The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen, 83¼ Years Old

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Grietje de Boer, a lovely lady, who is friendly and sympathetic without fawning, and Graeme Gorter who appears insecure and introverted but always tells it to you straight. It is not just Eefje who keeps Hendrik going; there is also Evert, a sort of Leslie Phillips, Ding-Dong rascal who keeps having body parts amputated; Grietje, an old woman slowly succumbing to Alzheimer’s; and Ria and Antonie, a pair of superannuated chefs who delight in preparing clandestine and strictly forbidden meals in their rooms. Refusal to wallow

The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen, 83¼ Years Old - Goodreads The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen, 83¼ Years Old - Goodreads

The Old But not Dead Club then spawned a monthly cooking club, plus another two members - Ria and Antoine Travemundi. I must try to be thankful for every happy day, as Grietje is, and I am trying with all my might, but sometimes I’m just not mighty enough.”Hendrik is fed up of being a civil, ingratiating, courteous, polite and helpful bloke. He tends to choose the path of least confrontation to try to please everybody. To stop himself spiralling into depression and boredom - in a place where to some residents the most exciting moment of their day is wondering what biscuits will arrive with their tea and coffee - he decides to give the world a taste of the real Hendrikus Gerardus Groen, by writing an uncensored diary into a year in the life of a group of "inmates" (as he calls his fellow residents), in a care home in north Amsterdam. His whistleblowing account shows us what life is really like for people in care homes; the rules, regulations and human interactions. What a wonderful old curmudgeon. Hendrik Groen is in a nursing home - he lives in the assisted living section. He decided to keep a journal for one year. He started his journal on January 1, 2013 when he was 83 years old. Seeing the world through his eyes - and the perspective of his closest friends - The Old But Not Dead Club - was a very humorous undertaking. From his mortification of his "dribbling" and leaving yellow stains in his white underpants, to the suggestion that people go to the "shit clinic" and quit bothering him with their whining about their daily constipation or diarrhea stories while he is trying to take afternoon tea and cake. Hendrik is the Grampa that everyone wishes they had. Determined not to be a whinger, he forms the Old But Not Dead Club with a few like-minded souls. Together they escape the confines of the home to take trips to cookery classes, Pixar movies and golf clubs, expeditions that ensure the resentment and anger of others who are not allowed to join their exclusive society. This was not helped by the fact that Meulenhoff his publisher never released any information regarding the identity of one of his most popular clients. For years, he hid under a pseudonym as he published several literary passages in “Torpedo Magazine.”

Hendrik Groen, 83¼ Years Old review: a nome de The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen, 83¼ Years Old review: a nome

In Norway they’re watching a TV show that’s just twelve hours of nonstop knitting: “from sheep to sweater.” To promote the notion of “Slow TV.” Attempts to make something of life in 2016 won the Audience Award for the Dutch Book. This prize was not personally collected by the author.Along with fellow members of the Old-But-Not-Dead Club, he embarks on a wild spree of octogenarian anarchy. But the home's director will not stand for any more drunken bar crawls, illicit fireworks or geriatric romance. The good name of the care home will not be disgraced.