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Reflection: The Paul Mann Story
When you’re old, tired, and alone, will you reflect on your life?
Well, one-hundred-and-four-year-old Paul Mann is. After not seeing his grandson, Marlin, for nearly five years, he reads to him from his journals. Paul relives his best moments with his late wife, Janet. He also relives the horrors he saw in the second world war, and from his crazy, murderer of a step-father.
Will you let Paul Mann read to you?
186 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 15, 2019
1 person want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 25, 2019
I received a free copy of this story from the author.
I had a hard time with this story, getting into it that is. I read a few chapters and thought I was going to stop (for good), but then decided to continue. I can help but notice mistakes, they scream out to me, so it's not possible for me to simply overlook them. On that note, I hate leaving poor reviews, especially if there aren’t many reviews listed. That’s why I gave it another go; I just finished it, and overall, it was one of those stories that cause you (at least me) to feel a lot of different emotions. Interest between Marlin’s and Paul’s relationship; hate towards Janet, Nurse Smith, and Nurse Roberson; sadness for Paul at the end, just to name a few.
While I loved the idea of a grandson connecting with his grandfather based on journal entries, I think the “coming together” phase needs some help.
I am not a fan of the stilted or unnatural dialogue. For example, “We are going to run out to get a bite to eat and then we will come back...” Don’t be afraid to use contractions.
There isn’t much in regard to descriptions. What do these characters look like? The nursing home Paul is in? What about his room? The journals? I was waiting for Paul’s first journal to be described, but the author only stated its color. There was nothing about it barely holding together, lots of creases or pen smudges/pencil fading. Nothing.
The little side story about Ester was questionable. If her family wanted to kill her (not give her food and drink), why would they have put her in a nursing home? Is her family there 24/7 so they can deny her substance? Doubtful. Even if she’d been unable to swallow, the nursing home would have fit her with a feeding tube. Everyone supposedly knows what her family is doing, yet no one is doing anything about it. Very strange. And then Ester dies right after the nurses are outside Paul’s room talking about her again. To top it off, Ester’s daughter admits to murder to Paul, and magically, Paul has a recorder.
The writing definitely needs some work. For example, “Mike decided not to tell his son of the adventures that his grandfather had gotten into the night before, figuring it might be better not to tell him.” Redundancy at its best. This sentence should have ended after "before."
Questions/Comments:
Paul’s first journal entry has him starting off with his age. Now unless he just had his one hundred and fourth birthday that morning, is his age something he writes about in every journal entry? Probably not. Yet the entry sounds like he just turned one hundred and four.
Paul ends up asking the nurse to move him by the window, when the nurse comes by three hours later, she asks him about lunch. He tells her to “take me to my room to eat.” Isn’t he already in his room?
There are several times when it’s stated that Paul has a sharp mind, yet he drools without asking for something to wipe it with, he wakes up not recognizing people, and whenever he asks for a new cup of coffee, he asks for another soda for Marlin…who happens to have finished the previous soda already. Maybe he’s giving all the sodas as a treat? I don’t know. Maybe it’s just me.
What ten-year-old child would say: “I am truly eager to know about your life”? Or “What seems to be the problem” when a bully is yelling at him? Or “Grandpa was indeed outside.” I mean really.
The first entry that Paul reads to his grandson talks about him getting beaten by his step-dad.
Marlin doesn’t say anything about that. Yet he notices something wrong when Paul begins reading the second entry? Anyways, he moves on to reading the second entry from three years later. There’s no way this is the same journal, yet there is no mention of him asking Marlin to get him a different one.
Paul tells his grandson that his mother was a drunk and step-father beat him, then his step-father killed his mother and then himself (technically), then he went to live with his grandparents who ended up dying in a house fire. Obviously, the man is old, but he’s reading to a little kid, is he purposely looking for only depressing entries to read to him?
Marlin’s reactions (or lack thereof) came across as very strange to me, for example:
1. He fist bumps when his grandfather tells him that he’ll read some of his entries to him. When is it an appropriate time to fist bump? I have no clue, but I wasn’t feeling it with this scene.
2. He hears that his grandfather’s step-father used to beat him. Marlin didn’t react.
3. He bursts out in excitement when his grandfather tells him he went to college. What child would be all excited about that?
4. After getting another soda, Marlin tells Paul he’s a funny man. No explanation to that given nothing funny had taken place.
5. He gets emotional reading about his grandfather’s love for Carol. Um…did I mention this is a little boy?
Prior to telling Marlin about having gone to college, Paul rings his call button, but no one ever responds.
Why did the two nurses run to Paul’s bathroom to chat? Why wouldn’t they have just whispered (albeit loudly as they seem to do) in the hall?
Why when Paul is given a new cup of coffee is it always referred to as being fresh? Are the nurses actually making new pots of coffee just for him? Even if he was the only one to drink his specific coffee, to make a new pot each time would be a total waste.
The coffee-crap cat. In the story, it’s described as a mighty feline. That’s incorrect. They’re small furry creatures (Civets), nothing to be scared of. I’d say someone didn’t do their research, but after looking for the name of the creature, I realized the definition of this type of coffee is the exact same as what I found after a simple search. It’s funny because as soon as Paul stated he’d discovered coffee after seeing a plant with beans on it, I automatically knew where the author was going with it. It’s strange though that the natives wouldn’t have known about the cat creatures that ate the beans before Paul…
Ester’s daughter runs directly at Paul whose sitting in the doorway. Somehow, you’d imagine (or at least I would) that he would fall back out of the wheelchair, but no, he falls forward and the tape goes flying under Ester’s dresser.
Nurse Roberson threatens Paul and the other nurse doesn’t believe him when he confesses to her. Yet, he was the one who turned Ester’s mother in when everyone else just stood around. Why wouldn’t she believe him? Why would he make it up? There’d be no reason not to believe him.
Marlin’s mother “claps with joy” when he tells her he has homework? Even if you love school, her response seemed a bit strange.
Paul has been sedated but wakes up. Nurse Matthews in standing in front of his door. She cracks it open. Suddenly it flies back toward her face. How? Her hand would have, more than likely, been on the door handle still, even if it wasn’t, how would she not have seen Nurse Smith standing there?
Paul tells Nurse Smith that she can kill him if he can see his grandson one more time. Why didn’t she just call to see if Marlin could come, then kill him? I guess I don’t understand why she hates Paul so much. He can be an ass, but I can’t imagine, given her position, he’s the first one she’s had to deal with.
Why does Paul need to be feed when he can still write?
On a side note, it came to my attention that Paul referred to Marlin as the following: My little man, little one, lad, Marlin, boy, and my grandson.
I had a hard time with this story, getting into it that is. I read a few chapters and thought I was going to stop (for good), but then decided to continue. I can help but notice mistakes, they scream out to me, so it's not possible for me to simply overlook them. On that note, I hate leaving poor reviews, especially if there aren’t many reviews listed. That’s why I gave it another go; I just finished it, and overall, it was one of those stories that cause you (at least me) to feel a lot of different emotions. Interest between Marlin’s and Paul’s relationship; hate towards Janet, Nurse Smith, and Nurse Roberson; sadness for Paul at the end, just to name a few.
While I loved the idea of a grandson connecting with his grandfather based on journal entries, I think the “coming together” phase needs some help.
I am not a fan of the stilted or unnatural dialogue. For example, “We are going to run out to get a bite to eat and then we will come back...” Don’t be afraid to use contractions.
There isn’t much in regard to descriptions. What do these characters look like? The nursing home Paul is in? What about his room? The journals? I was waiting for Paul’s first journal to be described, but the author only stated its color. There was nothing about it barely holding together, lots of creases or pen smudges/pencil fading. Nothing.
The little side story about Ester was questionable. If her family wanted to kill her (not give her food and drink), why would they have put her in a nursing home? Is her family there 24/7 so they can deny her substance? Doubtful. Even if she’d been unable to swallow, the nursing home would have fit her with a feeding tube. Everyone supposedly knows what her family is doing, yet no one is doing anything about it. Very strange. And then Ester dies right after the nurses are outside Paul’s room talking about her again. To top it off, Ester’s daughter admits to murder to Paul, and magically, Paul has a recorder.
The writing definitely needs some work. For example, “Mike decided not to tell his son of the adventures that his grandfather had gotten into the night before, figuring it might be better not to tell him.” Redundancy at its best. This sentence should have ended after "before."
Questions/Comments:
Paul’s first journal entry has him starting off with his age. Now unless he just had his one hundred and fourth birthday that morning, is his age something he writes about in every journal entry? Probably not. Yet the entry sounds like he just turned one hundred and four.
Paul ends up asking the nurse to move him by the window, when the nurse comes by three hours later, she asks him about lunch. He tells her to “take me to my room to eat.” Isn’t he already in his room?
There are several times when it’s stated that Paul has a sharp mind, yet he drools without asking for something to wipe it with, he wakes up not recognizing people, and whenever he asks for a new cup of coffee, he asks for another soda for Marlin…who happens to have finished the previous soda already. Maybe he’s giving all the sodas as a treat? I don’t know. Maybe it’s just me.
What ten-year-old child would say: “I am truly eager to know about your life”? Or “What seems to be the problem” when a bully is yelling at him? Or “Grandpa was indeed outside.” I mean really.
The first entry that Paul reads to his grandson talks about him getting beaten by his step-dad.
Marlin doesn’t say anything about that. Yet he notices something wrong when Paul begins reading the second entry? Anyways, he moves on to reading the second entry from three years later. There’s no way this is the same journal, yet there is no mention of him asking Marlin to get him a different one.
Paul tells his grandson that his mother was a drunk and step-father beat him, then his step-father killed his mother and then himself (technically), then he went to live with his grandparents who ended up dying in a house fire. Obviously, the man is old, but he’s reading to a little kid, is he purposely looking for only depressing entries to read to him?
Marlin’s reactions (or lack thereof) came across as very strange to me, for example:
1. He fist bumps when his grandfather tells him that he’ll read some of his entries to him. When is it an appropriate time to fist bump? I have no clue, but I wasn’t feeling it with this scene.
2. He hears that his grandfather’s step-father used to beat him. Marlin didn’t react.
3. He bursts out in excitement when his grandfather tells him he went to college. What child would be all excited about that?
4. After getting another soda, Marlin tells Paul he’s a funny man. No explanation to that given nothing funny had taken place.
5. He gets emotional reading about his grandfather’s love for Carol. Um…did I mention this is a little boy?
Prior to telling Marlin about having gone to college, Paul rings his call button, but no one ever responds.
Why did the two nurses run to Paul’s bathroom to chat? Why wouldn’t they have just whispered (albeit loudly as they seem to do) in the hall?
Why when Paul is given a new cup of coffee is it always referred to as being fresh? Are the nurses actually making new pots of coffee just for him? Even if he was the only one to drink his specific coffee, to make a new pot each time would be a total waste.
The coffee-crap cat. In the story, it’s described as a mighty feline. That’s incorrect. They’re small furry creatures (Civets), nothing to be scared of. I’d say someone didn’t do their research, but after looking for the name of the creature, I realized the definition of this type of coffee is the exact same as what I found after a simple search. It’s funny because as soon as Paul stated he’d discovered coffee after seeing a plant with beans on it, I automatically knew where the author was going with it. It’s strange though that the natives wouldn’t have known about the cat creatures that ate the beans before Paul…
Ester’s daughter runs directly at Paul whose sitting in the doorway. Somehow, you’d imagine (or at least I would) that he would fall back out of the wheelchair, but no, he falls forward and the tape goes flying under Ester’s dresser.
Nurse Roberson threatens Paul and the other nurse doesn’t believe him when he confesses to her. Yet, he was the one who turned Ester’s mother in when everyone else just stood around. Why wouldn’t she believe him? Why would he make it up? There’d be no reason not to believe him.
Marlin’s mother “claps with joy” when he tells her he has homework? Even if you love school, her response seemed a bit strange.
Paul has been sedated but wakes up. Nurse Matthews in standing in front of his door. She cracks it open. Suddenly it flies back toward her face. How? Her hand would have, more than likely, been on the door handle still, even if it wasn’t, how would she not have seen Nurse Smith standing there?
Paul tells Nurse Smith that she can kill him if he can see his grandson one more time. Why didn’t she just call to see if Marlin could come, then kill him? I guess I don’t understand why she hates Paul so much. He can be an ass, but I can’t imagine, given her position, he’s the first one she’s had to deal with.
Why does Paul need to be feed when he can still write?
On a side note, it came to my attention that Paul referred to Marlin as the following: My little man, little one, lad, Marlin, boy, and my grandson.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 12, 2019
Paul Mann is 104 years old and living in a nursing home. On the surface, he's an ordinary old curmudgeon, cursing at the nursing staff, drinking what he calls "cat poop" coffee, refusing to participate in normal nursing home activities. However, Paul's journals reveal that he's a part of history, despite a terrible childhood. He served in World War II, and his chemical engineering education provided the perfect background for the military to send him to Oak Ridge, Tennessee (a town that was so secret that it didn't even exist, according to the post office) to work on the Manhattan Project to develop the first atomic bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, ending World War II.
His family life, however, is in turmoil. He doesn't get along wth his son or daughter-in-law. He rarely communicates with son, Michael, but one day, Michael shows up at the nursing home with his grandson, Marlin. Marlin extracts the curmudgeon right out of Paul, and they hit it off right away. Paul begins to show Marlin his journals--and there are countless volumes--to reveal his life.
Paul begins to encounter difficulties at the nursing home that involve not only the staff but also Marlin.
As someone who worked in health care for 40 years, and specifically in long-term care for 15 of those years, I believe the author captured the life of nursing home residents fairly well. The concept of the "evil nurse aide," however, bothered me, even though it adds to the plot tension. If it stopped there and hadn't been followed by the "evil nurse," I would have bought it. What I did buy was the miscommunication between family members that took place that ultimately led to major difficulties for Paul (I'm being elusive so as not to give away the plot).
This book is well-written, has a thoughtful, moving plot, and uses historical facts well. The story is plausible and moves along well. The author handles the tensions between father and son in a believable way. If there were a way to give it 4.5 stars, I would. I am interested in reading more from this author.
His family life, however, is in turmoil. He doesn't get along wth his son or daughter-in-law. He rarely communicates with son, Michael, but one day, Michael shows up at the nursing home with his grandson, Marlin. Marlin extracts the curmudgeon right out of Paul, and they hit it off right away. Paul begins to show Marlin his journals--and there are countless volumes--to reveal his life.
Paul begins to encounter difficulties at the nursing home that involve not only the staff but also Marlin.
As someone who worked in health care for 40 years, and specifically in long-term care for 15 of those years, I believe the author captured the life of nursing home residents fairly well. The concept of the "evil nurse aide," however, bothered me, even though it adds to the plot tension. If it stopped there and hadn't been followed by the "evil nurse," I would have bought it. What I did buy was the miscommunication between family members that took place that ultimately led to major difficulties for Paul (I'm being elusive so as not to give away the plot).
This book is well-written, has a thoughtful, moving plot, and uses historical facts well. The story is plausible and moves along well. The author handles the tensions between father and son in a believable way. If there were a way to give it 4.5 stars, I would. I am interested in reading more from this author.
August 8, 2019
I absolutely loved this story! My mother spent over 7 years in a nursing home, though she wanted to stay at home, she absolutely needed round the clock care. At 3000 miles away, I could not see her often enough. It was heartbreaking for all of us. I felt that she got adequate care but there are not enough workers to care for all of the elderly. This book definitely brought back memories. This author did a fabulous job!
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
February 21, 2020
He starts looking back at his last as he is 104 and not seen his grandson for five years. Follow what happened in his life and now he coped with everything he had to cope with
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews