Where River Turns to Sky

by Gregg Kleiner

Book Overview

Eighty-year-old George Castor promised he would never let his best friend Ralph die alone at the Silver Gardens Nursing Home--but Ralph passed on while George was away fishing. Distraught, guilt-stricken and seeking redemption, George buys a broken-down mansion in Looking glass, Oregon, paints it fire-engine red, and begins searching for other old folks to share it with him. Because George has made a new promise that will alter the course of the rest...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0380805596
• ISBN13: 9780380805594
• Release Date: April 1999
• Publisher: William Morrow & Company
• Length: 400 Pages
• Weight: 0.81 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

What a REFRESHING NOVEL, an INCREDIBLE IDEA!

This amazing story and Kleiner's cast of characters will linger in your mind long after you've turned the final page. I sat for a long time, stunned, smiling, tears drying on my cheeks. It's a tale about real human beings who choose to live together in a huge old house, where they share the joys and trials of life. Together these women and men discover that getting older is not the terrible event our culture has painted it to be--but is just part of the life journey. Ultimately, these folks discover how powerful community can be. Kleiner has created a story that will capture your heart and restore your faith in the human race. I'm giving this novel as a gift to friends and family, young and old. This should be required reading for all of us--especially us baby boomers--so that we can "do" old age differently--with zest, with joy, in community!

WONDERFUL!

This is, quite simply, a wonderful book....full of heart, love and soul! What more could a reader ask? A must read for anyone who loves good literature.

very moving, touching story with memorable characters

I did not want this book to end! I felt I was there with them, wanting these people to succeed, witnessing miracles happen even if they were small. I felt like I knew George and Clara, understood them and would've liked to have known them. I will not look at older folks the same way again. I am passing this wonderful book around to all my friends and hope they too will see what we all take for granted. I cried as I finished this book (not a normal reaction for me) because it was ending, happy for the survivors and missing the ones gone on around.

An Outstanding Choice for Book Clubs! Bravo.

This amazing novel is rich in so many ways! I laughed and cried. It will steal your heart, take your breath away. Peopled with characters so real and wonderful you'll want them to show up on your porch for tea, this is the story of six incredible strangers who come together in a tumble-down mansion in a tiny town and attempt to avoid winding up in a nursing home by living TOGETHER and by turning their final years into a grand adventure. This book will make you want to get up and sing, dance, shout out the window that life can be grand right down to the very end. Although the novel deals with issues we will all have to face sooner or later (death & dying, aging), Mr. Kleiner handles the subject matter with humor and love and compassion. The novel reminded me of a wild combination of Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, Cocoon, Driving Miss Daisy, Waking Ned Divine, and Field of Dreams. The movie version would be gorgeous.Our book group's favorite novel of the year! Everyone should read this incredible story...then spread the word to anyone who might one day be old! This novel will change the way you view life. Read it, NOW!

An extraordinary first novel...Bravo!

A trove of richly developed characters, led by a gruff but kind-hearted octagenarian named George Castor, pull and push themselves into an alliance against living in a rest home. George Castor resonates in the reader's heart, his many burdens, and his noble effort to overcome them, begging the question: Has our fast-paced culture raced beyond our ability to appreciate and care for the aging among us? This is a wonderfully entertaining and emotionally satisfying book with unmistakeable message...Everyone needs family, and no one should have to die alone, especially of old age