Alex is twelve, and he did something terrible. A judge sentences him to spend his summer volunteering at a retirement home, where he’s bossed around by an annoying and self-important do-gooder named Maya-Jade. He hasn’t seen his mom in a year, his aunt and uncle don’t want him, and Shady Glen’s geriatric residents seem like zombies to him.
Josey is 107 and ready for his life to be over. He has evaded death many times, having survived ghettos, dragnets, and a concentration camp – all thanks to the heroism of a woman named Olka and his own ability to sew. But now he spends his days in room 206 at Shady Glen, refusing to speak and waiting to die. Until Alex knocks on Jose’s door and he begins to tell Alex his story.
As Alex comes back again and again to hear more, an unlikely bond grows between them. Soon, a new possibility opens up for Alex: Can he rise to the occasion of his life, even if it means confronting the worst thing that he’s ever done?
The narrative of the story is odd. It’s set up as Josey telling his story and Alex’s stories to a person who is deceased. I found it weird how Alex’s name wasn’t mentioned until well into the story. For most of the story, Josey calls him ‘the boy.’
Surprisingly, I was more invested in Alex’s story than Josey’s WWII story. Poor Alex is in a rough situation. I usually don’t like stories where the parent can barely take care of themself, let alone their kid, and the kid has to parent their parent, but this one was different. Alex’s life with his mom, what happened to her, and the mystery of the terrible thing he did are all told in bits and pieces in the past tense. This made his story easier for me to take in.
I enjoyed the retirement home setting and how Alex spent time getting to know the residents and their stories. I did find it hard to believe that a 107-year-old person would still have their mind intact.
Overall, this was a heartwarming intergenerational story about rising to the occasion of your life and not judging a person based on the worst thing they’ve done but supporting them for what they can do.