The Last Resort

I can't believe the other reviews of this wonderful book! It's my absolute favourite of Lurie's - yes, it is arguably her lightest offering but I simply love it. Set in lush, sultry Key West, it's a sort of love story set amongst academic types, bored housewives, gay handymen and a world famous naturalist who thinks he has terminal cancer. I love the way the story jumps forward in great leaps, often coming back later to fill in detail. Nobody in this book is totally likeable, but they grow on the reader. My favourite character is the evil Republican aunt who flies in kick everybody's ass. Repellent yet oddly endearing! There are plenty of coincidences and contrivances, and most of the characters misunderstand each other at some point. It's very satisfying when everybody gets to say their piece. I'd have liked to see more of Jacko, the handyman/ gardener whose house forms the centre of events, but that's a small quibble. I've read this book many times over and it pleases every time. Absolute comic perfection from the queen of the genre.

I bought this book, having read lurie before, in order to escape all sense of trend or fashion. it is exhausting having to read in order to hold forth. lurie, i knew, would take me in to the real world, away from the sunday papers and the chatterati. and i was right, she did. a lovely book, this, for grown ups.

Putliizer Prize winning author Alison Lurie combines her acute observation of human nature with her wonderful sense of humor and wry social commentary to create a rich cast of characters. This novel is character driven and the group is thrown together in, of all places, Key West, "The Last Resort." Key West is, for many, the last resort, not because it is the Florida Key's southern-most vacation spot, but because it is literally the last resort for some of its residents. For these folks it is a place of refuge or final resource.The story revolves around Jenny and Wilkie Walker. Wilkie is a renowned naturalist, professor and writer. Jenny, his wife has dedicated all of their twenty-five year marriage to fulfilling her husband's needs, bringing up their children, acting as his research assistant, editor and Girl Friday, to such an extent that some feel her name should be on the title page of her husband's best selling books, along with his. She is perfectly happy in this role for she believes Wilkie is truly special, a gifted human being. When they first met, Jennie a recent college graduate and 21, Wilkie a man twice divorced in his mid-40s, she thought that here was someone she could devote her life to. And she has. Their lives had been quite happy until Wilkie retired, shortly before the novel begins. He knows he is no longer the foremost in his field, no longer the ecological "flavor of the month." He is also feeling the aches and pains of being 70 and has seen the warning signs of colon cancer. Convinced he is going to die, he wants no medical intervention, no life as an as an invalid, and so he considers suicide - a thought he becomes obsessed with. Not confiding in his much younger wife, his behavior becomes, from her point of view, erratic, withdrawn, and almost hostile. Thinking a change of scene from the New England cold might help, Jenny speaks with a friend who winters in Key West and decides to propose the idea of a few months in the tropics to her husband.The characters the Walkers meet during their stay, the warmer southern environment and unusual Key West holiday ambiance and culture, open Jennie's eyes and senses to a world of choices previously unavailable to her. This is a place where lives can turn totally around and upside down, even for the short time visitor. And the characters that the Walkers touch are changed by these two people in turn. Jennie gets a part time job and becomes involved with an assortment of locals - people she would normally have never met. And the fun begins!This is more than a novel about a marriage grown awkward and a frustrated suicide. Ms. Lurie's diverse cast of characters have a multitude of social and emotional issues to deal with - the illness and frailty of old age, loss and death, social and sexual desire, fear of time running out too soon. Ms. Lurie gives her story an open-ended finale, which I am perfectly happy with. She is much too subtle a writer to do anything else. This is a highly intell

Alison Lurie takes us on a journey of gentle discovery of humanity and its shortfalls.Everybody falls in their own way as we view inside each characters' mind as they meander on the brink of life and death on this far away island that is a perfect vignette setting for each of their story. A perfectly charming read and immensly enjoyable.

People's expectations of Alison Lurie must be exceedingly high. This book is not going to change the world, provide people with the answers to life's Big Questions, or garner her another literary prize. It's a fun read, however, built upon a simple plot and a group of characters who are only partially developed. Light fare, true, but along the way, she manages to provide some trenchant insights into the human psyche; some of the episodes and passages are just plain hilarious. Overall, this is summer vacation reading fare, but a cut above the usual poolside novel.The only aspect of the book that annoyed me was the portrayal of the Great Environmentalist Professor's much younger wife, who comes across as something of a ditz. A major theme here is that what this unfulfilled, underappreciated woman "needs" is another woman in a lesbian relationship. This is dubious at best, and detracts from the actual incisiveness of Lurie's depiction of the classic "faculty wife." Still, those who can accept something less than Nobel Prize material will likely find this a witty and interesting novel.