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Last Call
A candid and fearless exploration of love and intimacy among elders from the bestselling author of the iconic novel turned box-office hit "The War of the Roses" Eighty-three-year-old Harvey Franklin never thought he would find love again after losing his wife of more than fifty years. Spending his days walking his beloved poodle in Central Park, he has gotten used to the idea of being alone. Everything changes the morning he meets eighty-year-old Sarah Silverman. Romance blooms between the two and they quickly become entangled in a passionate love affair. When Sarah reveals her husband's battle with dementia, things become complicated...
212 pages, Paperback
Published September 19, 2018
17 people are currently reading
29 people want to read
About the author
Warren Adler
79 books113 followersWarren Adler was an American author, playwright and poet. His novel The War of the Roses was turned into a dark comedy starring Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner and Danny DeVito.
Adler was an essayist, short-story writer, poet and playwright, whose works have been translated into 25 languages.
Adler was an essayist, short-story writer, poet and playwright, whose works have been translated into 25 languages.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
September 28, 2018
Last Call by Warren Adler tells the story of two 80-something people who meet and discover falling in love has no expiration date. When Harvey Franklin and Sarah Silverman meet in a Central Park dog park they immediately bond over their shared love of standard poodles. What neither expects is that bond to lead them on to a passionate love affair. In this case true opposites attract.
Harvey is everything Sarah has fought against her entire life, a white rich republican from the east side. Sarah is a proud Jewish liberal attorney from the west side who blames Harvey's type for all the world's woes and believes antisemitism is embedded in the DNA of every "WASP." As the two become attracted to each other Sarah fights the attraction with every stereotype she can think of.
Harvey's been a widower for years and as the reader becomes acquainted with his thoughts it becomes clear his 50 year marriage was more of a friendly arrangement without passion. Harvey's wife was the driving force behind their social life and was an unaccepting woman of privilege who learned to bite her tongue after being chastised by Harvey for her outspoken slurs. Harvey tolerated his life because of his driving ambition to be the best advertising executive he could be and his success was enough.
Sarah is still in a 50 year marriage but her husband has Alzheimer's and his health is quickly declining. After his diagnosis she promised him she would never place him in a long term care institution but would let him live out the rest of his life at home. As his disease progressed she hired a homecare nurse but the demands on her become more than she ever expected. She becomes conflicted about her relationship with Harvey because she feels her husband saved her life but can't sacrifice her blossoming relationship because she loves Harvey and he helps her to escape the horror of watching her husband slowly dying in front of her.
As these characters embark on a passionate love affair they find that love can stun you at any age. They traverse the minefield of being polar opposites in just about every category imaginable but discover with age comes wisdom, acceptance and the ability to forgive what they once thought was unforgivable.
This is a beautiful story of a late in life love that hits two people out of the blue. It shows it is never too late to find what you need to take your life from a hum drum existence to one of excitement and happiness. The reader is allowed access to the characters inner thoughts and self examination of a lifetime of beliefs. In the end it's clear that all the prejudices, beliefs and convictions we think matter really mean nothing in the end. What is important is love, companionship and happiness.
I recommend this book because the clear message of loving acceptance is so very needed in today's environment of political, ethnic and social discord. It makes you ask yourself what difference will all of these societal fractures make when you are close to the end of your life. For me it really was a microcosm of today's fanatical beliefs dividing our nation. If two people who are such polar opposites can find a deep abiding love and acceptance then maybe our division's can be healed one relationship at a time. Harvey and Sarah are two bright interesting likable people facing the end of life but are determined to go out kicking, screaming but most importantly side by side and in love with each other.
I received a free copy of this book and voluntarily reviewed it
Harvey is everything Sarah has fought against her entire life, a white rich republican from the east side. Sarah is a proud Jewish liberal attorney from the west side who blames Harvey's type for all the world's woes and believes antisemitism is embedded in the DNA of every "WASP." As the two become attracted to each other Sarah fights the attraction with every stereotype she can think of.
Harvey's been a widower for years and as the reader becomes acquainted with his thoughts it becomes clear his 50 year marriage was more of a friendly arrangement without passion. Harvey's wife was the driving force behind their social life and was an unaccepting woman of privilege who learned to bite her tongue after being chastised by Harvey for her outspoken slurs. Harvey tolerated his life because of his driving ambition to be the best advertising executive he could be and his success was enough.
Sarah is still in a 50 year marriage but her husband has Alzheimer's and his health is quickly declining. After his diagnosis she promised him she would never place him in a long term care institution but would let him live out the rest of his life at home. As his disease progressed she hired a homecare nurse but the demands on her become more than she ever expected. She becomes conflicted about her relationship with Harvey because she feels her husband saved her life but can't sacrifice her blossoming relationship because she loves Harvey and he helps her to escape the horror of watching her husband slowly dying in front of her.
As these characters embark on a passionate love affair they find that love can stun you at any age. They traverse the minefield of being polar opposites in just about every category imaginable but discover with age comes wisdom, acceptance and the ability to forgive what they once thought was unforgivable.
This is a beautiful story of a late in life love that hits two people out of the blue. It shows it is never too late to find what you need to take your life from a hum drum existence to one of excitement and happiness. The reader is allowed access to the characters inner thoughts and self examination of a lifetime of beliefs. In the end it's clear that all the prejudices, beliefs and convictions we think matter really mean nothing in the end. What is important is love, companionship and happiness.
I recommend this book because the clear message of loving acceptance is so very needed in today's environment of political, ethnic and social discord. It makes you ask yourself what difference will all of these societal fractures make when you are close to the end of your life. For me it really was a microcosm of today's fanatical beliefs dividing our nation. If two people who are such polar opposites can find a deep abiding love and acceptance then maybe our division's can be healed one relationship at a time. Harvey and Sarah are two bright interesting likable people facing the end of life but are determined to go out kicking, screaming but most importantly side by side and in love with each other.
I received a free copy of this book and voluntarily reviewed it
October 9, 2018
“Last Call” is creative tale about two octogenarians who discover that even if there is snow on the roof there is still fire in the chimney…falling in love has no end date. Indeed love is love at any age.
The story features Harvey Franklin and Sarah Silverman two people with different background and views who met in a central Park dog park and immediately bonded over their love for poodles. But life became complicated as their meeting moved on. Harvey a long time widow had come to term with the loss of his wife but Sarah`s husband of 50 years has Alzheimer and she made him a promise to be at his side till his last breath and never place him in a long care institution.
You can imagine how conflicted Sarah became about her relationship with Harvey and how Harvey reacted wanting to help her. This beautiful story of late love and passionate love affair of two polar opposites has triggered a multitude of emotions at time I smiled and other time tears ran down my cheeks and other I just shook my head. This is a well-written story with a clear message of acceptance very needed today. It is also uplifting to see at this stage of life love can be found even if there are no smooth roads to obtain it. Mr. Adler has as usual vividly painted every move, provides funny and terribly sad sequences and given us a very captivating story so realistic it hard to believe this is a simple story.
Thank you Mr. Adler for the wonderful and smooth narrative that helped visualized and feel every move Sarah and Harvey experienced…With a last comment I would suggest getting a dog if you are lonely and want to meet someone……awe…:)
The story features Harvey Franklin and Sarah Silverman two people with different background and views who met in a central Park dog park and immediately bonded over their love for poodles. But life became complicated as their meeting moved on. Harvey a long time widow had come to term with the loss of his wife but Sarah`s husband of 50 years has Alzheimer and she made him a promise to be at his side till his last breath and never place him in a long care institution.
You can imagine how conflicted Sarah became about her relationship with Harvey and how Harvey reacted wanting to help her. This beautiful story of late love and passionate love affair of two polar opposites has triggered a multitude of emotions at time I smiled and other time tears ran down my cheeks and other I just shook my head. This is a well-written story with a clear message of acceptance very needed today. It is also uplifting to see at this stage of life love can be found even if there are no smooth roads to obtain it. Mr. Adler has as usual vividly painted every move, provides funny and terribly sad sequences and given us a very captivating story so realistic it hard to believe this is a simple story.
Thank you Mr. Adler for the wonderful and smooth narrative that helped visualized and feel every move Sarah and Harvey experienced…With a last comment I would suggest getting a dog if you are lonely and want to meet someone……awe…:)
March 18, 2023
Here's the thing, I so badly wanted to love this book. It's about an elderly widower who meets an equally elderly woman and they embark on a romance, only for him to discover that her husband is alive and suffering from Alzheimer's. That sounds so wonderful and complex. It also deals a lot with antisemitism, as the woman is Jewish and Harvey is antisemitic, although he spends the whole book convinced he's not. He's just surrounded himself with antisemites. In fact, as proof that he's not antisemitic, he actually told his former wife to keep her antisemitic rants in private. But the antisemitism is the point, so that's not really a point against the book.
But the thing is, it doesn't actually deal with the antisemitism well. Sarah is concerned because she doesn't trust non Jews not to be antisemitic. Harvey says they're both old and nothing matters anymore- he doesn't mind she's Jewish. So noble of him. He occasionally says offensive things and Sarah gets upset, but he's always so sorry to have offended her and decides he must walk on eggshells. He never actually confronts his own antisemitism.
Only. He gets mad at Sarah at one point. He goes through a very emotional situation and wants her with him for emotional support. So he calls her repeatedly for about 12 hours and she doesn't pick up. He gets mad about this. And I don't want to write out exactly what he said, but it was really awful. Very antisemitic and sexist, included a number of slurs and "you people are all alike." There's no coming back from that. Like at that point, I do not care about this dude and I do not want them to be together because Sarah deserved so much better. That's just abusive. Full stop.
Harvey obviously feels bad about it and calls to apologize. He says he doesn't know where it came from (ignoring the entire book's worth of his antisemitism, I suppose). And then after a while, he decides that the price he's paying (her leaving him) far outweighs his crime (antisemitic and sexist slurs). I hated the ending. It felt like it excused away a lot of his antisemitism and sexism- I don't know where it came from, how was I supposed to know you were in the hospital that night and had forgotten your phone, I'm not antisemitic, how could I be when I love you. And all of those statements were taken at face value.
Apart from that, I didn't enjoy anything in this. I didn't connect with the writing style. It felt so dry and like it spent too much time explaining everything. I was rarely in the moment with the characters. It needed to be edited a lot more as well. There were a few occasions I noticed back to back lines that looked like a slight rephrasing, like he'd written in two to see which he liked best and then forgot to delete one. And there were a few times that actions in a scene didn't make sense- like when a character is standing during a conversation and then two sentences later it'll say she stood up. And Sarah giggled constantly. Like I swear I counted about 11 times across three pages once. She didn't stop giggling. It was so annoying.
It was also super instalove-y. Nothing about their romance is built. They run into each other a couple of times at a dog park and then are immediately in love. Unless I'm mistaken, it only took three meetings for them to declare their love. It felt so shallow and emotionless. I didn't care about the relationship, apart from desperately wanting Sarah to find someone better.
Nothing about the Alzheimer's husband was really discussed. I didn't feel Harvey's pain in that situation at all. He treated it more like an inconvenience getting in the way of his relationship. He didn't really seem like he cared that Sarah was suffering. Just that he really wanted Sarah to spend more time with him, and this dying husband was taking that away from him.
This was gross. Probably would have given it two stars if Harvey had died sad and alone.
But the thing is, it doesn't actually deal with the antisemitism well. Sarah is concerned because she doesn't trust non Jews not to be antisemitic. Harvey says they're both old and nothing matters anymore- he doesn't mind she's Jewish. So noble of him. He occasionally says offensive things and Sarah gets upset, but he's always so sorry to have offended her and decides he must walk on eggshells. He never actually confronts his own antisemitism.
Only. He gets mad at Sarah at one point. He goes through a very emotional situation and wants her with him for emotional support. So he calls her repeatedly for about 12 hours and she doesn't pick up. He gets mad about this. And I don't want to write out exactly what he said, but it was really awful. Very antisemitic and sexist, included a number of slurs and "you people are all alike." There's no coming back from that. Like at that point, I do not care about this dude and I do not want them to be together because Sarah deserved so much better. That's just abusive. Full stop.
Harvey obviously feels bad about it and calls to apologize. He says he doesn't know where it came from (ignoring the entire book's worth of his antisemitism, I suppose). And then after a while, he decides that the price he's paying (her leaving him) far outweighs his crime (antisemitic and sexist slurs). I hated the ending. It felt like it excused away a lot of his antisemitism and sexism- I don't know where it came from, how was I supposed to know you were in the hospital that night and had forgotten your phone, I'm not antisemitic, how could I be when I love you. And all of those statements were taken at face value.
Apart from that, I didn't enjoy anything in this. I didn't connect with the writing style. It felt so dry and like it spent too much time explaining everything. I was rarely in the moment with the characters. It needed to be edited a lot more as well. There were a few occasions I noticed back to back lines that looked like a slight rephrasing, like he'd written in two to see which he liked best and then forgot to delete one. And there were a few times that actions in a scene didn't make sense- like when a character is standing during a conversation and then two sentences later it'll say she stood up. And Sarah giggled constantly. Like I swear I counted about 11 times across three pages once. She didn't stop giggling. It was so annoying.
It was also super instalove-y. Nothing about their romance is built. They run into each other a couple of times at a dog park and then are immediately in love. Unless I'm mistaken, it only took three meetings for them to declare their love. It felt so shallow and emotionless. I didn't care about the relationship, apart from desperately wanting Sarah to find someone better.
Nothing about the Alzheimer's husband was really discussed. I didn't feel Harvey's pain in that situation at all. He treated it more like an inconvenience getting in the way of his relationship. He didn't really seem like he cared that Sarah was suffering. Just that he really wanted Sarah to spend more time with him, and this dying husband was taking that away from him.
This was gross. Probably would have given it two stars if Harvey had died sad and alone.
December 27, 2018
Great, Heartfelt Story! Great Audible Listen🎧 4.5 Lovely Stars! 🌟🌟 🌟🌟🌟
Last Call
By: Warren Adler
Narrated by: Robin Siegerman
A great and well written story of two aging New Yorkers with different views and beliefs who develop a special bond, a blooming relationship, friends to lovers. A story of friendship, love and acceptance. Warren Adler is detail orientated & creates realistic characters, dialogue and storylines. I could vision Harvey and Sarah meeting in Central Park and having those conversations. The challenges of senior living was covered nicely including Alzheimer’s, dealing with caregiving and the friends who have left you in life. Thank you for this lovely story, I laughed and I cried.
I listened to the Audible edition, Robin Siegerman does a wonderful job narrating. She performs the voices of all the characters, switches vocals effortlessly and tells the story in a perfect flow with the right amount of dramatic flair. Great job on the NY accent too! Thank you for a great listen!
Last Call
By: Warren Adler
Narrated by: Robin Siegerman
A great and well written story of two aging New Yorkers with different views and beliefs who develop a special bond, a blooming relationship, friends to lovers. A story of friendship, love and acceptance. Warren Adler is detail orientated & creates realistic characters, dialogue and storylines. I could vision Harvey and Sarah meeting in Central Park and having those conversations. The challenges of senior living was covered nicely including Alzheimer’s, dealing with caregiving and the friends who have left you in life. Thank you for this lovely story, I laughed and I cried.
I listened to the Audible edition, Robin Siegerman does a wonderful job narrating. She performs the voices of all the characters, switches vocals effortlessly and tells the story in a perfect flow with the right amount of dramatic flair. Great job on the NY accent too! Thank you for a great listen!
February 27, 2020
Wow! What a powerful, captivating story by Warren Adler, the master wordsmith. His use of excellent, precise word choices perfectly describe the thoughts of the meeting elderly couple in the NY dog park and all the nuances of their thoughts. Love and complications arise, and Adler fearlessly paints the picture of the characters thinking.
From the description of the novel and its theme, I felt I might not be able to read and finish this story, but Adler ensnared me and I could not put this book down. I even carried it to work with me. I recommend Last Call. In addition to the lovely story,this novel will enlighten your ideas about elderly people as well as increase your understanding associated with folks stricken with dementia. The dogs in Adler's work, of course, are a pleasure.
From the description of the novel and its theme, I felt I might not be able to read and finish this story, but Adler ensnared me and I could not put this book down. I even carried it to work with me. I recommend Last Call. In addition to the lovely story,this novel will enlighten your ideas about elderly people as well as increase your understanding associated with folks stricken with dementia. The dogs in Adler's work, of course, are a pleasure.
December 31, 2018
Life isn't over until it's over...
I was given this free copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review and let me say I truly enjoyed it. How often do we think about the love lives of octogenarians? Do we even consider that people of that age have love lives?
This book which was beautifully narrated tells the story of two people with different beliefs and views falling in love at what many consider the twilight of their lives. It is both heartbreaking and uplifting to walk along with the characters of this book.
I was given this free copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review and let me say I truly enjoyed it. How often do we think about the love lives of octogenarians? Do we even consider that people of that age have love lives?
This book which was beautifully narrated tells the story of two people with different beliefs and views falling in love at what many consider the twilight of their lives. It is both heartbreaking and uplifting to walk along with the characters of this book.
November 3, 2025
Unexpected love found between an elderly couple. but not without complications.
May 5, 2023
Love is love - there is no expiration date. Warren Adler introduces us to Havey Franklin gentile and Sarah Silverman Jewish both in their eighties and each dealing with the loss of their spouse. Harvey’s Wife of fifty years has passed on and Sarah’s husband has been “lost” to Altzheimer disease. The two meet at a dog park and begin a love affair. I mention their religious affiliation as it impacts their interaction.
The fact that these two meet and fall in Love at their stage in life is uplifting although circumstances prohibit a smooth road. The quality of care dictated by Sarah’s husband’s caregiver and Harvey’s financially strapped son truncate the amount of time they can share.
I devoured this read and, as with Adler’s other stories, was immersed in the circumstances in which these two found themselves.
Another 5 Star read by Warren Adler.
I received a copy of this book for an honest review.
The fact that these two meet and fall in Love at their stage in life is uplifting although circumstances prohibit a smooth road. The quality of care dictated by Sarah’s husband’s caregiver and Harvey’s financially strapped son truncate the amount of time they can share.
I devoured this read and, as with Adler’s other stories, was immersed in the circumstances in which these two found themselves.
Another 5 Star read by Warren Adler.
I received a copy of this book for an honest review.
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