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Smythe's Theory of Everything
In 2004 the author found a little diary of 386 pages written by a 62-year-old man in a nursing home. This story is inspired by that diary.
E=mc2? Jack Smythe thinks Einstein is wrong and he has a theory to prove it. But he's no physicist. Instead, he's been a homeless kid, a palmreader, a cosmetic theorist, a father of two (who probably aren't his) and a devoted companion to his sister Kitty who has her own demons. But now at 62, he wakes after an operation to find he's been placed at Eden, a below-average nursing home.
Here he is confronted by Nurse Stinson, Collier the Hun, Pistol Pete, Skeleton Joe, Dooley the publican, Jim the ex-politician and Jim's rebel granddaughter, among others. He wants nothing to do with any of them.
Instead, with wry wit Jack begins a story about Kitty starting with the day they ran away from home for good. It seems Jack is always running away and untimately there's a daring escape at Eden. But unknown to Jack, it's the 'muddle of geriatrics' at Eden that eventually put meaning in his life.
E=mc2? Jack Smythe thinks Einstein is wrong and he has a theory to prove it. But he's no physicist. Instead, he's been a homeless kid, a palmreader, a cosmetic theorist, a father of two (who probably aren't his) and a devoted companion to his sister Kitty who has her own demons. But now at 62, he wakes after an operation to find he's been placed at Eden, a below-average nursing home.
Here he is confronted by Nurse Stinson, Collier the Hun, Pistol Pete, Skeleton Joe, Dooley the publican, Jim the ex-politician and Jim's rebel granddaughter, among others. He wants nothing to do with any of them.
Instead, with wry wit Jack begins a story about Kitty starting with the day they ran away from home for good. It seems Jack is always running away and untimately there's a daring escape at Eden. But unknown to Jack, it's the 'muddle of geriatrics' at Eden that eventually put meaning in his life.
378 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 31, 2011
8 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
March 21, 2012
I thought this book was too ambitious for itself and never really achieved what the author aspired to do. If this book is meant to evoke a philosophical debate about the meaning of life it falls very short. Set in Australia across the life of character Jack Smythe finishing with his life and dissatisfaction of being in a nursing home it showed great potential in parts but for me never really got there. There were characters I wanted to know more about. Some interesting insights into life in the nursing home.... Not really a book I would recommend
October 25, 2011
This is the author's third book. The voice draws you in from the start - an eccentric character trapped in a nursing home. Sounds dull? It is NOT. He tells about his life growing up with his sister, but it is the people he meets at the nursing home that really hook you in. Fantastic!
guest-or-crosspost-review-anzllblog
September 25, 2012I didn't have time to read this one myself, so there's a guest review by Karen Lee Thompson on my blog, see http://wp.me/phTIP-3B7
April 18, 2013
Came across this by chance. If you can find a copy, it is well worth it. You will laugh - and cry. Very good!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews