marvelous book.
I don’t think I’ll ever forget this book.
I found that getting inside the head of an 88-year-old was strangely freeing, and his world at Centennial, the assisted living place he calls home, wasn’t as claustrophobic as I’d always imagined it to be. I also learned that one of my big life fears–that I will end up in a stage in life where I have nothing left to do other than wait for the end–is absolutely not inevitable. Duffy, our hero, and yes, he’s a hero, has a purpose that drives him, even though his body doesn’t work the way it used to, and his choices are limited by circumstance.
One of things I loved about this book was the dialogue–funny, heartbreaking, and skillful. The characters are beautifully drawn, and I think other than Duffy, who you just have to love, it’s Josie, the young woman who crawls through the bedroom window, who’s my real favorite. She’s believable and likeable, but more importantly she’s the perfect instrument to put Duffy under pressure, and he needs that to spur him into both external action and internal growth.
I’ll put it this way: I totally want to spend Christmas eve at Centennial with Duffy and Carl and all these lovely people, playing bingo and eating pudding,and I kinda didn’t expect to have that reaction. I recommend this book to anyone who loves well-written character-driven stories, but especially to anyone who might be dealing with loved ones who are going through those inevitable changes that will one day come to all of us.
I had high hopes for this book, and every one of them was met. Fossey has the unique ability to combine a mastery of craft with plenty of heart and the result is a truly beautiful story. The characters ring true and I will miss them now that I’ve reached the end. But I have no doubt I’ll read this story again. I highly recommend The Big Finish and look forward to more from Brooke Fossey.
Brooke Fossey, Author of “The Big Finish” has written an emotional, memorable, witty, and captivating novel. The Genres for this Novel are Fiction and Women’s Fiction. The timeline for this story takes place in the present. Most of the story takes place in an Assisted Residence called Centennial Assisted Living. The author describes her colorful cast of characters as quirky, stubborn, quarrelsome, complex and complicated.
Duffy Sinclair and his roommate Carl Upton who reside in Centennial Assisted Living, often tease the nurse and staff with their shenanigans. The patients realize if they overstep certain rules, they will be moved out and head to the dreaded nursing home. After all, the seniors should know better.
Unexpectedly Carl’s granddaughter Josie climbs in their window, and everything predictable becomes questionable. Josie has many problems, and Duffy finds himself quite involved.
I appreciate that the author discusses important issues such as alcoholism, bullying, the problems of getting older, self-respect and self-worth. I also like that the author mentions the similarities and differences of youth and being older, the importance of family, friends, and love. I would highly recommend this heartwarming book.
What is your reason for ending up in assisted living? Duffy Sinclair has many, as do his other co-residents and all are scared of the next step, nursing home or Death. Duffy is as cranky as a constipated alligator on a bed of cactus. No shaming responses and his glib comebacks are surface facets of his life story. Duffy always failed to find his target of happiness. Now in is very old age he and roommate Carl are like a pair of old maid sisters; each pumping the other to do more, or preventing each of them from making the horrible mistakes evicting them from Centennial Assisted Living: falling more than once, incontinence, dementia, no financial support. Routine days of apathy and bewilderment of the residential routine claw at Duffy day and night. Whatever happened to adventure? Adventure crawled in their window one night in the form of a young woman, drunk, and nowhere to go. As soon as Duffy hears her say the magic words “PeePaw” as she sees Carl begins a race of time, releasing hidden truths casually put in the background exploding into daylight. Duffy, and his group :Carl his roommate, Alice the sweet woman who is faithful to her dead husband, Mrs. Zimmerman the confused soul and roommate to Alice, Anderson, the cook and unpaid friend to all, Nora the medicine nurse, and finally the evil Sharon, administrator and evictor of residents who “don’t meet the requirements”! I loved this book even though it was slightly slow the first chapter or two. Assisted living is in Duffy’s view “failure and nowhere to go before I die” and he desperately needs to succeed. The twisted mix-ups, lies, self-delusions, and misunderstandings, flood this story with an appeal to our hearts and minds of a world many of us may yet see. The characters are beautifully written with flesh and emotions that play off each other. Duffy has a challenge but will he make it?