Becky's Great Book Reviews The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife

Starting this book, something just told me that it was going to be uplifting. Maybe it was the humor Anna Johnston infuses throughout the pages of The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife, but it was also the basic lovability of its protagonist, Fred Fife.

A mix-up causes octogenarian Fred Fife to be mistaken for nursing home resident Bernard Greer, when the residents are on an outing. When Fred, as a passerby, discovers Bernard dead in his wheelchair by a river, he tries to wheel him up a hill to join the group he came with. But a fall causes Bernard's body to fall in the river and be washed away, at the same time causing a head injury to Fred. When Fred comes to at the nursing home in Bernard's room, he tries to set the record straight again and again. But the two men's uncannily similar appearance and the fact that Bernard was often confused with his dementia make Fred unsuccessful at convincing the staff that he is not Bernard. Willing suspension of disbelief here people.

Before this event, Fred was living a sad, lonely life of destitution. His beloved wife had passed away, and Fred had used all of their money to try to save her with experimental cancer treatments. At the Wattle River Nursing Home, Fred has three squares a day, a warm bed, and most importantly, companionship. He gives up trying to explain that he is not Bernard and decides to embrace the situation.

Fred busies himself with making friends and helping the residents and staff. At one point Fred ponders to himself, "Grief is love with nowhere to go". He especially puts this thought into action when Bernard's long estranged daughter, Hannah, comes into the nursing home and the two strike up a beautiful relationship all while Hannah thinks Fred is actually her biological father whom she hasn't seen since she was nine years old.

Of course, one can see where this might be going. The conflict when Fred is discovered is spun into a delightful twist that leads into the culmination. I challenge anyone who gets to the end to have dry eyes!!

Although the subject matter of The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife is not light-hearted (depression and loneliness in the aging, etc.), the story IS. This unlikely novel about an elderly hero just screams to be made into a movie, and this reader just learned that it will be. I will watch it. This fast read, feel-good book by Anna Johnston gets five out of five stars from me.