Marianne CroninKirja-arvosteluja

“‘Do you know,’ she said slowly, ‘that the stars that we see the clearest are already dead?’
‘Well, that's depressing.’ I took my hand from hers. ‘No,’ she said gently, linking her arm through mine, ‘it's not depressing, it's beautiful. They've been gone for who knows how long, but we can still see them. They live on.' They live on” (265).

Unequivocally emotional and joyful, this book doesn’t ease you into the thick of it. From the beginning, you’re swimming in the dark depths of a black, inky sky full of sadness and bright celestial swirls. It’s emotively heavy with just enough levity intermixed throughout. It’s a book about dying that’s really more about living. A pleasant paradox—so much grief causing so much joy.

In a Glasgow terminal ward, 17-year-old Lenni befriends 83-year-old Margot in the hospital’s Rose Art Room, and through their nascent friendship, a series of stories unfolds, celebrating the life of these two and their collective 100 years. The stories are told intermittently, transporting us between past and present, piecing together two lives where sickness and death is just a part of their stories—not the defining feature.

This book made me laugh (all the scenes with Father Arthur) and made me cry (lots of traumas and triggers) and, magically, made me feel hopeful (even though there’s so much grieving and trauma). It’s a story that shows that you can still find hope and beauty and joy in even our worst moments, our most tragic stories. And it’s through stories—all the stories inside of us waiting to be told—that keep us alive long after we’ve taken our last breath.

“As long as men can breathe and eyes can see / so long lives this, and this gives life to thee.”

Lenni is 17 and a patient in the terminal ward of a Glasgow hospital. Margot is 83 and a patient in the same hospital, awaiting heart surgery. This is the story of their friendship and of how they ended up sharing their collective 100 years with each other.

An excellent story (or pair of stories, really), beautifully told. Both Lenni and Margot are fascinating and wonderful characters, and they’re so well drawn that you quickly feel that they’re your friends as well, which makes losing them all the tougher. I haven’t full-on wept because of a book in a long time, but I cried for this one and I don’t regret a second of it.½

I didn’t finish this book, couldn’t get into it.

I wasn't planning on reading this as I had my share of novels dealing with a terminal disease and death. I just read a few pages and was struck by the lightness of it, sense of humour and some beautiful language.
However, this wore off quickly.

In theory, books like this are beautiful, they talk about the beauty of life, friendship (found in the most unexpected places). Some passages were truly a joy to read. However, the book was very uneven in terms of quality.

There were big parts of the novel describing Margot's life in some obscure moments that didn't really add much to the story, while I would have loved to see more conversations between Leni and Margot to add some depth to their relationship. Also, Lenni felt more like a younger child, not a 17-year-old.

The art project got tedious after a while and I lost interest. Pushed through to finish, but it wasn't that great. I think the parts that really stuck with me are the ones describing dealing with PTSD (Margot's dad) and Alzheimer's (Humphrey) that were described in a touching way.

*Contains a few spoilers

At first, I loved the Maeve Binchey-like quality of this story, told from the first-person perspectives of two main characters. Lenni and Margot are extremely likeable, and the plot certainly held my interest. I even felt empathy for Margot when she lost her son, because I too lost a son as an infant. However, I did not appreciate the religious opinions expressed by the author, nor her inclusion of a homosexual element. Margot's character also irked me because it seemed as though she fell in love with anyone who showed even remote interest in her or was convenient at the time. Mina was no good for her, homosexuality aside. She was selfish and completely self-absorbed. I could never understand what Margot saw in her, as a friend or anything else. I also disliked the way in which the author portrayed nuclear families as being undesirable, and that on their deathbeds, Lenni and Humphrey expressed a wish to die alone with strangers rather than family. It's just another attempt to tear down the nuclear family and replace it with a surrogate family of one's own choosing. Quite tragic, really. So while the book had a lot of feel-good elements, I felt that the author's main purpose was to emotionally manipulate her audience and convince them to reject traditional religious and family values.

Sweet and disarming while never tilting over into preachy or saccharine, though a bit contrived in spots to fit the Swedish birthday song, but that was minimal. I’d give this to fans of Elizabeth Berg, Fannie Flagg, Kent Haruf and recommend for book clubs. Delightful .½

This has been on my list for a while but always held off since I knew it would be sad which it was but it was so sweet and good too. I love an unlikely friendship and this book had so many magical ones

I enjoyed this book very much. It's a uniquely told story of friendship and love.

A patient in Glasgow’s Princess Royal Hospital, 17-year-old Lenni Petersson is terminally ill with an unspecified illness. While awaiting her death, she becomes friends with a number of people. One of them is Father Arthur, the hospital chaplain, who is nearing retirement. Through the art therapy program in the hospital, she meets 83-year-old Margot Macrae who has life-threatening heart disease.

The two women, whose ages add up to 100 years, decide to collaborate on 100 works of art to represent their combined century of life: “It isn’t enough to have been a particle in the great extant of existence. I want, we want more. We want for people to know us, to know our story, to know who we are and who we will be. And after we’re gone, to know who we were.” Since Margot is the much better artist, she does most of the artwork whereas Lenni keeps a written record of their stories.

Chapters alternate between Lenni and Margot in chronological order. Since Margot has lived a fairly long life, we learn a lot about her past: her life has been full of both love and heartbreak. Since Margot has lived 66 more years than Lenni, we learn much more about the older woman. The problem is that her backstory dominates and Lenni’s past is only vaguely outlined.

In an interview included at the end of the novel, the author stated that “friendship is probably is the most important theme of the book.” Certainly the narrative emphasizes that friendship can be found in the most unexpected of places. I looked forward to reading about an intergenerational friendship, but the friendship between the protagonists is not really developed. We don’t see the development of their relationship, as we do in Lenni’s friendship with Father Arthur and New Nurse. Instead we are told that a friendship develops and the two go on to tell each other stories from their lives. Hearing stories is not the same as having heartfelt conversations that develop connections.

I enjoyed the interactions between Lenni and Father Arthur. She is irreverent, inquisitive, and straight-forward. She is witty and sarcastic. He is caring, compassionate, and sensitive. It is difficult not to like them so the bond the two form is understandable. The relationship I had difficulty with is the one between Margot and Meena which receives a lot of attention. I understand that Margot sees Meena as a free spirit, something she wishes she could be, but Meena just seems self-centred. And if she’s such a rebel willing to engage in criminal escapades and willing to have an unorthodox relationship with The Professor, why is she so reticent to even discuss things with Margot?

While reading this novel, more than once I thought of the phrase, “If you love someone, set them free.” Humphrey does that and so do Lenni and Margot at different times with different people. Of course, the second part of the quote is important too: “If they come back, they’re yours; if they don’t, they never were.”

This tear-jerker with its life–affirming message (life is possible even in the most inhospitable conditions) will appeal to many readers. I didn’t hate the book, but I found it rather superficial. I always check out any discussion questions at the back of a book. The fact that 8 of the 20 questions (40%) refer only to the reader’s experiences and do not require any analysis of the book suggests there is really not much to analyze. There are no answers to life’s – or Lenni’s – difficult questions, and the themes are not especially profound.

Note: Please check out my reader's blog (https://schatjesshelves.blogspot.com/) and follow me on Twitter (https://twitter.com/DCYakabuski)

Lenin and Margot connect in the terminal ward in a hospital. They bond and realize that between them, they are 100 years old. Readers learn of their backstories through a series of flashbacks told by both the main characters. It’s no surprise how the story ends. Unhappiness is the theme of this book, and follows the characters like their shadows. While the novel gets high praise from many readers, I have to say I didn’t care for the writing style. And I must add that I took exception to the pointed misleading use of the Bible verse at the end of the story. Not my cup of tea.

“Somewhere, out in the world, are the people who touched us, or loved us, or ran from us. In that way we will live on. If you go to the places we have been, you might meet someone who passed us once in a corridor but forgot us before we were even gone. We are in the back of hundreds of people’s photographs—moving, talking, blurring into the background of a picture two strangers have framed on their living room mantelpiece. And in that way, we will live on too. But it isn’t enough. It isn’t enough to have been a particle in the great extant of existence. I want, we want, more. We want for people to know us, to know our story, to know who we are and who we will be. And after we’ve gone, to know who we were.”

At the onset we are introduced to seventeen year old Lenni Pettersson, a terminally ill patient in the May Ward of Glasgow Princess Royal Hospital. She is smart, spirited and curious inspite of her “life-limiting” illness and takes every opportunity to engage with people around her including the nurses who are in charge of her care, fellow patients and the hospital chaplain Father Arthur who is often rendered speechless in the face of Lenni’s questions on faith and life. Eighty three year old Margot Macrae is a patient with a heart condition in the same hospital recovering from major surgery. She and Lenni become friends in an art class taught by the kind and friendly Pippa organized in the Rose room of the hospital. Realizing that they have lived for one hundred years between themselves they decide to share those one hundred years of life experiences through art and stories. As they share their stories while creating art that would represent those stories, we get know intimate details of Margot’s and Lenni’s lives. Margot has lived an eventful life and her narrative is laced with wit and wisdom and a touch of regret. With her, Lenni gets to experience much more than she could have expected in her seventeen years. Lenni, a straight shooter and not one to mince words, motivates Margot to look beyond whatever is holding her back to enjoy her remaining life to the fullest. Lenni’s mother abandoned her years ago and her father’s palpable grief at Lenni’s prognosis prompted her to limit his painful visits. Her friendship with Margot and interactions with Father Arthur, New Nurse , Pippa, Paul , Sunny and even the not so likeable Nurse Jacky fill her days and give her a sense of ‘family’ in her final days.

While there are moments of extreme sorrow , loss and grief, the beautiful moments of camaraderie and friendship will have you smiling through your tears. With a wonderful cast of characters , thought provoking dialogue and an engaging narrative, The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot by Marianne Cronin is a moving and emotional story that will stay with me for a long time. The author’s skillful storytelling turns what could have been a morbid tale of imminent death into a heart touching celebration of life with wit, wisdom and humor.

“We can’t know why you are dying in the same way that we can’t know why you are living. Living and dying are both complete mysteries, and you can’t know either until you have done both.”

I think perhaps I didn't love this book as much as my fellow members of The Book Hangout on Facebook, but it did make me a little teary and I do just adore the character of Lenni. The Margot storyline made me think of Penelope Lively's book, Moon Tiger, which I read last year.

And of course both make me think of my 89 year old mother, who didn't lead a life half as eventful as these old literary characters, but I know has a heart full of memory just the same. But my mother isn't nearly as resigned to mortality either, and thus these books make me sad but not the way the author intended.

Not that any of this drivel is likely to help another reader decide whether or not to read the book. Do it; it's lovely. Lenni's conversations with Arthur are full of such charm, it's worth any melancholy the book generates.

Maybe you shouldn't take my word for it; most of the members of my book club liked this book. But I prefer books that grab my attention, and THE ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF LENNI AND MARGOT didn't.

I can say this for the book: it is cute. But that isn't enough to grab me.

A beautiful story about friendship in the face of uncertainty on a hospital ward.

Similar style to “A Man Called Ove” and “My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry,” and it warmed my cold, dead heart.

Great characters. Live life even when you don’t have much time left.

While well written and interesting, religious references spoiled the insights and slowed the story. While Lenni is a good character I found her constant reflections on the past a distraction rather than a compliment. On the positive side, her spunk and sarcasm were welcome small that they are. It's pleasant in some ways but not the sort I enjoy when compared to books like Tuesdays with Morrie or others.

5 Stars for The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot by Marianne Cronin.

Move over Owen Meany! After 32 years on top, you've been delegated to #2. Lenni & Margot have stolen my heart!!.

After struggling to give a "real" review, I've decided I can't give this masterpiece anywhere near the justice it deserves! Honestly.

One moment I'm laughing, then sobbing; I'm thrilled, then devastated - sometimes on the same page!! Every chapter led me through deeper layers of emotions.

Bravo, #mariannecronin, Bravo.

beautifully sad!!

Sometimes you just have to read something that will make you sob uncontrollably

Two hospice patients, 17 years old and 83 years old decide to paint 100 paintings telling their story as they do.

Beautiful story. Made me laugh and cry.

What a beautiful, sad and thought-provoking story — a skillfully spun tale laced with humor and wisdom. Based on the book summaries I read, I wasn’t sure this would “click” with me. I truly loved Cronin’s work and pleased to assign it a rare 5-star rating (although this distinction is getting a bit less rare within the past couple years. I’m not sure if I’m becoming too “easy” as I age, or if I’m getting more skilled at selecting books.) Put simply, “The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot” was a delightful read.

Lenni ist erst siebzehn Jahre alt und hat den Tod vor Augen. Das ist schwer zu akzeptieren und Lenni hat so viele Fragen. Obwohl sie nicht gläubig ist, zieht es sie immer wieder in die Kapelle zu Pater Arthur. Als ein Malkurs in dem Krankenhaus angeboten wird, nimmt sie dort teil und lernt so die 83-jährige Margot kennen. Die beiden freunden sich an und wollen gemeinsam 100 Bilder malen, für jedes ihrer Lebensjahre eines. Dabei lernen sie sich immer besser kennen und Margot erzählt aus ihrem Leben, das auch seine Schattenseiten hatte.
Die Geschichte wird zum größten Teil aus der Perspektive von Lenni erzählt. Sie ist berührend, traurig und humorvoll zugleich.
Es ist nicht leicht zu begreifen, warum man sterben muss, wann das Leben doch kaum angefangen hat. Lenni will wissen, warum sie sterben muss. Natürlich liegt es daran, dass sie diese Krankheit hat. Aber da ist dennoch dieses „warum“. Auch Pater Arthur kann Lenni nicht alle Fragen beantworten, dennoch tun ihr die Gespräche gut. Mit Margot verlaufen die Gespräche anders, denn beide haben nicht mehr viel Zeit. So erfährt man nach und nach, wie das Leben von Lenni und Margot verlaufen ist. Margot hat in ihrem Leben einige Schicksalsschläge einstecken müssen. Ich habe beide Protagonistinnen sehr gemocht.
Es ist eine Geschichte, die zu Herzen geht. Ich habe mit Lenni und Margot, die eine ungewöhnliche, aber sehr herzliche Freundschaft verbindet, mitfühlen können.
Dies ist ein intensiver und sehr emotionaler Roman, den ich nur empfehlen kann.

“You’re not dying. You’re living.”

“Living and dying are both complete mysteries, and you can’t know either until you have done both.”

I was initially disappointed with this story as I didn’t click with Lenni and thought I’d struggle to continue. I found her to be rather immature and precocious, but then I can’t imagine how 17 year old me would have reacted to the world if I were dying. Her interactions with Father Arthur were equally funny and frustrating, which helped her to grow on me.

Margot however was just my type of woman. She was clever, funny and a force to be reckoned with. Everything I aim to be at 83! I often pictured her as Lily Tomlin from Grace & Frankie, the type of women who knows that life is too short to hold-back and hide.

Whilst the ending is all too obvious from the bio, this isn’t a story purely about death and loss. It also has lots of love, friendship, laughter and life. I just hope that when my time comes I am able to look back with such perspective and know that I lived the life that I was meant to live.