I dove in. The first chapter sets the scene. Professor Webster, close enough to Corban Solsek's proposed 'warehousing' scheme (well meaning bureaucracy) for the elderly, to smell the Ben Gay. He doesn't approve Corban's proposed paper. He does put Corban into a mood that does not bode well for his hoped for stellar grade, but he must give in and do what Professor Webster proposes -- interview a senior citizen.
Corban does so with a chip on his shoulder. He calls and gets an appointment with Leota Reinhardt, an 84-year-old senior citizen who wants assistance with getting her groceries. Her sharp tone and demanding attitude do not sit well with Corban, whose nose is forced further out of joint when she proposes they walk to the market instead of riding comfortably in his car. Leota does not even want to look at the car let alone get in it, and so Corban and Leota walk the ten blocks to the local market. Leota nails Corban the moment she meets him as he wipes some of the grime from her windows to see inside her old home (built before the war, likely about 1920s). Leota nails him to the wall with her accurate assessment of Corban's offer to assist her. Nose thoroughly out of joint and the chip on his shoulder set firmer in place, they set off for the market where Leota choose her items and further sets Corban's mood deeper into the dumps.
What he has to do to get a passing grade to please Professor Webster us worse than breaking rocks on a chain gang. But Corban must get through his ordeal or risk flunking and thus not graduating.
Leota's house is in disrepair due to her increasingly limiting arthritis. Corban looks through the kitchen window and sees Leota's garden, which is as overgrown and ill kempt as the housekeeping inside the house. Corban wrinkles his nose, but will put up with his voltary task because he wants a good grade, and excellent grade. He digs in and faces the ordeal of assisting Leota in his one day a week voluntary chore.
Leota has no family to speak of and Corban will follow through just as he planned. He needs to interview Leota, per Professor Webster's criteria, in order to get a passing grade on his proposal. He can endure anything -- even Leota's sharp-edged tongue and eagle eyes. She misses nothing and digs her spurs in with deadly accuracy. She knows Corban wants something from her or he wouldn't be here, and he is not pleased with the assignment. Obviously, he is not volunteering to aid her out of Christian charity.
Nearby, Anne-Lynn, Leota's granddaughter has surreptitiously left her mother's home. She WILL NOT go to Wellesley or any other acceptable college back east Her mother has driven her to excel and succeed, all the while spurring her on by watching everything Anne-Lynn does and digging in her spurs to help Anne-Lynn to succeed and be perfect. Anne-Lynn moves in with her friend, Susan Carter, a friend that Nora, her mother, is certain will seduce her daughter to take drugs and act irresponsibly with boys. Susan Carter is not Nora's idea of a good friend -- or even an acceptable acquaintance -- and Nora is sure Susan will lead her daughter down a dark road far from the perfect life she has suffered and worked to provide. How dare Anne-Lynn refuse her after all she has done and sacrificed to provide for her and her older brother, Michael? How dare she? Anne-Lynn must come to her senses and follow the path Nora has laid out for her, but Anne-Lynn is just like her mother, selfish, and ungrateful
Anne-Lynn moves in with Susan in her tiny, studio apartment, and enrolls in college, an arts college and not Berkley no less. Nora's nose is thoroughly out of joint. To make matters worse, Anne-Lynn snuck away in the middle of the night to move into Susan's apartment and has taken a job as a waitress where Susan works.
Into this very emotional and complicated set up, Francine Rivers weaves together a wonderful book with masterful writing and attention to detail. "Leota's Garden" is about the clash of families and the hopefully altruistic college students who want to help the elderly. Warehousing them and keeping them out of sight may be Corban's initial plan, but Professor Webster sees his plan as more interference that does not meet the needs of the poor and elderly. Not to mention that there is no hint at all of Corban's having met or conversed with the elderly to get their views on what he plans to do -- in the name of taking care of the elderly. It is certainly not a plan that Professor Webster wants to see landing on his head when (and if) it takes effect.
Anne-Lynn, denied of getting to know Leota, her grandmother, decides to meet and get to know her grandmother against Nora's high-minded (handed) wishes to find out why her mother dislikes Leota so much and why she is "just like her mother." What is so wrong with her grandmother? What is there about Anne-Lynn that is so reprehensible and exactly like her grandmother? What did her mother mean and why is her grandmother frivolous and selfish as her mother claims -- and has harangued Annie about endlessly for years?
Annie is a Christian and has decided that she must bring Leota to the Lord. Maybe Annie can help mend fences between her mother and her grandmother, build a bridge to span the decades-old differences that have put them at odds. Annie has faith in the Lord and faith in her belief in God.
Francine Rivers has penned a faith-based and centered book in "Leota's Garden" and has not gotten too heavy with the dogma or the language. It was Leota's prayer to just get it over with that got to me. It was so like my own when I was stuck in the hospital and the future was bleak and dark. My useful days were over and all I wanted to do was lie down and never get up again. Leota's prayer was so like mine and I felt her pain and her wish to be over with this life. When I said the same words out loud, the doctors thought I was suicidal and put me on an antidepressant. It was refreshing that people older than I am had the same feelings and didn't (and don't) wan to commit suicide, but dealing with the feeling that you've gotten to the end of the line is obviously pervasive.
Leota doesn't die. She comes alive when Annie comes to meet her and get to know more about her grandmother -- and herself. She perks up when she tells Annie unfolds their family for her. Annie is pleased when she finds out that she has a great aunt who was an artist just like she plans to be. She marvels at the beautiful work that Leota shows her and revels in coming from a family that is so talented and gifted, much like she is herself. She has the genes, but she will work hard and hone her gift.
"Leota's Garden" is full of family drama, good and bad, and doesn't dwell on the maudlin aspect of young people dealing with the elderly. The book shines with hope and brims with possibilities as Ms. Rivers's writing peels away the layers and lays the heart of the novel bare with finesse and loving kindness. I didn't think the first part of the book was slow, but Ms. Rivers does take time building the bones upon which this novel is fleshed. A marvelous novel that will stay with you as it stays with me, a gift of storytelling that does not rely too much on the Christian message or dive too deeply into depressing and maudlin circumstances. A shining example of modern literature. I give this novel 5 stars.
Not to be missed. Will stay with you long after you've finished reading. Definitely not to be missed. Share it with your family and your friends. This is a classic.
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