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The Ombudsman
Seventy-four year old Al Pregurson had a great career as a newspaper journalist and a forty-eight-year love affair with his wife. Now that he is retired and his wife dead, where does he fit in with a fast-paced, ageist society?
Al's optimism and self-confidence had always been his strengths, but what lies ahead on his quest to find his place in the world will shake him to his core and challenge the self-image he always believed was indestructible.
What unforeseen events could make such a man question his worth and shake his confidence so deeply as to make him feel irrelevant?
Al's optimism and self-confidence had always been his strengths, but what lies ahead on his quest to find his place in the world will shake him to his core and challenge the self-image he always believed was indestructible.
What unforeseen events could make such a man question his worth and shake his confidence so deeply as to make him feel irrelevant?
256 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 19, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
November 19, 2016
This is a story that needed to be told. Abuse of the elderly is a huge problem, and one that tends to be swept under the carpet and ignored as so often the elderly don't know where to turn, or feel embarrassed by what is happening to them.
Joel Geffen covers a multitude of issues surrounding this problem in The Ombudsman, covering not just violence and neglect, but theft, fraud and swindling. He has obviously done a lot of research into this topic and it shows, in both a positive and negative manner.
The positive is that Mr Geffen provides a wealth of information along with some solutions; the negative is that this novel reads more like a report. The writing is largely flat, dispassionate, making it hard to feel a real connection with any of the characters. A lot of the dialogue is stilted.
But Mr Geffen has a message to get across to us, and that he does. We should treasure our elderly, those who have given up much to make us into the people we are today. We should not forget that they too like to be spoken to, listened to and treated with compassion, warmth and love. They like to be touched, hugged, or even just to feel a comforting hand on the arm. They are not dead. They still have life to live. They need to be included. We need to notice how our elders are being treated, whether they be in care facilities or living with family members.
Thank you to Joel Geffern for providing me with a digital copy of The Ombudsman for review. All opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Joel Geffen covers a multitude of issues surrounding this problem in The Ombudsman, covering not just violence and neglect, but theft, fraud and swindling. He has obviously done a lot of research into this topic and it shows, in both a positive and negative manner.
The positive is that Mr Geffen provides a wealth of information along with some solutions; the negative is that this novel reads more like a report. The writing is largely flat, dispassionate, making it hard to feel a real connection with any of the characters. A lot of the dialogue is stilted.
But Mr Geffen has a message to get across to us, and that he does. We should treasure our elderly, those who have given up much to make us into the people we are today. We should not forget that they too like to be spoken to, listened to and treated with compassion, warmth and love. They like to be touched, hugged, or even just to feel a comforting hand on the arm. They are not dead. They still have life to live. They need to be included. We need to notice how our elders are being treated, whether they be in care facilities or living with family members.
Thank you to Joel Geffern for providing me with a digital copy of The Ombudsman for review. All opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
September 17, 2016
I stopped accepting books “in exchange for an honest review” when my “to read” stack reached 70 and this is one of the last under the bar.
Frankly, I had to check my shelves to make sure I still had my copy of “Final Exit”, (the suicide manual) when this book reminded me of the potential horrors of outliving my functionality and I must credit the author for bringing forward some of the major issues facing the frail elderly including illness, neglect, abuse (physical and financial) and the personal tragedies of loneliness, depression and other mental issues such as dementia.
I am not that far from the protagonist in terms of age and circumstance so I can identify to some degree to his tale. The book interweaves a number of stories involving the elderly, some with relatively happy endings, some not so much.
I certainly like to encourage new authors as I know it is a tough world of publishing out there and while I have a few magazine articles and instruction manuals to my credit, a novel is a tougher undertaking than I have chosen to tackle so a tip of the hat to Joel Geffen for having gotten this far.
Having said that, the style of the book is repetitive and simplistic, almost written along the lines of young adult novels. The characters tend to be two dimensional, either evil and nasty or compassionate and “perfect”. The dialogue is stilted and artificial, the plot threads fairly predictable. In the nursing home, for example, nearly everyone is painted as a villain from the CNAs to the Administrative staff, all laboring under the lash of a huge profit driven corporation. Once into “assisted living” and “dementia treatment” facilities, it all becomes just the most wonderful of places and people. Other than hair color, there are no shades of grey here, it is all black or white. The book tends to preaching and moralizing which gets a bit tedious after a while.
Probably the weirdest aspect, given the title and emphasis, is that for all his work as Ombudsman which at least makes him feel good and useful, I see no positive results from the program. He submits his reports to the facility and the state and not a thing happens as a result. That would depress me in a hurry and while it inspires him to attempt to bring more focus to the issues in other ways, I would have preferred to see him try to improve the functionality of the current system.
Frankly, I had to check my shelves to make sure I still had my copy of “Final Exit”, (the suicide manual) when this book reminded me of the potential horrors of outliving my functionality and I must credit the author for bringing forward some of the major issues facing the frail elderly including illness, neglect, abuse (physical and financial) and the personal tragedies of loneliness, depression and other mental issues such as dementia.
I am not that far from the protagonist in terms of age and circumstance so I can identify to some degree to his tale. The book interweaves a number of stories involving the elderly, some with relatively happy endings, some not so much.
I certainly like to encourage new authors as I know it is a tough world of publishing out there and while I have a few magazine articles and instruction manuals to my credit, a novel is a tougher undertaking than I have chosen to tackle so a tip of the hat to Joel Geffen for having gotten this far.
Having said that, the style of the book is repetitive and simplistic, almost written along the lines of young adult novels. The characters tend to be two dimensional, either evil and nasty or compassionate and “perfect”. The dialogue is stilted and artificial, the plot threads fairly predictable. In the nursing home, for example, nearly everyone is painted as a villain from the CNAs to the Administrative staff, all laboring under the lash of a huge profit driven corporation. Once into “assisted living” and “dementia treatment” facilities, it all becomes just the most wonderful of places and people. Other than hair color, there are no shades of grey here, it is all black or white. The book tends to preaching and moralizing which gets a bit tedious after a while.
Probably the weirdest aspect, given the title and emphasis, is that for all his work as Ombudsman which at least makes him feel good and useful, I see no positive results from the program. He submits his reports to the facility and the state and not a thing happens as a result. That would depress me in a hurry and while it inspires him to attempt to bring more focus to the issues in other ways, I would have preferred to see him try to improve the functionality of the current system.
August 11, 2016
The Ombudsman by Joel B. Geffen is a very linear novel that is comforting to read. Expectations are set up, bad guys are identified, evils are enumerated, characters are assigned their roles, and the reader of a novel like this can feel comfortable that everything will work out in the end. That is what happens here. This is not a spoiler. The way we get to the happy ending is the entertainment. Some of the points that the characters end up at will surprise the reader.
Al is living alone. His wife, Shelly, had died after a long downward decline of health due to Alzheimer’s. Al had been her caregiver and now he has an empty life. He fills it with visiting his son, Stewey who works 24-7 as he struggles to make his diner profitable. He visits with his friend, Regis, who is a manager at a local farmer’s market. He visits a gym and decides to study yoga. That might be because of yoga instructor Heather, a widow. He has also decided to take volunteer training to be an ombudsman, a volunteer advisor to government authorities about conditions discovered during visits to senior care facilities. Al’s visits, the anecdotes about selected individuals, and the examination of the quality of care in nursing homes and assisted living centers are a rich source of material for Geffen.
Heather has a few problems of her own. She lost her husband after a twenty-four-year marriage. She has no problem discussing that part of her life, but she is hesitant to bring up the fact that her mother has Alzheimer’s, the same disease that took Shelly away from Al. And Heather is at least partially responsible for her mom’s care. Heather has had a lifelong resentment of her mother that borders on hatred. Heather will come to a remarkable conclusion about her feelings for her mother.
Stewey has a few problems with his diner. He is lucky to have Elina that takes care of all things financial. She is good looking as well. There is a problem with some bills that are not paid on time, but maybe just arithmetic errors. Or maybe not.
Marco works as a mechanic. He has a girlfriend but he doesn’t think of her as much as he thinks of his mother, who is living alone at age 79. It doesn’t help when she tells Marco that she occasionally gets dizzy. A call comes at work. Marco’s mom has fallen and broken bones. She is in a hospital, she will recover, but she will recover long-term assisted care. Marco does not have the money for this. And he loses his job due to so much time off for taking care of his mother. And he loses his apartment because the building was sold to a developer.
Mr. Simmons’s wife of forty-five years passed away. He does not live alone, but it might be better if he did. Simmons’s fifty-two-year-old unemployed son, Will, is supposed to take care of him in return for a place to live and possibly a share of the elder Simmons’s retirement benefits. Will yells at his father so often Adult Protective Services is beginning to intervene, at least telephonically, after complaints from neighbors. Will leaves his father alone for extended periods of time, feeds him only Hungry Man dinners, refuses to help him bathe for many days on end, and generally insults him when Will decides to be home. The only bright spots for the elder Simmons are the visits from Sunny, his daughter, and her husband, Denni. The fact that Sunny and Denni are in a gay relationship and soon to adopt a child should have no impact on the eventual disposition of Mr. Simmons’s estate, to be divided between Will and Sunny. Watch out for the appearance of the slimy lawyer who will assist Will in an attempted asset grab. Conveniently, that attempt will be made just prior to Simmons having a disabling stroke.
But the central point, the value, of this book, is how society treats an aging population. In this novel, we find a discussion of Alzheimer’s as well as other types of dementia such as “post-operative cognitive disorder.” (loc 1139-1140).
This is a satisfying novel with a humanist perspective. I will be looking for more of this author’s work.
Al is living alone. His wife, Shelly, had died after a long downward decline of health due to Alzheimer’s. Al had been her caregiver and now he has an empty life. He fills it with visiting his son, Stewey who works 24-7 as he struggles to make his diner profitable. He visits with his friend, Regis, who is a manager at a local farmer’s market. He visits a gym and decides to study yoga. That might be because of yoga instructor Heather, a widow. He has also decided to take volunteer training to be an ombudsman, a volunteer advisor to government authorities about conditions discovered during visits to senior care facilities. Al’s visits, the anecdotes about selected individuals, and the examination of the quality of care in nursing homes and assisted living centers are a rich source of material for Geffen.
Heather has a few problems of her own. She lost her husband after a twenty-four-year marriage. She has no problem discussing that part of her life, but she is hesitant to bring up the fact that her mother has Alzheimer’s, the same disease that took Shelly away from Al. And Heather is at least partially responsible for her mom’s care. Heather has had a lifelong resentment of her mother that borders on hatred. Heather will come to a remarkable conclusion about her feelings for her mother.
Stewey has a few problems with his diner. He is lucky to have Elina that takes care of all things financial. She is good looking as well. There is a problem with some bills that are not paid on time, but maybe just arithmetic errors. Or maybe not.
Marco works as a mechanic. He has a girlfriend but he doesn’t think of her as much as he thinks of his mother, who is living alone at age 79. It doesn’t help when she tells Marco that she occasionally gets dizzy. A call comes at work. Marco’s mom has fallen and broken bones. She is in a hospital, she will recover, but she will recover long-term assisted care. Marco does not have the money for this. And he loses his job due to so much time off for taking care of his mother. And he loses his apartment because the building was sold to a developer.
Mr. Simmons’s wife of forty-five years passed away. He does not live alone, but it might be better if he did. Simmons’s fifty-two-year-old unemployed son, Will, is supposed to take care of him in return for a place to live and possibly a share of the elder Simmons’s retirement benefits. Will yells at his father so often Adult Protective Services is beginning to intervene, at least telephonically, after complaints from neighbors. Will leaves his father alone for extended periods of time, feeds him only Hungry Man dinners, refuses to help him bathe for many days on end, and generally insults him when Will decides to be home. The only bright spots for the elder Simmons are the visits from Sunny, his daughter, and her husband, Denni. The fact that Sunny and Denni are in a gay relationship and soon to adopt a child should have no impact on the eventual disposition of Mr. Simmons’s estate, to be divided between Will and Sunny. Watch out for the appearance of the slimy lawyer who will assist Will in an attempted asset grab. Conveniently, that attempt will be made just prior to Simmons having a disabling stroke.
But the central point, the value, of this book, is how society treats an aging population. In this novel, we find a discussion of Alzheimer’s as well as other types of dementia such as “post-operative cognitive disorder.” (loc 1139-1140).
This is a satisfying novel with a humanist perspective. I will be looking for more of this author’s work.
August 18, 2016
For my statement of disclosure, I received a free copy of this in paperback in exchange for an honest review. I do not personally know the author.
The Ombudsman by Joel B. Geffen was a difficult book for me to get into for two reasons. First, it was difficult because my family has been dealing with aging family members since my Mother in Law became ill in 2006 and even before that when my Dad, although only 60, developed terminal cancer. This book deals with a lot of the issues of care for the elderly in a brutally honest manner which felt very real. While difficult to face, those issues are overwhelming this aging nation and need to be addressed, which makes this an important book simply for the conversations it can open.
The second reason it wasn't easy to begin, is that Mr. Geffen wasn't telling just one person with dementias story, or the story of an abusive son, or the story of an elderly woman not wanting to inconvenience her son, or the recovery story of a stroke victim, or the story of a too trusting business owner, or the story of an overwhelmed nursing home, or a grieving spouse or a new romance. He was telling them all, and he started with very short chapters and a lot of jumping between characters before they had been developed well enough for me to remember who was who. I had to work at keeping them straight.
It was worth the effort. The characters did develop and as they became clear, I fell in love with some and became infuriated with others. By the end it was a satisfying and educational journey, and Mr. Geffen was a talented guide.
The Ombudsman by Joel B. Geffen was a difficult book for me to get into for two reasons. First, it was difficult because my family has been dealing with aging family members since my Mother in Law became ill in 2006 and even before that when my Dad, although only 60, developed terminal cancer. This book deals with a lot of the issues of care for the elderly in a brutally honest manner which felt very real. While difficult to face, those issues are overwhelming this aging nation and need to be addressed, which makes this an important book simply for the conversations it can open.
The second reason it wasn't easy to begin, is that Mr. Geffen wasn't telling just one person with dementias story, or the story of an abusive son, or the story of an elderly woman not wanting to inconvenience her son, or the recovery story of a stroke victim, or the story of a too trusting business owner, or the story of an overwhelmed nursing home, or a grieving spouse or a new romance. He was telling them all, and he started with very short chapters and a lot of jumping between characters before they had been developed well enough for me to remember who was who. I had to work at keeping them straight.
It was worth the effort. The characters did develop and as they became clear, I fell in love with some and became infuriated with others. By the end it was a satisfying and educational journey, and Mr. Geffen was a talented guide.
August 31, 2016
This book really struck a cord with me. Anybody who has ever had an elderly relative that they care for, or has has a loved one in a nursing home will feel connected this book. I can honestly say that I haven't read a book like this before - it is relevant to what is going on in the world today and it is a real eye opener to common issues to the elderly that many people might not be aware of. This is a book of fiction, but much of it reads like real life experiences and that makes it relatable and the compassion really tugs at the readers heartstrings. This is a book that made the stop and think, think about what can I do to make a difference. My only reason for the 4 star rating is that the dialogue felt a little forced and stilted at times but the plot, pacing and characters are fully fleshed out, engaging and the book is well written.
I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review
I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review
August 31, 2016
This book is a very quick read and quite enjoyable. It deals with the problems of getting older in our society. The problems of several families with elderly parents examined.
This book touched home for me because my mother when she retired became an Ombudsman for a nursing home like one of the main characters in the book. Now she lives in assisted living which she likes.
However, I think underestimates some of the anguish of children in seeing their parents get older and that all solutions require a fair amount of effort on the part of the children.
I received a copy of this book in exchange for a honest review.
This book touched home for me because my mother when she retired became an Ombudsman for a nursing home like one of the main characters in the book. Now she lives in assisted living which she likes.
However, I think underestimates some of the anguish of children in seeing their parents get older and that all solutions require a fair amount of effort on the part of the children.
I received a copy of this book in exchange for a honest review.
November 15, 2016
I think the theme and the stories in this book were very cleverly woven together to deliver an important message. An aging society is a term many have heard but few have really thought about. And what exactly does aging mean for each one of us and how will it translate as we age. I would recommend this book to every baby boomer. And I would hope that the author continue to market the messages in this book to all that will listen.
The copy itself had a few minor mistakes and I would probably suggest that if the author continues to publish than he might find someone new to edit and review the copy.
The copy itself had a few minor mistakes and I would probably suggest that if the author continues to publish than he might find someone new to edit and review the copy.
August 30, 2016
This book is a great reminder that we are all getting older and that just because we are older doesn't mean we are irrelevant. With a tender yet direct tone Geffen shares with us the scary side of aging. How the elderly are often taken for granted, thought of as a burden and taken advantage of. But this isn't a book of despair its a book of hope and one that shows that no matter what our age we have something of value to offer.
January 2, 2020
I tried to finish this book but at about page 145 it all seemed to come apart.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews