Day 100: The Road To Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett

Wow. This book is really something — it is a multigenerational comic road trip story where a lot of people die. Other than the TV show Six Feet Under, I can not think of another story that has this much humor, heart, and death.

Let us start with the cast. The following characters travel in a borrowed Volvo wagon from “the armpit of Massachusetts “ to the Tender Hearts retirement community in Arizona:

PJ Halliday. The 63 year old alcoholic postal worker who has been fired from his job at the postal service and 1.5 million dollar lottery winner who now has only 20k in his bank account.

Sophie. PJ’s daughter who is currently unemployed and deeply unhappy after a series of affairs and the loss of her job.

Ollie and Luna. The 9 and 10 year old boy and girl who are the grandchildren of PJ’s estranged brother. PJ has agreed to adopt the two after their parents’ murder suicide. I told you there is a lot of death in this story.

Pancakes. An orange tabby cat with the ability to predict death. The cat alone makes the book worth reading.

As can be expected, quite a lot happens on this trip “humming alpacas, the best pie in Kentucky, the funniest billboards, the wax museum…” (pg. 360). And that’s not counting an alligator, a gas leak, and PJ’s misadventures trying to stay sober. I think the book could have started with the road trip and been about 50 pages shorter, but, overall, I really enjoyed this story.

31 May. Kindle and Audible audiobook. 363 pgs.