Lunch at the Piccadilly

by Clyde Edgerton

Welcome to the Rosehaven Convalescence Center in beautiful Listre, North Carolina. Recuperating after a recent fall, Lil Olive sits on the front porch, chitchatting with and rocking right alongside the regulars. There’s tiny Maudie Lowe with her cane that seems too tall; Beatrice Satterwhite, whose fancy three-wheeled walker is a Cadillac among Chevrolets; Clara Cochran, who cusses as frequently as she takes a breath; and L. Ray Flowers, the freelance preacher who strums a mean guitar, and who reveals his dream of forming a national movement to unite churches and nursing homes (“Nurches of America”). Keeping a watchful eye on them all is Carl, Lil’s middle-age bachelor nephew with a heart of gold and the patience of a saint. But Lil is restless, eager to get back to her own apartment. She wants some adventure. And before long, tranquil Rosehaven is turned upside down. . . .

Genres: Fiction, Humor, Southern, Book Club, Adult Fiction, Audiobook, Friendship

264 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Clyde Edgerton is widely considered one of the premier novelists working in the Southern tradition today, often compared with such masters as Eudora Welty and Flannery O'Connor.

Although most of his books deal with adult concerns--marriage, aging, birth and death--Edgerton's work is most profoundly about family. In books such as Raney, Walking Across Egypt, The Floatplane Notebooks, and Killer Diller, Edgerton explores the dimensions of family life, using an endearing (if eccentric) cast of characters. "Edgerton's characters," writes Mary Lystad in Twentieth-Century Young Adult Writers, "have more faults than most, but they also have considerable virtues, and they are so likable that you want to invite them over for a cup of coffee, a piece of homemade apple pie, and a nice long chat."

Raised in the small towns of the North Carolina Piedmont, Edgerton draws heavily on the storytelling traditions of the rural south in his novels. Without the distractions of big-city life and the communications revolution of the late twentieth century, many rural Americans stayed in close touch with their relatives, and often shared stories about family members with each other for entertainment.

Among Edgerton’s awards are: Guggenheim Fellowship; Lyndhurst Prize; Honorary Doctorates from UNC-Asheville and St. Andrews Presbyterian College; membership in the Fellowship of Southern Writers; the North Carolina Award for Literature; and five notable book awards from the New York Times.

Reviews

[Diane Barnes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another nice, easy read without a lot of drama. I loved the ladies, Aunt Lil with her determination to drive, and my favorite, Clara Cochran, who loved to cuss and shock her friends. Did not like the con man/preacher, L. Ray Flowers, or his sermons. Really liked Carl's country songs at the end. This one was just so so for me, and I've come to the conclusion that Clyde Egerton wrote his best books early in his writing career.

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sometimes you come across an author and you know right away he is going to be a favorite forever; and sometimes you find one that you simply cannot connect with on any level. I’m afraid that Clyde Edgerton is the later for me. This is my second of his novels, and I am sure it is my last.

Humor is a delicate thing. I have a friend who just rolls when she sees the Three Stooges; I, on the other hand, can barely remember breaking into a smile at their antics. On the other hand, I can read Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest and laugh at it over and over; she assures me it is silly and makes no sense. Neither of us is wrong; it just means we have different senses of humor. You might force a tear, but you will never force a laugh convincingly.

All of which is a long winded way of saying that I think I was supposed to laugh at this novel and I didn’t. I think I was meant to find the experiences of the nursing home occupants comical, but they struck me as quite sad, and perhaps I am too close to the due date myself to appreciate the loving nephew taking time to think about what he would do with the money if his aunt died. I’ve seen too much of that spending the inheritance ahead of time in real life, and my husband losing his ability to drive was a hard and harsh blow.

Finally, there is a character who is a central character and whom I hated. I didn’t find him plausible, but beyond that, I didn’t feel any empathy or sympathy for him. I just wanted to get to the point where he wasn’t on the page.

To fans of Edgerton, please do not be offended. I’m sure that he is a good writer for a different audience, I’m just not that person.

[Book Concierge · Rating 3 out of 5]

From the book jacket: Welcome to the Rosehaven Convalescence Center in beautiful Listre, North Carolina. Here’s Mrs. Lil Olive out on the front porch, talking and rocking right along with the regulars. … But all talk and no action isn’t Lil’s strong suit. She’s restless. She wants some adventure. And before long, tranquil Rosehaven is turned upside down. Lil and the girls steal a car and hit the highway.

My reactions
Not nearly so fun … and funny … as the jacket blurb. Yes, there are some humorous escapades, but much more is devoted to Lil’s nephew Carl, a quiet, unassuming bachelor who can’t seem to find his way to a happy and fulfilled life, and to “preacher” L Ray Flowers, who has a checkered past and an uncertain future ministry.

The parts devoted to Flowers and his preaching were just strange. The sections devoted to Carl were poignant and a little sad, though I came to care for him and all those nice people out there who make no waves and just go about life one day at a time.

I will say that the episode (short though it was) involving the stolen car was really quite a hoot.

[Sterlingcindysu · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 rounded up.

Decades ago, we lived in Amarillo Texas, and there was a Piccadilly cafeteria there. Now, a cafeteria isn't an all-you-can-eat buffet. You pay for each item you take. It never failed, my daughter would ALWAYS take a jello right at the beginning (deserts are shown first) and then never eat it. I would get so mad at her! I think it was all of 69 cents. She just liked looking at the colors.

Now that my "bad mom" story is out of the way I can go on with the review.

Edgerton does a great job of making this story--about residents in a nursing (not retirement) home--upbeat. Religious and Southern themes support the story. All the ladies (and let's face it, 99% of the residents are ladies) have filled candy dishes in their room. The main narrator is a nephew, Carl, of one of the ladies and he's had to go through this (being the only caregiver) two other times.

This isn't deep and it's very short. I hope I'm as chipper as these ladies are when I need a wig or can't see the red lights when I'm driving!

[Kim Kaso · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am not sure what it was about this book, but it left me feeling depressed. Some of it was lightly amusing, but perhaps having had to stay in a trauma rehab center for what felt like forever after a fall made it feel too immediate. I was probably one of the younger ones there, and I had been walking miles & hours a day, so my muscles were able to deal with the rehab, and my brain was sharp, so I was able to deal with most things with equanimity, but the pain & the being at the mercy of other people—mostly good—in the middle of the night, waiting for a response after pushing the button...I never want to do that again. Four out of my 5 roommates had dementia, and the first one wept for the loss of her mother, her leg, and the pain at night. It broke my heart, I talked with her when she could bear it, but sometimes she just needed privacy, and that was rare.

I really want to give a shoutout to my husband, who looked out for me everyday, and my friends & family who came to see me, sent me flowers, and all the Episcopal priests & chaplains who came to comfort me. Having people paying attention makes life in such places safer, the few bad apples on the staff mess less with people who have attentive family & friends to look out for them. Most of my caregivers were great, and many were readers. I had a lot of ongoing book discussions going, kept my mind off the pain during physical therapy & lots of people stopped by to discuss books & movies with me, & asked for recommendations. Had a Jane Austen subgroup going for weeks.

I liked Edgerton’s earlier books that I read some years back, but this one just made me sad in the midst of the comedy pieces.

[Kimberly Watson · Rating 1 out of 5]

Unimaginably bad. No story to speak of, flat characters, and a really poor reflection on the types of great personalities that can be found in the South.

[Joan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I refuse to accept that I am a low-brow because I found little to like in this book. Yes, it won the Southeast Booksellers Association's "Best Book of the Year" award in 2003; and yes, it has a "Reader's Guide" in the back; but the plot was virtually non-existent. The characters seemed like caricatures to me, the dialogue was unremarkable, and the writer's style was pretty ordinary. I saw no passages to mark as particularly evocative or poignant and no word choices that struck me as nailing an idea better than usual. According to the cover it should have "painfully funny" at times, but I never had any inclination even to smile. According to this apparently-uneducated reader, this book was a mediocre read.

[Camie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick read featuring the antics of the elderly residents of Rosehaven Care Center. Most notable are spunky Aunt Lil, whose nephew Carl a middle age bachelor keeps tabs on the ladies, and L Ray Flowers a self proclaimed preacher who keeps up morale with his wacky sermons and serenades.
Most interesting of course to those of a certain age who get what an accounting of those trying to enjoy “ life after life” might entail.
Read for moderators choice- OTSLT Club 3 stars

[Roxy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loosely based upon friends and relatives of the author, this is a bittersweet story that we baby-boomers can relate to and understand.

[KayG · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute, quirky.

[Beverly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fast easy read. When I read the Prologue, I knew this book was meant for me to read as it described exactly what I experienced when I was trying to get Medicare and or Medicaid to cover my mother's expenses!

At times the plot was a little silly but there were quite a few laughable moments. Some of these moments were mixed with sadness. They remind me of actual events that I went through as I was visiting my parents who were in a nursing facility during the last years of their lives. Sometimes one has to laugh to keep from crying! Although I currently live in Pennsylvania and am much more open minded now than I was as a young adult, having being raised in the South in a conservative religious home, I was able to identify and even smile and or laugh at some of his religious examples.

This is the fourth Clyde Edgerton book I have read and have enjoyed all of them.

[Kwoomac · Rating 2 out of 5]

poignant, if sometimes annoying, story of a 40 year old man who is caring for his elderly aunt, who recently moved to a nursing home after numerous falls. Carl, the nephew,was raised by his mother and two aunts and he has cared for each of them in turn as they have approached death. He has a nice relationship with his last living relative, Aunt Lil. The story revolves around the cast of characters at the nursing home. Some of it was sweet. I was bored by the crazy sermons given by a preacher recovering from a broken leg. Hard to tell if he was crazy or just overly enthusiastic. At first, they were intresting, but they just went on too long. Carl does take in everything he sees and along with the preacherman writes country songs about his experiences. These are funny little songs and the lyrics are written up at the end of the book. I did like that.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love reading Edgerton when I am in North Carolina. He is so satircal and witty. The descriptions of the lunch counter selections was so perfect. Sophie used to love going to a similar cafeteria (The K&W)when it was at our local mall and ordering all those southern delicacies: fried chicken, greens, gelatinous desserts, sweet tea.
This novel had the usual eccentric characters and an engaging plot line. The best part of the novel was the epilogue: the lyrics to the songs had me laughing out loud.

[Susan in NC · Rating 4 out of 5]

I forgot I had read this a couple of years ago - I've read in reviews that Edgerton has better books, and I mean to get to those, but I found this charming with great characters and dialogue. I love the way he writes old people!

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book for old and young alike. Old folks can relate to it. Young folks gain insight. Funny in parts, moving in parts. My favorite scene is when Aunt Lil drives around with her legs sticking out the front door!

[Dawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love all Clyde Edgerton's books, but particularly "Lunch at the Piccadilly". Would be so pleased to have books with character like these recommended.
Dawn Dayton

[The Dusty Jacket · Rating 3 out of 5]

Carl Turnage is watching his beloved Aunt Lil—the last leaf of his family tree—slowly slip through his fingers. Seeing that she is no longer safe living alone in her apartment and quite unreliable behind the wheel of her car, Carl sends her to a convalescent home to recuperate after suffering from a fall. There she joins several other residents including Flora Talbert (who owns four colored housecoats and has an obsession with footwear), Clara Cochran (has a glass eye and a penchant for spewing obscenities), Maudie Lowe (the little woman), Beatrice Satterwhite (owns the “Cadillac” of walkers), and L. Ray Flowers (who is quick with a sermon and always looking for a song). Despite the laidback atmosphere that Rosehaven Convalescence Center offers, Aunt Lil isn’t ready to take it easy just yet. She wants adventure and she is bound and determined to find it…one way or another.

Lunch at the Piccadilly clocks in at 238 pages (not counting the Epilogue). After reading ninety-three percent of the book, it inexplicably fell apart. It was absolutely agonizing to see this witty and charming book careen so horribly and fatally off course. The last few pages lacked what the entire book simply overflowed with: heart and soul. Edgerton’s novel was a poignant, funny (with a few laugh-out-loud moments), and compassionate book with characters dealing with loss of mobility, loss of independence, and loss of memory. He gives us several women with an insatiable zest for life, but know that the mortality clock is ticking louder and louder with each passing day. Why this same passion and fervor failed to carry through until the last page is both confusing and disappointing. However, the ending wasn’t the only problem. There was also a salacious backstory that kept resurfacing throughout various points of the story. This past event between two of Rosehaven’s residents really had no purpose, lent no value to the story, and only managed to introduce some unneeded drama and friction. Also, L. Ray’s need to break out into lengthy religions sermons broke the momentum of the story and was irritating at best.

It truly was heartbreaking and frustrating to see a book with this much promise and value self-destruct so quickly. I felt a little duped in the emotional commitment I invested in caring about these sassy, snarky, and spirited seniors who are making the best of what little life they have left. In the end, I felt as if this book was like one of Rosehaven’s residents who stands steadfastly by the front door, waiting for visiting family or friends that will never come. No matter how many times I flip back in the book, looking tirelessly for my sense of closure, I realize that that too will never come.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

***Shoulda Been Shorter***

I liked this book purely because it was like sitting on my Mamaw’s porch, trying to follow four conversations. It was a Southern going home story, but I really didn’t care about anybody but Lil. I felt sorry for them all, just about. I don’t know. I found it lackluster.
Favorite Quotes: Marriage. The whole business of it. He’s not altogether sure he can make somebody happy…. He was married once, then not married—enough said, he told her.
..l.where he served, “pedal to the metal, a-healing and a-squealing, a-touching and a-feeling.”
She was the one who said that if she’d known she was going to live as long as she did, she’d have bought a new mattress.
Shoes tell a lot about the wearer. Some men’s shoes have little tassels. Anybody wearing shoes with tassels likely has loose morals…..A tennis shoe in a house of worship is worse than a worm in pudding. Or is this a funeral home? It’s a nursing home. She knows that. She’s not even supposed to be here.
“I don’t know. The Umbrella Religion for Easing Suffering among the Wrinkled.”
*I would like to include a few lines from where the ladies go for a joyride but it’s something to stumble upon in glee*
“…and at the end of every one, she writes, ‘I love you and the Lord loves you,’ and I’m getting tired of it…Now, what do you think? Somehow I don’t want to be getting gooeygooey. I’m too old for that.”
“There’s more laziness around here than birds.”
“I never read much poetry that I could understand.” “I don’t think you’re supposed to understand it. You’re supposed to feel it—like music.” “Or like a window fan.” “That’s not what I meant,” says Mrs. Cochran, “but I see what you mean.”
I do like the song Ain’t Got No Problems
by Turnage and Flowers
I got throwed in jail last summer,
Beat up by a jailhouse mob.
Got let out in September,
Went out and found a job.
My girlfriend has not left me,
My truck is not broke down,
My hair is thick and curly,
And my lost dog is found.

Chorus:
Ain’t got no problems,
And that’s my problem.
Lord, help me find something wrong.
My boss man was a screamer, Unnecessarily.
Then I got promoted,
And now he works for me.
My rent has been reduced one-third.
I sleep like a baby at night.
My clothes now all fit me,
And my dentures are tight.

Chorus: Ain’t got no problems, And that’s my problem.
Lord, help me find something wrong.
I quit all my drinking, Quit all my fighting.
Got me a new career called Country-song writing.
All I wanted to do today Is write one country song,
But how can I do that When nothing is wrong?

Chorus: Ain’t got no problems,
And that’s my problem.
Lord, help me find something wrong
So I can write a country song.

[Candy Wood]

In the interview printed at the end of this edition, Clyde Edgerton says “It was important for me not to make fun of old people who are victims in my novel,” then adds that “the four elderly women who are the main characters in the novel are anything but victims.” So why does he think of any of them as victims, and victims of what besides the aging process? Reading as a resident of a retirement community (only part of which is a nursing home) and having many older friends who use walkers and have given up, or are considering giving up, driving, I kept feeling that I was not among Edgerton’s intended readers. Some of the situations must seem funnier to someone the age of Carl, whose aunt is a resident of the nursing home while she recovers from a series of falls, than they do to me. I wonder about the appropriateness of the title, too. Carl does take his aunt to lunch at the Piccadilly, a cafeteria-style diner in their North Carolina town, but those lunches aren’t especially central to the novel. Not my kind of humor, anyway.

[Joyce · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would rate this book 2.5 stars. The story takes place in North Carolina and involves a young man named Carl, his aunt Lil, and several residents of a nursing home. It starts out with Carl letting his elderly aunt drive and knowing he has to tell her that she can't drive anymore. She is in the nursing home after a fall and believes she will be going back home soon--which will not be happening. Among the residents is L. Ray Fowler who is receiving rehab treatment and is a former lay preacher. He comes up with the idea that nursing homes and churches should become interchangeable. Although there are some hilarious conversations and incidents in the novel (for which I gave it the 2.5 star rating) but some of the long speeches by the L. Ray became boring and i found myself just skimming over them. I have read 3 books by Edgerton--one I really liked, one I did not like and this one falls in the middle.

[Jennie Floyd · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked up this book at Goodwill, and was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked it. I was not familiar with this author, but evidently he has written a number of books set in the South and featuring senior citizens. I thought he was right on the money in his characterizations of some of the types found in retirement homes, based on what I see at the one my mother lives in, in Orlando. His secondary characters were also excellent (the staff at the home, the caring son mawho visits every week). I found the addition of an underdeveloped romance between a staff member and the son to be distracting, adding little, and the device of the son writing country songs with one of the patients made me laugh but didn't do much to serve the plot. But in general, it was a gentle, amusing, and bittersweet end-of-life tale that had me reflecting on a subject that is not touched on much in literature. I will be seeking out more of his books.

[Anam Cara · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would have easily given this 4 stars except for the sections in the book where one woman in the nursing home remembers an incident from her youth that involved another resident (a man). it is graphically described and I really didn't need that.

It is a bitter sweet story about a young man named Carl who is caring for his elderly aunt who lives in a nursing home. The book is mainly dialogue between various characters. It is humorous at times, but an easy book to skim through and finish quickly.

The antics of the old women will bring about some smiles, but some of it is heartbreaking. There are bits that seem sacrilegious and that might have influenced my rating a bit also.

The end is a bit unsatisfying. Spoiler alert: Carl does not find love, Aunt Lil dies, L.Ray just goes on his merry way.

Looking over my review and thinking about this, I am sort of wondering why I didn't just give it 1 star instead of 2.

[Mo · Rating 2 out of 5]

I listened to the CD version of Lunch at the Piccadilly after enjoying the often humorous Walking Across Egypt by Clyde Egerton. This book tells the story of life in an assisted living facility and the friendship between its residents, the relationship between an elderly woman and her dear nephew, and of the thoughts of this nephew as he watches his cherished aunt age. The conversations are certainly true to life, but I found this story more sweetly sad than uplifting. I could have done without the excessive sermons of L. Ray Flowers, but I found the other characters likable. There is a side story in the book about writing country music and at the end of this CD, Clyde Edgerton plays and sings two of these songs with his group, "The Rank Strangers". Good job.

[C-shaw · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pooey. I absolutely loved Edgerton's _Walking Across Egypt_ and had high hopes for this one, but I am struggling to get through it. It just isn't very interesting. Meanwhile, my "Books Completed" is going down rapidly, since I am also reading two incredibly long books at the same time. I will certainly meet my goal of 150 books this year, but I was really hoping to make it to 200 -- without reading kids' books or comics!
* * * * *
Whew, that was the longest <300-page book I've ever read. It had some good parts, but way too much ranting by a demented former preacher, stupid stuff that didn't even make sense. This is not a keeper and not one I'd recommend.

[Rebecca Campbell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having lived through Alzeheimers/demintia with my Grandmother and mother this book hit a little close to home.
It's hard moving someone from a home/yard with car to a room in an assisted living or nursing home.
It is funny some of the conversations that the residents have at care centers because their minds are no longer in the current world.
Carl had the right idea though, just kinda go along with whatever they were planning because in a couple of days, sometimes hours, they don't recall anyway.
This story was about love, and being torn between doing what your love ones wants and what is in their best interest.

[Elysa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is funny (sometimes painfully so); I laughed out loud many times reading it. It's sweet and tender and also a little sad. Meet Carl and his Aunt Lil, who lives at a nursing home called Rosehaven; meet their friends, who are vibrant and strong in heart, if not in body. It'll be too short a time, but then, life is short, especially in its last thundering days. I enjoyed this, but definitely finished it wishing I might have known the characters longer and had the opportunity to dive more deeply into the dangling threads Edgerton leaves throughout the story. Some plot points just feel underdeveloped, but the characters are all a joy to know.

[Morgan Lawrence · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my first book review and I’m a little nervous! I really enjoyed this. It was unique and fun. I really connected with this book and the characters in ways that were totally unexpected.

I know what it’s like not being able to bend your knee past 60-70 degrees. I know how frustrating it can be when trying to find the right word when talking to someone. After my accident, my SLP told me about aphasia and gave me strategies that would help. These are just two of the struggles L. Ray Flowers faces in the book.

But, what I liked most was Carl’s bond with his aunt, Lil. Their relationship reminded me of what I had with my Mamaw. It brought back many wonderful memories.

[Gloria Bailey · Rating 4 out of 5]

It has been a long time since I read Clyde Edgarton's earlier books. Still, I knew I expected theSouthern flavor and humor and this book did not disappoint. It takes place mainly in a nursing home, though some episodes are outside that site. The main character is Carl, nephew of Lil, and Lil herself.

I did not enjoy this book as much as Rainy or Walking to Egypt, but nevertheless it was a light humorous read. I felt it got a bit bogged down in the talks or Sermons of L Ray Flowers, but I really enjoyed all the female characters.

[Toby · Rating 1 out of 5]

Described as “deliciously funny,” this novel fell far short of the mark for me. Humor is a delicate & fairly unique thing, and this was just not my cup of tea. The nursing home peccadilloes and hijinx may be funny to some, but to me it was just heartbreaking. All I could think about was how elderly folk are treated so poorly, there’s none of the respect that they are due, and getting old and having your body fail you is just horribly sad & very humiliating — at least in Western culture. And that breaks my heart.

[Ramona · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a humorous take of growing old, nursing homes, and how to deal with aging family members. Nephew Carl is a very kind and helpful middle-aged, unmarried man. His Aunt Lil is the last of his parent's family members. His narration of what life is like for him, his aunt Lil, and the residents of the Rosehaven Convalescence Center in Listre, North Carolina, is well done. His patience is amazing. I enjoyed reading this book, even though I felt some trepidation as I am of the same age bracket.