Henry Paperback – May 5, 2013

I read this novel in one sitting, laughing at and crying for Henry all the way. Christopher Hooks describes a world I'm smack in the middle of, an American consumer culture eager to shuttle old people like 78-year-old Henry to the sidelines. Hooks is very good at mocking a system that overmedicates the old ( and makes tons of bucks for big pharma), consigns them to indifferent nursing homes (also driven by the profit motive), creates totally dysfunctional families despite some mythic ideal (get Dad's house and money no matter the cost to him), and satirizes banks, stores, "health services," companies that shove retirees out the door with no concern, and "neighbors" who are about as neighborly as poison ivy. Henry lives on Moon Pies, junk food pushed by food companies less interested in nutrition than in profits. All those piles of magazine subscriptions he buys from Publishers Clearing House may irritate his son, but they also represent how corporate America has ensnareed his dream of actually winning one of their million-dollar prizes.But the novel is also very funny, and the humor arises from Henry's stubborn refusal to knuckle under to all the people who want him to behave like a docile old guy. Hooks creates a series of vignettes in which Henry hilariously assaults all those people who expect him to just shut up and do what he is expected to do. He smuggles his feral cat into the bank and terrorizes the teller doling out his money, and he cows the clerk in the convenience store. He pops pill "cocktails" of Ambien, Viagra, and Cialis just to see what kind of surprise will happen. He plays head games with the clerks at the Bi-Lo grocery store where food "goes to die" and tries to ride off on a motorized cart. Hooks makes Henry neither a martyr nor a saint--he loves his wife but not his child, and he has become so used to being treated as if he is disposable that he has lost the ability to see love when it is offered--Brenda, the housekeeper, has worked past the stereotypes and mourns him when she think he's dead.Henry may be playing a losing game in an America that sees old people as both a drag and a source of profit, but readers will cheer him on in the novel's last laugh. It's the system Hooks is after here, and Henry rocks it in his own inimitable style.

So, before I say anything - this book has the best ending EVER.I say this book is funny because it is. Henry is character to say the least. He's the kinda old man we all aspire to be. And again, the ending is hilarious... as you'll see.I say it's emotional because there are some really sad moments in here and Hooks is a fantastic writer -- he almost made me cry a few times - I'll admit that.I say it's controversial because Hooks stirs up a lot of issues that will hit home for people my age (late 20's) and my parent's generation - our grandparents are reaching Henry's age. How are your parents dealing with your grandparents getting older? What kind of control, if any, are they trying to assert over your nana & papa?Imagine getting your house taken away... your car taken away... being threatened with being put in a home.There's a lot to think about... but you might as well laugh along the way.

I love Henry. Christopher Hooks has written a funny, endearing book. It's not just a "ha ha, that's funny" - it's loud guffaws, possible spit on the screen and laugh until you're coughing funny. What makes Henry so hilarious is that what he observes and thinks are thoughts we've all had and Christopher gives them a voice. It's the kind of book you want to stop and share with someone else when you read something funny. It may be a little tough if you've recently lost a parent (and weren't like Jack) - I read the last 10% through tears, but laughed again at the ending. It's quirky, fresh and funny...I'm really looking forward to Christopher's next book. Bravo!

I received a free ebook but I'm not sure which site supplied the link. It's been a long time since I've read a book that really did make me laugh out loud. At the same time, my heart hurt for Henry and his kitty. The novel shows the plight of senior citizens, dealing with loneliness, financial woes and children that are seemingly unsympathetic. I recommend this book!

The book is very funny. I like old Henry, although I felt the author could have dispensed with some of the sexually explicit details which appeared to be added only for the purpose of qualifying as light porn. I don't want to know the details of anybody's bedroom. Just shut the door and let me imagine what it must have been like!So there were a couple-three chapters I mostly skipped. But most of old Henry's activities were only enhanced by the telling. Makes me proud to be old! Hard to come up with a happy ending for an old person's story, but this author came close...

Comedy, satire, farce, all to be effective must be unsuspected, insightful and certainly not mundane. This story of a lonely old man may make a puerile movie script or a painfully obvious attempt at social commentary but its greatest fault is that it is uninteresting. Henry is old, lonely, widowed, facing death and looking for the meaning of his life. He does not find it.It is a story told many times before with much greater skill and subtly. Here, Henry's and his cat's antics simply are narrated with no purpose. This could have been told in the first or third person and it would make no difference. Stylistically this is the death knell for a book.The chapters are not short vignettes inter-related but one-liners that bring the reader nowhere. The biggest unanswered, is what is the author trying to say. It is never answered and I fear was never asked in the first place. Read Kingsley Amis or Muriel Spark to see how this should be handled.

I fell in love with Henry right away. I've got a thing for ornery old men and Henry did not disappoint. If you can see past the humor (and you can pretty easily) you can see his sadness and hurt at being considered such a burden by his pathetic remnants of a family. To be fair, his son probably doesn't like him much because he never much liked him. But there you have the cycle of dysfunction. The ending of this book was perfect for Henry. Just perfect.