Growing Old Disgracefully …

The Little Old Lady Who Broke All The Rules by Catharine Ingelman-Sundberg

Translated by Rod Bradbury

Let’s get it out of the way. If you enjoyed The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson as I did, (my review here), I’m certain that you will enjoy this novel.

This is primarily because the two books have the same translator, Rod Bradbury, and the English editions thus share the same writing style.

It is a shame however that the (different) publisher went for a lookalike cover for The LoL, as I shall call it, because that did make me think it was going to be a total cash-in on the 100 YOM’s success, and frankly I was almost put off by it. The LoL, despite initial similarities however, is different enough that I really enjoyed reading it.

The LoL is the story of five old folk, led by 79 year old Martha, who are being shabily treated by the penny-pinching staff of their residential home.  Being kept lightly sedated, virtual prisoners, fed plasticky meals and with coffee and biscuit rations ever decreasing, Martha decides to led a rebellion. To do that they need money. Martha thinks they could hold up a bank initially, but research shows that’s a non-starter.

The next day, while the guests, or the ‘clients’, as they were now called, at Diamond House were drinking their morning coffee in the lounge, Martha thought about what she should do. In her childhood home in Österlen, down in the south of Sweden, people didn’t just sit and wait for somebody else to take action. … The murmur of voices rose and fell all around her as she surveyed the rather shabby lounge. The smell was decidedly reminiscent of the Salvation Army and the furniture seemed to have come straight from the recycling depot. The old grey 1940s building, with its asbestos fibre cement cladding, was like a combination of an old school and a dentist’s waiting room. Surely this wasn’t where she was meant to finish her days, with a mug of weak instant coffee to go with a plastic meal? No, damn it, it certainly was not! Martha breathed deeply, pushed her coffee mug aside and leaned forward to talk to her group of friends.
‘You lot. Come with me,’ she said and gave a sign to her friends to follow her to her room. ‘I have something to talk to you about.’

Martha tells them her plans – and they’re all in!  The first thing is to escape the home though. This achieved, they hole up in a couple of suites in the Grand Hotel (just like the cons in the BBC’s Hustle), where they plan to rob the rich clientele. Having worked out that this won’t generate enough dosh, instead they hatch a clever plan to ransom a valuable painting or two from the city’s art museum. Everything is planned to the last detail; Derren Brown, who used a gang of OAPs to steal a painting in his TV special before Christmas this year would be proud of this lot.

They realise that they may end up in prison, they’ve seen on the telly that in prison they wouldn’t be treated any worse than in their home, and at their age … The caper proves to be so much fun, even when things don’t go totally according to plan, that they get a taste for it and decide to grow old disgracefully.

The LOL is gentler than The 100 YOM. There are no hilarious and ingeniously gory deaths, for instance.  It is also told all the in present, there are no flashbacks to earlier in the gang’s lives – they are rebooting their lives in the here and now.

There is plenty to chortle about, especially in all the character traits of the quintet. Martha, the bossy one, is the natural leader, Brains (real name Oscar) is the – er- brains of the outfit, and inventor.  Rake, a former seaman, is stylish and very much a lady’s man. Then there are her two lady friends, Anna-Greta who is very thin, very tall and very old and Christina, the youngest, who was used to high standards and needs to be persuaded they’re doing the right thing.  Add to them, the sadist Nurse Barbara, an assortment of other criminals, and the bungling police inspector, natch, and our rich cast is near complete.

The central caper was well thought out and great fun. The lasting memories of this novel though will be of five people who had been made geriatric before their time, rediscovering their joie de vivre, alongside a cautionary tale for those with relatives in a home to monitor the home’s performance as well as their loved ones’ well-being. (8/10)

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Source: Review copy. Pan paperback, 431 pages. BUY at Blackwell’s via affiliate link.

7 thoughts on “Growing Old Disgracefully …

  1. kaggsysbookishramblings says:

    Love the sound of this Annabel (and I have The 100 Year Old Man on my TBR too). This does strike a few chords as we have aged relatives struggling on at their own homes, and we and they are resisting the care home option – this will no doubt make me even surer we are doing the right thing!

  2. farmlanebooks says:

    I tried to read this yesterday and abandoned it. I did enjoy the 100-Year-olld Man, but this was so much lighter and I didn’t really find it funny. It was like a watered down copy of 100YOM. I think having the same translator made the similarities even greater. Glad you enjoyed it, but I’ve moved on to something a bit more original.

    • gaskella says:

      I did groan when I saw it had the same translator, but once I got into it, it was an undemanding and pleasant read – it did get better once they started planning the big heist.

  3. Alex says:

    Not one for me then. I would have abandoned the hundred year old man within twenty or so pages had I not had to read it for a book group. Definitely a book you loved or hated, I think.

  4. litlove says:

    Like you, I was totally put off by the superficial similarities to 100 YOM. I just loathe this idea that because I’ve enjoyed one book, I necessarily want to read a virtual copy of it. I’m really glad that you liked it and found that it had its own strong points. Oh I should mention that I haven’t read YOM, just I recall what a success it was last year and felt aggrieved that publishers should be ‘cashing in’ on a trend. Much better to sell every book on its individual qualities. I’m delighted to know that this can be recommended on its own merits!

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