The last days of Ptolemy Grey
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Average rating4
Ptolemy Grey is a 91-year-old man, suffering from dementia and living as a recluse in his Los Angeles apartment. Then Robyn Small, a 17-year-old family friend, appears and helps clean up his apartment and straighten out his life. A reinvigorated Ptolemy volunteers for an experimental medical program that restores his mind, and he uses his last days--shortened now by the medical experiment--to delve into the mystery of the recent drive-by shooting death of his great-nephew, Reggie.
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An easy read that trips along at a brisk pace. I am bothered, however, by the sense that 91 automatically means senility and death because I have a 90-year old who is suffering from neither and I should like to see that normalized.
This is quite a book. It is crime-fiction in that there is some street violence, there is a murder to solve, and there is a promise related to a long ago lynching that must be kept. However, it is also good literary fiction – a powerful and lyrical trip through time via an old man's memories. Mosley is a damn good writer.
(What's it all about? The cover blurb stuff will give you a good idea.)
4+ stars.
