NEW BOOK REVIEW

FAITH AND INSPIRATIONAL NOVEL



The Lodge at Bristlecone Pines Kindle Edition  ... by Thomas Bruce


 They were left there to die. Six residents of a fledgling elderly care home. They however weren't done living and join together calling themselves Table 21. You're never too old. Never too old to live, to give, to learn, to challenge yourself, to be productive and to share your life perspective. That is what Table 21 learns during their time at The Lodge at Bristlecone Pines. Through their determination they create a home for those that have a life to live. Share this book with family and friends. It's inspirational, heart warming and funny. It’s thought provoking and starts the conversation: There’s got to be a better way to care for our parents.

A published author ravaged by dementia with stories still to be told, a retired detective who can’t turn off his investigative mind, an executive chef with nowhere to cook, a retired nurse who isn’t done caring, the retail executive with nowhere to sell, and a retired delicatessen owner who dreams of teaching his craft.

Thrown together by a simple table rotation at Chelsea Manor the six come together and form Table21. Their new home is soon taken over by Levi Jorgensen, an eighteen-year-old aspiring Olympic skier who, due to drug addiction, accidentally killed his grandmother.

In her will, Levi’s grandmother leaves the facility to him with instructions to renovate it into The Lodge at Bristlecone Pines. Levi however intends to sell the facility to land developers. Table 21, are a handful for Levi and escape on a three hundred mile journey to go and see a real Bristlecone Pine Tree to fulfill one of their dreams. They fight to keep their home, and what follows are the heartwarming hilarious adventures of Table 21 as they set out to prove that Levi is a drug addict who is stealing their medications.

Tragedy, however, touches both sides and causes them to open their hearts and minds to having empathy for their fellow human being.

Bristlecone Pines challenges the way we see and treat our elderly parents. It provokes change by reminding us they have amazing life perspective and can still be productive no matter what their age.    
 
OUR REVIEW               
 
So ok, now that I've wiped the tears away, let's start on this deeply touching and moving story on not only the main six characters of The Lodge at Bristlecone Pines by Thomas Bruce, but the elderly population in our world.
 
We are introduced to the residents of Chelsea Manor through a new and scared elderly patient, just starting her journey in life with  Lewy Bodies Dementia. Being strong as she faces her new life style, she is embraced by a lively group of diverse people who have found and established a mischievous friendship with each other, and unite themselves as Table 21.
 
As life moves on, we learn that the new owner of Chelsea Manor is woven in the story with a somewhat devious plan of his own. His drug addiction and his physical handicap plays a big part of his mind set of not following through with bringing a fresh start to the Manor as stated in the will by his late Grandmother, Sadie.
 
There is more meaning to the changing of the name to The Lodge at Bristlecone Pines then we at first know. As tragedy hits, the reader is uplifted with  scriptures that have meaning not only to the residents in the story, but a gentle reminder to those of us who have aging, elderly parents. Being old doesn't mean you still can't be productive as we learn through these characters. Mixing love and sadness, keep a box of tissues at hand.


Linda     

 
This story brings a surprising collaboration of all the characters and their problems to an ending that, well, doesn't really end does it? As 
the author puts it..."We don't need to know all the answers, or how the story ends. We just need to pay attention to the chapter that's laid out before us."
  

 Amazon Review