Old John
Peter Hartling
Hardcover
(Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books, March 15, 1990)
The German setting, inside and outside the home, seems unfamiliar at times. But the clear-eyed portrait of the family coming to understand their grandfather, eccentric as he is at first and changing as he approaches death, crosses borders easily. Hartling avoids flipness in plot and style; Old John won`t be talked out of wearing his embarrassing bathing suit, for example. When Old John dies, our feeling of loss is the measure of Hartling`s achievement.