Review by Booklist Review
As his elderly wife, Susan, descends further into dementia, Herb realizes he's no spring chicken anymore either. Once an imposing man with plentiful appetites for food, wine, and women, Herb is continually surprised to find his body disappointing him in new ways. But he still appreciates the spark of human connection and finds beauty in the smallest things. When Dee Dee, one of Susan's friendliest carers, turns out to have a few secrets of her own, Herb doesn't rush to judgment. Instead, the pair strikes up an unlikely friendship. But before they acquiesce to their quickly-changing stations in life, Herb and Dee Dee decide to take one last shot at paving their own way. Smith (Dimestore, 2016) gives Herb and Dee Dee a vast amount of agency and backstory in this slim novel, letting the reader gradually come to terms with each character's history and the reality of what's ahead. Likely to resonate with fans of Marian Keyes, Lynda Rutledge, and Andrew J. Graff, Smith's novel is an incisive and heartwarming exploration of life's fragile phases.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Smith (Blue Marlin) offers a nimble if slow-moving twist on the odd couple trope. Herbert "Herb" Atlas, 83, cares for his third wife, Susan, 70, who gave him a "whole new life" when they married 12 years earlier but is now stricken with dementia. Their children insist on round-the-clock care for Susan at their house in Key West, but Susan resists attention from anyone but her nail technician, Renee Martin. Soon, Renee is a fixture in the Atlas household, and it turns out her real name is Deidre "Dee Dee" June Mullins, and she's a North Carolina transplant who survived sex trafficking. When Herb receives a diagnosis of stage IV prostate cancer, Herb's kids stage an intervention, hoping to put Herb and Susan into a nursing home. Meanwhile, Dee Dee is unexpectedly pregnant from a man who has no plans to have a family, and with Herb determined not to be locked down, the two set off for an adventure in his yellow Porsche. Though the road trip comes a bit late, there's plenty of charm to the two main characters, one trying to outrun her past and the other trying to outrun his future. For patient readers, this is a treat. Agent: Liz Darhansoff, Darhansoff & Verrill Literary Agents. (Apr.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
A story told from different perspectives, this latest from Smith (Dimestore; The Last Girls) brings together two very different characters, Dee Dee and Herb, on a strange journey through Florida. Dee Dee (under an assumed name) is hired by Herb Atlas, a wealthy man in Key West, to give pedicures to his wife Susan, who has Alzheimer's. Dee Dee seems to connect with Susan in a way that others can't. Meanwhile, Herb finds out about a cancer diagnosis and grapples with his own failing health. When his adult children arrive and insist on his checking into an assisted living place with his wife, Dee Dee shows up to say her goodbyes--only to end up on the road with Herb for one final jaunt in his Porsche. What was supposed to be a little ride around town turns into a road trip to Disney World, a place Dee Dee has always wanted to visit. The plot is told through the points of view of Dee Dee and Herb, and readers never quite know what will happen next to the unlikely companions. VERDICT Readers who love a quirky story filled with beguiling characters will enjoy Smith's road-trip novel.--Lisa Wieczorek
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
Two unlikely traveling companions unite for a life-affirming joyride. When wealthy septuagenarian businessman Herbert Atlas takes Susan Summerville, an elegant Palm Beach art gallery owner 13 years his junior, as his third wife, he never dreams he'll end up as her caregiver in their elegant Key West home after she sinks into the impenetrable fog of early onset Alzheimer's disease. Now 83, with his body ravaged by advanced prostate cancer and an array of other ailments, the irascible Herb pushes back against his children's plan to move him and Susan to a continuing care facility to live out their final days. Herb's ally in his fight to cling to the shards that remain of his broken former life is Renee Martin, a young aesthetician hired to care for Susan's nails, who becomes an inadvertent art therapist for her client. But Renee, whose real name is Deirdre June "Dee Dee" Mullins and who has migrated to Florida from the mountains of North Carolina, has a dark past she's trying, with only intermittent success, to fend off in the present. She thinks she's done that when she meets Willie, an aspiring poet who lives in a ramshackle old house, but he's battling his own demons that complicate their romantic relationship. Shifting between third-person narration and Dee Dee's affecting voice, Smith skillfully pivots from wry humor to real tenderness toward her quirkily engaging characters. The crisis over Herb and Susan's move climaxes in a wild ride in Herb's canary yellow Porsche Carrera, sparking the titular alert, as he and Dee Dee speed through the Florida Keys, soaking up their omnipresent beauty and kitschiness, on their way to Disney World, where Dee Dee hopes to realize her dream of meeting the Disney princesses. Beneath the novel's occasionally frothy surface beats a compassionate, generous heart. A warmhearted story of improbably matched characters trying to reclaim their lives. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
