The Leisure Seeker

This is a novel about aging, but one in which the elderly protagonists break out of the stereotypes. Ella and John are "Two down-on-their-luck geezers, one with more health problems than a third world country, the other so senile that he doesn't even know what day it is." Their children and doctors want John who has Alzheimers to be placed in a nursing home, and Ella who has terminal cancer to be hospitalized for further, probably futile, treatment. Against the advice of their doctors and children, Ella decides to take one final trip with her husband in their RV, the Leisure Seeker, a trip from their home in Michigan along fabled US Route 66 to Disneyland in California. The novel is narrated by Ella, whose acerbic wit makes the trip a show more pleasure for the reader, despite the various travails she and John undergo. The book is part travelogue exploring the decrepit ruins of the (mostly) abandoned Route 66, and part reflection on what meaning, in the end, we can take from our lives. Ella and John are very real people, and I enjoyed going along on their journey. show less

I loved the voice of Ella in this book - matter-of-fact, content with herself, in charge. I loved the glimpses of the life Ella and John have made with each other - the moments when John remembers, when they are themselves together again. This is an unconventional road trip story, and I was torn between fear for the couple and sorrow for the difficulties that old age and sickness bring. Despite that, there are moments of real humor in the book, and I admired Ella so much for her strength.

Very often we tend to infantilize the elderly. We say old people are in a second childhood and act as if they need to be protected from themselves and all the things that can go wrong to and for them. Most often we do this out of a sense of love. We want them to be safe and cared for but we are undeniably taking away much of their own agency, discounting their knowledge and wishes. Don't get me wrong, sometimes the decisions we make on behalf of the frail and elderly in our lives are the only ones we can possibly make. But we also have to consider their situations and think long and hard before we deny them the pleasures that make life worth sticking around for. Getting old doesn't automatically equal incompetence and sometimes death, show more the scary outcome we try so hard to deny both for ourselves and on behalf of those we love, is a risk worth taking if we get to live more along the way. Michael Zadoorian truly gets this, as evidenced by his funny, entertaining, and poignant novel, The Leisure Seeker, coming out this month as a movie starring Helen Mirren and Donald Sutherland.

Ella and John Robina are in their eighties. They've been married for 60 some odd years and they've had a full life together. Now Ella has terminal breast cancer and John has Alzheimer's. Ella is failing physically and John is failing mentally but they want to make one last trip together. Well, Ella wants one last trip and John is amenable to suggestion even though the Robina's children and their doctors are against it. These two old codgers sneak off in their '78 Leisure Seeker, determined to follow Route 66 from their home in Detroit to Disneyland one last time, escaping the futile medical treatments and unwelcome opinions of those who want to choose how they spend their final days or years.

Ella is hilarious, acerbic and witty; she's the brains of the operation. John might only have very sporadic flashes of memory but he can still drive and he's happy to be directed by Ella; he's the brawn. As these two travel across Route 66, they are traveling back into their history together, watching slides each evening as they camp and talking through their long life (or at least Ella is even when John can't), but they are also enjoying their life right now. Sure, Ella has to pop little blue "discomfort" pills and John doesn't often know where he is or who the people Ella is talking about are, but their love for each other and all of its attendant joy and frustration continues to shine through the novel. They have some crazy escapades on their road trip and they do some perfectly banal things as well but in both cases, the reader is happy to travel along with them.

There is both regular humor and black humor galore here leavening the fact that Ella and John are making it clear that aging isn't for sissies. Ella's first person narrative voice is honest and straightforward and the story itself is touching. Zadoorian has a great eye for detail (as in the description of the 70's decor of the camper) as well as a deep understanding of his characters and the curve balls that they've been thrown in these, their twilight years. His depiction of a man with Alzheimer's is heartbreaking and true but he refrains from wallowing in the sadness of John's loss by celebrating the moments when John's memory sparks and showing the simple joy Ella feels in those fleeting moments. His portrayal of Ella is equally well done, her stubbornness and determination, her refusal to consider ridiculous treatments in the face of her real prognosis, and her deep loyalty to her husband. The book doesn't flinch from the realities and indignities of aging and disease but it also celebrates life for as long as there's life left in the old geezers. Although the story could be depressing, it is in fact the exact opposite. It's life affirming and highly entertaining in spite of the omnipresent shadow of mortality. The end is perfect; it could not be any other way. This novel is both laughter and tears, light and dark. In a nutshell, that's life. show less

This was such a wonderful book full of beautiful writing that I'm not sure a movie can do it justice. One of the main differences is that in the book, the two main characters escape from their home in Detroit and take a road trip to Disneyland, following Route 66 as much as possible.

Ella and John are in their 80s, they have been married for over 60 years and both have end of life health problems - John has Alzheimers and Ella has cancer. Ella feels that they need one more camping trip together so they sneak away from their home in Detroit, their two concerned children and their doctors and take a road trip. As they travel, John often has no clue where they are or who Ella is. Ella is fighting constant pain but feels the need to forge show more ahead and make it to the Pacific. Does this sound depressing? Believe me, it's anything but depressing. It's thoughtful and funny and fantastically entertaining. Ella tells the story and she is so funny that there were parts of the story that made me laugh out loud. She also made many observations that really made me think about life will be like in those final years.

“Why does the world have to destroy anything that doesn't fit in? We still can’t figure out this is the most important reason to love something.”

“Anyone who never met a man he didn't like just isn't trying hard enough.”

“After a while, just staying alive becomes a full-time job. No wonder we need a vacation.”

This is a wonderful well written book about the final road trip of an elderly couple who want to be together and having fun until the end. It proves that when it comes to life, you can go back for seconds—even when everyone says you can't. show less

Just because a book is not of great literary merit or is a quick and entertaining read does not mean that it lacks depth or does not win my round of applause. Michael Zadoorian was able to strike a certain deep chord within my soul with his bittersweet story of Ella and John Robina, an elderly couple in decline. Ella has incurable cancer, and John has dementia. Together they agree, if John is indeed capable of making any decision, to leave Detroit, against the wishes of their two grown children, to take a road trip in their Leisure Seeker to Disneyland. Does this sound silly? It’s anything but that.

Theirs is a story of love, fear, determination, and joy. They travel southwest together at a leisurely pace, all the while reminiscing show more about the past, perhaps in an effort to avoid thinking about the future. Declining mental and physical health is no picnic after all. The Rowinas’ story had me laughing on one page, crying the next, and running away quickly on yet other pages to quickly copy down some notable quotes.

What this author does is hit the right notes. He tells the poignant story of aging with its accompanying physical and mental decline. For a long time in our own lives, aging is a process involving others. Eventually, however, we will all see this on our own horizon. As a result, this book may be less interesting to a younger person, but for individuals nearing or in their golden years as I am, this book so totally expresses our feelings.

I admit that some of this novel’s scenes tended to get a bit repetitive towards the end as the elderly couple moved from one city to another. By that time, however, that issue didn’t bother me at all as I had already grown to love this feisty pair. So much so, in fact, that it was extremely hard to say goodbye to them as I finished reading their touching story. show less

As busy as Mothers’ Day weekend was, I found time to spend a few hours lingering over Michael Zadoorian’s bittersweet second novel. It was the most rewarding few hours I’ve had in a long time. But I was totally caught napping and unprepared for the sucker punch that was part of the package.

Ella and John Robina are retired and sick, she with cancer and he with Alzheimer’s. They want to get in one last trip in their camper (the Leisure Seeker), so they defy their doctors and children and set out from their Detroit home to travel the length of Rt. 66 from Lake Michigan to the Pacific Ocean. The book tells the story of their journey, the people they meet and the stops they make along the way. A wry, tender novel, filled with dark show more humor, and episodes of comic relief, we follow Ella and John through small towns and historical landmarks and along the way we get to know them very well. The author provides us with glimpses of life when you’re near the end of the road and the irony of coming to the end of Rt. 66 parallels the lives of these two. Rundown seedy towns, neglected stores and tourist venues dot the route that has been by-passed by the super highways that could get them to their destination so much faster.

Zadoorian presents a cynical look at life that’s bound to accompany the old age and illness that we’re all destined to face at some point. Every evening they spread a white sheet on the side of their camper, and watch slides of previous vacations, time gone by:

“I think about the people in the slides, most of them gone now, heart attacks and cancers, betrayed by the foods we ate, by our La-Z-Boys, by our postwar contentment, everyone getting larger and larger in every year’s photographs, our prosperity gone wide.” (page 57)

The author throws more than a few gems our way:

“We pass a church with a massive blue neon cross, and I am spiritually lifted by feelings of great religiosity. No, I’m not, for crying out loud. Don’t be ridiculous. But what I do love about this road is how the gaudy becomes grand, how tastelessness is a way of everyday life.”(page 37)

And Ella reveals a complete distrust for the authenticity of Will Rogers:

“We pass on the Will Rogers Memorial in Claremore. I never much cared for the man. A big phony, I believe. Anyone who never met a man he didn’t like just isn’t trying hard enough.” (page 79)

I grew fond of these two curmudgeons whose love for each other is unparalleled and I could have gone on reading about them forever. Highly recommended. show less

3/17/2020 - I finally got around to watching the movie version - it was well done but the book is 100 times better. The beautiful, thought provoking prose is missing from the movie though both actors did a fantastic job. Zadoorian writes the with the perfect blend of dark humor and emotion so it never gets overly sentimental yet you will most likely cry. I read this book for the first time in 2011, reading this again, almost 10 years later and with my mother's death, it seemed even sadder this time around.