The Bar Harbor Retirement Home for Famous Writers (And Their Muses): A Novel

What a creative way to write a novel. Quite a few authors have recently been writing fiction with two different voices and time periods, but I have never ever read a book quite like this novel before. The plot was touching and piqued my curiosity many times. Having one of the story lines written in a similar style to the techniques the mother daughter team of the “Monkey Wrench” series was absolutely captivating! I loved this book!

Since I am "of an age", as well as live in a senior facility (though not like this one), I thought I'd enjoy this book. It did NOT disappoint. I did enjoy her depiction of the characters and their various pasts and what they are dealing with. It was definitely worth a read, and I did recommend it to a friend... I stayed up at the end until midnight to finish it!

When I first purchased this book, I thought to myself "sounds like a great summer read!" Well, I soon found out that its a great read for any time of the year! I so enjoyed The Bar Harbor Retirement Home for Famous Writers (And Their Muses)! I refer to it as my BOGO book! Two stories for the price of one! Problem is, which story is better? Hard to say because I loved them both. It never gets confusing so don't let that be a concern. The characters are the heart of the novel, and believe me, this novel has a lot of heart! There was something about each and every one of them (including the minor characters) that I could relate to in some form or another. Ms. Delfino is a superb writer, the story maintains your interest from page 1 through page 320. Actually, even the Acknowledgements page was pretty interesting! I highly recommend this novel! I loved it so much so that I purchased both the Kindle version as well as the paperback, and I never do that! I suppose there is a first time for everything!

Sometimes we are looking for a good, easy reading. This is a great book for those days. The characters are very interesting. The book is about this retirement home were most of the residents are linked in some way. Besides the writers, there is also the staff that are kind of a group of misfits. All together made a great story. The book is about these writers that decided to write this book inspired by one of the staffers. So you have a book inside a book and both books have endings! The books are intriguing and they have happy endings. I will rate the language and drama PG because there is no violence, just a little sex and easy with the words. I will read more books written at his author.

I love books that flip between decades and settings. Character development was tricky but worked.… overused “breath hitched.,” and a few other expressions. And wrapped up too fast…kinda like the author realized it was getting too long and needed to wrap up.

This wonderfully entertaining novel is about lived and lost loves among now elderly writers and editors living at a The Bar Harbor Retirement Home for Famous Writers who happen to be reunited when they come to live out their days there. None of them are actively writing or working any more until one of them, Alfonse, is moved by a muse he discovers in Cecibel Bringer when he, the last of an old order of famous authors moves in to the home. Cecibel is a beautiful and kind but reclusive orderly, whose own past has also left her damaged and full of painful regret. Alfonse has always been her favorite and most admired author, and the two strike up a touching relationship. Alfonse is inspired to begin a story--which becomes a novel within the novel--as other famous authors begin passing the notebook between them to add chapters, even as their own lives deline. The story within the story mirrors some of the aged authors' past in that it is one of youthful rapture and suffering, unbearable choices, heartbreaking losses. The writing in this novel is as lush and passionate as the stories themselves. A creative, original, enjoyable romance with an unexpected ending.

The book is about several famous authors who have retired to an old folks home that is strictly for aged people from the “book” world. Three of them decide to write a novel where each one of them writes a chapter. The reader is allowed to read this novel as it unfolds. There are a few other people involved in their lives, including an aide who was terribly disfigured by an auto accident.It’s like reading Two books; one about the interaction of the old people and the other about the amazing book they are writing.Very well written and one that keeps you turning pages to the very ending

A wealthy writer in Bar Harbor left his beautiful mansion as a retirement/nursing home for other authors and a few misfits who had no other place to go. As the book begins a group of four friends finds themselves together at this lovely place. They have quirky personal pasts that intertwine and are truly happy to see each other after so many years. A newcomer and best friend of the owner who built the mansion arrives and feels so much like writing again that he starts writing a novel. Pretty soon, all four friends are writing chapters.Now, these authors were so gifted that college classes were built around their writing. So, it was amusing and a little appalling to me that the book they wrote together was awful. It is pretty much trash, but they enjoyed writing it so much that they don't seem to notice and maybe they don't care. If I belonged to a book club the why of that book is what I would want to discuss.This book is a satisfying read for the soul even though there is sadness. The only thing I found to be too much of a gimmick is the old lady who puffs away at marijuana for her pain. This tries too hard to hook the reader in and I found it artificial. Nobody in their 80's or 90's is going to have the lungs to start smoking anything.All-in-all a delightful read that makes me want more like it.

I truly enjoyed this trip. I bought it as an opportunity; because it appeared as a recommendation while browsing for some reads, both fiction and professional.The story leads you trhough fiction and reality, both within a fiction ouvre; this is why I love literature. I liked the fact that, despite having several characters on play, I did not loose track of who is who and to which story they belong to. NO, it is not a book of many stories where you have to burn out your brain(s) to make sense or even to pursue reading.While enjoying the magic of fiction, the story confronts you with the harsh side of life (and death) without traumatasing you. It is a tale about storytellers which will immerse you into human psychology and emotions while wondering how different life is from place to place, from time to time, from family to family and so on and so on; again and again.Still, it leaves many questions unanswered, several "elements" unexplained, but in such a manner that you become an author of the mere book you are holding. It is a magnificent language management. While the characters are well defined in the author's mind you will not swallow lots of words explaining why they are the way they are; they just are, they just act.Could this be a Nobel Prize?I think so.As for the book itself as an object (subject of art), the publisher did a good job. The book is easy to handle, has a neat printing and light weight.My only remarks are rather cliches:1. There is no hardcover edition;2. It does not smell like a book, it is odourless.

it was an unusual read