Rules for Old Men Waiting by Peter Pouncey

Most of us would like to make an orderly departure from life. Robert MacIver, history professor and rugged Scot, recently lost his beloved wife to cancer. He is living alone in their Cape Cod house, which, like him, is “both large framed and failing fast”. Aware that he is spinning out of control in his grief and illness, MacIver writes a list of rules to make his imminent death orderly and productive. He must eat real food every day and listen to music at night as he savors the one drink he allows himself. As he runs out of fuel, he will burn furniture and flooring before books. And he will write a work of fiction based on his life’s study of trench warfare in World War I. The soldiers in MacIver’s story come vividly to life in his sweat-soaked dreams and in the reader’s eye, as the author moves you between MacIver’s real and fictional worlds. In his grief, he remembers the exceptional closeness of his marriage and the tragedy that almost destroyed it. You will remember this exceptionally well-written novel long after you reluctantly turn the last page.

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