The Pleasure Was Mine: A Novel

by Tommy Hays

Book Overview

Prate Marshbanks proposed to his future wife on a muggy July night at Pete's Drive-in back in '52. "She said yes to me between bites of a slaw burger all-the-way." A college graduate and daughter of a... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 031233933X
• Release Date: February 2006
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 0.62 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.5" x 0.6" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

A Wonderful Story of Undying Love

We all probably know a Prate Marshbanks. He's a good person who thinks he's as tough as can be, but in reality he's a softie. Family comes first, not afraid of a day's work, intelligent but his greatest asset is common sense. We all know the type, and if by chance you don't, Tommy Hays creates this exact character in his book THE PLEASURE WAS MINE. THE PLEASURE WAS MINE tells the story of Prate, who in his senior years has to take care of his wife Irene. Irene was once the most beautiful girl in the town, a lawyer's daughter, and English teacher, someone who in Prate's estimation was too good for him. Yet the two have a wonderful marriage, raise a son together, and at least as far as Prate is concerned, the two never fall out of love. This love and dedication is being tested now that Irene has Alzheimer's. Prate spends most of his days caring for Irene, but his routine is disrupted when his son Newell calls and asks him to baby-sit for Jackson, Newell's son. Prate reluctantly agrees believing his widowed son may need some time away but he wonders how he's entertain a sullen, bookish, and somewhat quirky young boy like Jackson. The two bond, and this bonding creates a new family dynamic. The beauty of this book is due to Tommy Hays' carefully structured writing. This book could easily go in at least five different directions, but Hays is careful to present the story through Prate's eyes and by doing so, we become immersed in this man's story and grow to feel for him and the other characters in the story. Readers may think that a husband caring for an ailing wife with Alzheimer's is similar to the story of THE NOTEBOOK, Hays avoids sentimentality. Prate always has a bit of an edge which keeps him real and anyone who either has cared for someone with Alzheimer's, or knows someone who has, will appreciate the accuracy of the story and Prate's emotions. I know I'm not the only reader who fell in love with this book, and it's my guess that others will too. Enjoy!

The Pleasure was Mine

This is a wonderful book, full of humor, sadness, and warmth. The characters are complex, especially Prate, the main character. He has a charming way of being cantankerous and loving at the same time. If anyone has had a family member with dementia, this book will make you smile and make you cry. Prate's wife, who has Alzheimers, shows us the ups and downs, the humor and tenderness, the childlike dependency and the glimmers of remembering times past. Having the young grandson appear brings out a richness in all the characters. I especially enjoyed the sense of place depicted in the book. There are allusions to Greenville, SC, past and present, as well as the artsy world of Asheville, NC and Penland. This is well-worth reading.

the pleasure was mine, too

this is an absolutely fine book, a wonderful read, and so uplifting. i don't know why more authors and publishers don't wirte and print books like this. it is so nice to read a story about ordinary folks and how real character carries them through the twists in their lives. you feel that you are right there with the folks, and you learn a few things about life. it is a supurbly written story and so nicely crafted so that you can drift along with this family easily. also, he has touched on many difficult issues and poingnant themes without pulling too hard on the heart strings with mushy wording. a real trick, that. a truly enjoyable read. get a copy for yourself, and send one to a good friend. dgs

A humanizing work....

Tommy Hays has achieved that delicate balance of realism with affection for imperfect characters in dealing with the family tragedy of Alzheimer's. His narrator is a retired working man unflinchingly aware of his persistent shortcomings, forgivably nostalgic, and a prime candidate to feel that his wife's Alzheimer's has short-changed their golden years. But despite his emotional absence from a half-century of marriage, he manages to show up for that long goodbye that Alzheimer's affords yet so few of us fully embrace. This is a humanizing work by a gifted and caring writer.

The power of memory

Because my mother has suffered from Alzheimer's for the past ten years, I usually avoid anything related to the disease (fact or fiction) like the plague, but because I'm familiar with Tommy Hays's sweetly haunting writing from his first two novels, Sam's Crossing and In the Family Way, I knew it would be worth the pain. In his new novel, The Pleasure Was Mine, Mr. Hays is able to reveal the heartbreaking and often inhuman realities of Alzheimer's, while at the same time exposing the kernel of youth and love at the heart of those we often see as aged and that many in our new culture of eternal youth, have written off. This book tells a story, like a small well painted picture, of Irene's, but more importantly Prate, her husband's, frightening descent into the world of Alzheimer's. It exposes the often-heartless reality of long term care and the system and culture that surround it, but really it is about much more. The story speaks clearly and hopefully to a generation of Baby Boomers faced with their own ageing parents, impending mortality, and genetic weaknesses. It has a lot to teach about growing old with grace. It puts forward the idea that love only seems to be real to us, when we are in the memory of someone we love. It reminds us to be aware and place a great value on that love while we are able. Mr. Hays explores the experience of loneliness that can a occur at any age through the characters of Jackson and Newell, the grieving young son and father, and Prate, the grandfather, father, and husband of the afflicted Irene Generational lines become blurred when traits as diverse as, curmudgeonly temper, large ears, and artistic ability appear in new but familiar forms in each of these three men. And Jackson, the young boy, has a slightly unearthly, intuitive, and vulnerable quality that propels the story and endears him to the reader. Tommy Hays grounds this story in the very made-real rural and urban Upstate of South Carolina and mountainous Western North Carolina. And he writes it all in a smooth and effortless flow of upright language, not unlike partnering someone in a dance, which also has its place in this story. As I read I often heard the voices of my own father and mother speak the words that were printed on the page, and as I laughed out loud at the sweet and funny moments this family passes through, the voice I heard sounded exactly like my mother's.