What a lovely read!

Sometimes I read a summary on the back of the book and think "this sounds just like 100 other books I've read". I love heartbreakers but there are only so many places those books can go. This one was completely different. So poetic and beautiful.

The story centers round two characters who meet in a hospital, both dying. Lenni, is a seventeen year old who has months to live, Margot an 83 year old with the same sentence. Upon meeting they realise that between them, they've lived 100 years, and they spend the next months, their last, recalling each year of their lives and capturing them through art.

I loved the mystery in the book. It isn't a mystery novel, but it reflect life in such a beautiful way, just as we don't always know everything about the people around us or each year of their lives. Throughout the book we as readers are given glimpses into the lives of Lenni and Margot, but the story is never fully told or finished. There is always an unanswered question. I loved this. An example of this is the question of why Lenni is dying at 17 years old, this was maybe the most challenging mystery for me but I came to realize that her illness isn't the point. Her life is, and the way it will be remembered. That is what is important. I loved the way this style caused me to question why I cared so much about the information I wasn't getting. And I loved how at the end of the book I was perfectly satisfied with the answers I got.

This book isn't perfectly rounded. It tells the story of two lives, one short and one long, in snippets. Lives are complicated, they are hard, they are filled with different sorts of people. The 100 years of Lenni and Margot perfectly reflects that.

The characters, especially Lenni, are so interesting. As Lenni grapples with what is means to have lived but not to have a future, the stories and characters she interacts with are so comforting, challenging and complex. I really enjoyed digging into the deep and intimidating questions of life with Lenni and the hospital priest, Arthur. This additional character brought light to how light hearted Lenni is, even when being confronted with wild and undeserved concerns.

The many losses throughout the book were perfect. That is why I come back again and again to stories about loss. They pulled my heartstrings in the most beautiful ways and were also tied up with such marvelous love, affection, and peace. I was stunned to feel so broken open by loss in a book about dying, I felt prepared. I was not.

Thoroughly enjoyed

The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot - Likewise Book Reviews

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