Good train/bus book.. bit light butfun. Each element fits well. Story is lovely. ( )

Philosophy Made Simple – Hellenga
4 stars

Rudy Harrington is at a crossroad in life. He is a widower. His nest is emptied of his grown daughters. He is ready for a change. He begins to study philosophy. He sells his house and moves to an avocado farm. The story that follows is occasionally humorous and very warmly human.
I liked Rudy. I can identify with his need to grieve for his wife and his far from perfect marriage. He is a wonderful supportive father of some very unconventional daughters. I enjoyed the Anglo/Indian wedding preparations and I especially loved the artistic elephant. Somehow, Hellenga made all of the unlikely elements of this story seem commonplace, or at least, completely normal. It’s a slow moving story, but it felt genuine.
( )

It took a long time for me to get through this one, but it was good. (It's not a tough read, just not compelling.)

I read this at the same time I read [author:Mark Haddon's] [book:A Spot of Bother] which made for a great contrast. Both are about older men after retirement trying to make sense of their kids, their life, their wife's affair. My prejudice going into this book was that the main character, Rudy, would be a fool and make dumb mistakes with his newly acquired avocado grove. Didn't happen. This guy is not dumb or incompetent and nothing gets completely out of control (as it does in [book:A Spot of Bother]). He's working through philosophy -- lots of Plato and others who are out of my realm of knowledge -- but it's done in a really understandable way.

Not an amazing book, but solid, with enough story, plot, originality in setting and events, to make it interesting. And would work well for book clubs, because there's lots to discuss. ( )

Another wonderful book, the fourth fine novel by Hellenga (with some of the same characters as in some of his earlier ones. The main character is a 60-year-old widower, with three grown daughters, one of whom is getting married. He's reading a book titled Philosophy Made Simple, and he's trying to apply what he learns in each chapter--about Plato, Aristotle, Berkeley, Kant, Schopenhaur, etc.--to his daily life. Hellenga creates such endearing characters, who live life so thoughtfully, so reflectively, and leave me with a strong sense of affirming everyday life. ( )

I was unable to finish this book because I was utterly apathetic towards the main character.