Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I honestly didn't go into this book expecting to like it as much as I did. I have trouble with books where the main character is not someone I particularly like. But, I gave this one a shot. I was pleasantly surprised. I couldn't help but like the curmudgeon. It's not a deep-thinking book. It's there for entertainment, to make you 'feel' emotions, to transport you to another place and another life. Therefore, I give the book five stars for being exactly what it claims to be--a story about one man and the circle of friends that he makes despite his grouchy personality. I liked the backstory with the wife (even though I thought the author went too far with the tragedy heaped onto this always-optimistic woman). I bought the audio book to listen when I couldn't read and the narrator was flawless. I've heard some pretty bad narrators lately from best-selling books (Miss Peregrine's for example), but this audio book was very well done. I have one gigantic bone to pick with the author. 59 years old is not 89 years old. Fifty-nine years old is when most people are in the apex of careers--before retirement and also having a lot of knowledge and experience to help them in their career fields. The 50-somethings in my office know what an iPad is, how to use computers, have the latest cell phones, and are pretty up on all the new tech gadgets because they are the ones that can afford them! There was no reason why the author couldn't make this a lot more believable by making the main character 79 or older. There was nothing to prevent the backstory being set further back. The whole time I was reading, I had to make myself forget the character was supposed to be 59. For godsakes, the President of the United States is 56!! I wonder why the author chose such a relatively young main character to act like my grandfather would. But, if you can overlook that weird decision, the rest of the story is very well done and very entertaining.