Simon's Night

Rating:
Summary: Simon is a delightful person with great insight.
Review: I read Dear James by Jon Hassler and, as is my usual practice, I went in search of other books by him. I must say that Simon's Night was a great delight. I am now reading it aloud to my husband who is enjoying it as much as I did. A nursing home or rather an old folks home is all right if one has no mind left. But for the mentally alert person it is a living death. As one who is just entering retirement, I feel a long way from decrepit and ready to be cared for by anyone other than myself. I will recommend this book to anyone who is a serious reader of fiction and a student of human behavior.

Rating:
Summary: Aging Gracefully with Hassler
Review: Joh Hassler's "Simon's Night" is an enduring account of life's inevitable growing pains. Simon is a seventy-six-year-old man who has "misplaced" his confidence to lead an independent life. He voluntarily checks himself into a home for the elderly, calmly awaiting the end of his days. While meeting many heart-warming characters within the Norman Home, Simon soon realizes that life is more than enjoying small pleasures while waiting to die. He is missing out on the true meaning of life. With the help of a young doctor, her war-troubled friend, and a dog named Tick, Simon begins to regain his passion for living. Hassler composes an interesting blend of characters, old and young. Through Simon's dialogues and reflections, Hassler illustrates the different perspectives of our society and the aging process. Our hearts are warmed as Simon reunites with his wife, and like the cleansing rainfall, looks at life afresh, stating: "There is no intermediate existence . . . Short of death, there is no alternative but life" (309).

Rating:
Summary: an insightful perspective on aging
Review: John Hassler's, Simon's Night, is an incredible novel that creatively portrays issues surrounding the experience of aging. Hassler achieves this by personalizing the experience in his character, Simon Shea, a retired English professor. The novel explores Shea's mental process while he is struggling to be responsible about his decision to give up independent care and place himself in the care of a nursing home. Hassler successfully depicts the challenges many elderly people face through Simon's experiences and witty commentary on maintaining dignity, handling fear, reconciling past experiences, and living in relation to a culture which glorifies youth. For such an important and potentially depressing topic, this novel was a pleasure to read. The well developed characters were intriguing, often funny, and I found myself emotionally attached to them. This attachment gave the wisdom of Hassler's insights the strength of emotional connection.

Rating:
Summary: Simply the best
Review: Jon Hassler is simply the best writer in American literature today period. It is amazing that more people have not read Hassler. Each of his books are poignant and charming. He writes in the style of the giants of yesteryear.

Rating:
Summary: "The dormancy is a kind of death in itself."
Review: Not many books seem to tackle the sensitive subject of aging well. It's a topic that depresses most people, and yet in Jon Hassler's book, "Simon's Night," the author manages to wrestle with the subject of aging, and he still produces a gentle, upbeat novel as a result.

"Simon's Night" is the story of retired English college professor, Simon Shea who decides that he is losing his memory, and so he removes himself from his remote country cottage to a home for the elderly managed by the battleax, Hattie Norman. Hattie Norman's home has room for seven elderly people, and it's Hattie's belief that when dealing with old people, it's best to "let sleeping dogs lie." She translates this--in her particular case--to mean that "old folks are supposed to sit around watching TV," and she encourages a permanent state of vegetation to descend upon the home and her 'guests.'

Enter Simon Shea--he's horrified by the daily existence of the residents of his new home, and he feels himself slowly sinking into the pit of despair which encompasses the residents. Unlike the other residents, Simon still has intellectual pursuits, and he is appalled at the reality and the treatment endured by Hattie's boarders. Hassler creates the most brain-numbingly boring dinner conversations that occur between the residents as they each spiral on their own memories, and the dinners are one of the many dehumanizing experiences for the residents who are treated like moronic children.

Simon begins living in the Norman Home when he is at one of the low points in his life. At first, he accepts that this is the way it is going to be for the rest of his life until his death, but then a chain of events causes Simon to re-evaluate his life--the past, present, and the future. And to Simon's great surprise, he discovers that he does, indeed, still have a future to look forward to.

I thought Hassler's portrayal of aging was both sympathetic and realistic, and he addresses many of the issues faced by the elderly--loneliness, ostracism, illness, diminishing physical and mental capacities, depression, hopelessness and despair. It is a tribute to Hassler's skill as a writer that he still manages to pluck an optimistic novel from all of the negativity surrounding the issue of aging. My sole complaint against the novel is that I found the minor characters of Jean and her beau to be rather unbelievable. They were one-dimensional and served as an obvious plot-driven device--displacedhuman

Rating:
Summary: Finally, a novel about an older man which is realistic!
Review: Simon Shea, a retired college professor used to living a rather solitary life, becomes frightened after he has a few episodes of forgetfulness, the worst one causing an overheated pan to set his kitchen on fire. Shaken and feeling suddenly old, he decides he needs to commit himself to a rest home. In short, he no longer feels competent to live the independent life he's relished for so long and fears he is losing his mind.
This is, of course, a BIG mistake for Simon has plenty of vim and energy left and his mind is just fine. Luckily, he has a perceptive young doctor who sees his potential even when Simon's spirits falter and a visit from his wife (who Simon hasn't seen in years) also helps to set things straight. But before that happens, Simon has to confront his own demons, revisit his memories of teaching, marriage and...finally...re-examine his religious beliefs and come to terms with how they've shaped his life.
But this book is far, far more than I can describe here. Simon Shea is a complex, enigmatic character, nothing like the stereotypes of the elderly that fill too many books these days. It was a joy to get to know him and by the end of this novel, I felt I wanted to see waht happened to Simon. Wonder if there is a sequel to this one out there?