Joined in 2023 
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We learn of Margot's marriage, and her husband's abandonment of her following the death of their infant son; of Meena, the woman who saved her; of Humphrey who fostered Margot's love of the stars and which she passes on to Lenni. I loved Lenni’s character, her straightforwardness, her resilience, and the impact she made on the people around her at such a young age. Friendship is a big theme of the book, how do Lenni’s friendships with Margot, Father Arthur and New Nurse change her?
They meet in the hospital while attending an art class and become fast friends regardless of the age difference.It’s not necessary to have read Dickens’ famous novel to appreciate Kingsolver’s absorbing tale, but those who have will savor the tough-minded changes she rings on his Victorian sentimentality while affirming his stinging critique of a heartless society.
Lenni is looking for somewhere to fit in, in this odd situation, and decides the class for the older folks is where she feels best, rather than the groups designed for those of her own age.
Her friendship with Margot and interactions with Father Arthur, New Nurse , Pippa, Paul , Sunny and even the not so likeable Nurse Jacky fill her days and give her a sense of ‘family’ in her final days. As their bond deepens, a world of stories opens up: of wartime love and loss, of misunderstanding and reconciliation, of courage, kindness and joy.
Joining the hospital’s arts and crafts class, she meets the magnificent Margot, an 83-year-old, purple-pajama-wearing, fruitcake-eating rebel, who transforms Lenni in ways she never imagined.They briefly meet at a dumpster inside the hospital, then later in the Rose Room where patients convene for art projects. I don’t know as this will win any literary awards (you never know, though), but these characters with their life stories won my heart and I can’t give it less than 5 stars .
We are in the back of hundreds of people’s photographs—moving, talking, blurring into the background of a picture two strangers have framed on their living room mantelpiece. Apart from Father Arthur and Margot, they include New Nurse, Paul the Porter, Pippa and Sunny, the security guard, although there is one fly in the ointment in the unsympathetic character of Nurse Jacky. Lenni and Margo are surrounded by some great supporting actors – the hospital chaplain, the nurses and the gentle art teacher who always seems to know the right thing to say.Lenni, a 17 year old who is hospitalized with a terminal illness, meets Margot an 83 year old who is hospitalized with heart problems. I picture a wide check-in area with a high ceiling and glass walls, the staff in matching uniforms waiting to take my name and flight information, waiting to ask me if I packed my bags myself, if I’m traveling alone. An emotionally layered and engrossing story of a family that asks: Can love make a broken person whole?
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