Review: Never Too Old to Dream
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 04 11, 2014
The sweet novel, “Hope,” takes place in a small nursing home, which is part of a large syndicate of such places. The governing board of the parent company, more concerned with the bottom line than with individual patients, takes care to standardize rules in such a way that the local director in charge has very little flexibility. Thus, the elderly residents of “Rest View” feel forlorn, forgotten, and crushed under the stifling sameness of the bland meals and regimented routine.Prizewinning author Robert K. Swisher, Jr. has created a colorful and amusing palette of characters: Harold, the loveable retard with the mind of a six year old and heart full of love and hope; Nurse Steal, for whom the residents take the place of a family; Bertha, age 93, whose mind has failed to the point where she thinks her teddy bear is her baby; George and Henry, two grumpy old men who squabble over their daily checkers game; Mr. Fisk and his buddies, who long to get a Playboy magazine and who race to see who can escape the farthest into the parking lot before the orderlies catch them; Martha, the brains of the outfit who hatches up a scheme to stage a rebellion; the uber-religious Grace Brethren, who quotes the Bible and refuses to join in the fun; and several other equally amusing and loveable old folks.In preparing the characters for their greatest challenge, Author Swisher sprinkles pearls of wisdom throughout his residents dialog. “We just hang on from day to day and before long we no longer look to the future for anything but another day. We plod along and ignore everything that is going on around us, as if by ignoring, all the bad will go away.”Nurse Steal says, “A good and caring God would not curse anybody to time eternal in hell. Why [has] man struggled so to survive and find meaning in life when in most instances life was just a riddle that had no answer, or at the very least, an answer that changed while the riddle stayed the same.”Betty Frost says, “… I suppose we spend our time going from one useless dream to another. Dreams we know that will never be fulfilled, dreams that in truth only take us farther and farther away from the truth.”Harold, the loveable simpleton, has a great personal secret. He believes that he can transform into a bird and fly. In time, a few of the residents begin to believe it’s true, and so they prevail upon Harold to hold flying classes. The men, especially, begin to have a spark of hope, that flying will be a means of escape from their perceived captivity.Martha Dearheart, sensing the loss of hope among her friends, calls a meeting for the purpose  of developing a list of their demands for change. Martha thinks, “Everyone looks lost – lost in a world where no dreams for the future can exist. Wishing never did anybody any good, only action makes change.”I am sure most people never think about living in a rest home until they are in one. Somehow people have forgotten life is love and hope and not fear and control.”The resulting list of demands are simple enough: more variety in their meals, a birdbath, a small garden, real plants in the day room, the privilege of going outside without a nurse, and--the most outrageous--flying classes taught by Harold. Thus, the stage is set for conflict and resolution. What happens to their demands. Will the residents learn to hope and dream? Will they escape their mundane existence? Will they learn to fly?I can imagine this book being made into a movie, with plenty of laugh lines and many character parts for Hollywood’s aging actresses and actors.Recommended reading.Dorothy May Mercer, Author/Publisher