“Another year, and I still don’t like old people. Their walker shuffle, their unreasonable impatience, their endless complaints, their tea and cookies, their bellyaching. Me? I am eighty-three years old.”
— Hendrik Groen, The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen, 83 ¼ Years Old
There’s nothing like jolting down your daily activities and thoughts on a piece paper and be able to look back on these logs to reflect on life. Journalistic entries can also serve as a great method to create structure and routine into ones life. Through them, as personal as they can be, you can learn a lot about a person’s way of life, about the people around them and about the time period they’re in. After all, values, beliefs and practices change over time. But what’s truly beautiful is that once you get used to writing a diary, it sort of becomes an instinct that’s hard to detach yourself from as the pros overshadow the cons. And so, Hendrik Groen explores the world of diaries by writing one of his own as an octogenarian. This book is his uncensored exposé in which he offers us « a year in the life of the inmates of a care home in North Amsterdam ». Embodying cynicism, Hendrik Groen gives us a humour-filled look at his surroundings, the people he meets and his precious rebellious thoughts as a man who sees it all.
The book is filled with entries from January 1st 2013 till the next year. There are a couple days that are skipped, other days that have entries longer than a page and some days were entries are not longer than a little paragraph. There’s no real coherence or linearity to this book, as it should be expected from a diary after all. Life is filled with unexpected events and your willpower varies from one day to the other. Even your emotions come dictate the way you live in the moment. Through Hendrik Groen you quickly recognize the ramblings, but also his desire to make his life worthwhile even at his age. While routine is dominant and our protagonist knows this, it is destroying that very curse that drives Hendrik Groen. Although life will continuously throw curve balls at you, it is the form that they take and how you deal with them that Hendrik Groen subtlety highlights. However, while you’d imagine that the life of elders in a retirement home would be pretty dull and empty of life, this book quickly retorts with some of the most unexpected array of events.
Whether they’re hilarious moments or absolutely saddening accidents, The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen is far from being lifeless. For someone who enjoys studying individuals and their interactions within groups, I thought this book was a fantastic look into an environment that had its fair share of issues. Through the eyes of the curmudgeon Hendrik Groen, the social interactions as well as the norms and rules that wraps up the retirement home were absolutely intriguing. I definitely enjoyed our protagonists comparison of the environment to a prison and how they’d compare themselves to other retirement homes. It was like reading an in-depth analysis of everything right and wrong about the structure and not being able to do anything about it. This book honestly felt like a direct and immersed observation of the lives of elders left to find their way as life slowly leaks out of them. In fact, Hendrik Groen serves us with a very human experience of people who are generally seen as a hassle to deal with as everyone else is busy dealing with their teenage or adult lives.
Personally, it is pretty hard for a book to genuinely make me laugh out loud or even make me exude emotions for strangers to stare at. When they do, they generally out to be instant favourites of mine. Unfortunately, The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen didn’t have me rolling on the floor laughing at the humour that it had. However, I can assure you that it isn’t the humour that’s at fault. In fact, there are some pretty solid moments that were quite funny, but what truly caught my attention is all the introspection and thoughts that Hendrik Groen shared with us through this diary on the life of elders. Throughout this book you’ll find yourself in front of a lot of unfortunate deaths and you’ll often see the struggle that old age will have on your willpower or even just your physical strength. Hendrik Groen also has a couple of entries where him and his fellow “inmates” discuss about dementia or alzheimer. There’s nothing more sad than to know the inevitable and be without recourse. This is one diary that hides loads of wisdom to keep in mind as you get older. There’s a lot that simply isn’t within your grasp as you get older and this book shows you why through its humour, but also through its truth.
THANK YOU TO HACHETTE BOOK GROUP CANADA FOR SENDING US A COPY FOR REVIEW!
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MY OVERALL RATING: ★★★☆☆/
Roars and Echoes 
The ‘inmates’ thing is so funny! They do feel like inmates in the retirement home 😀 Great review as always. I like how it gives us a introspective look at the life of an old person and the struggles that come with being one. I tried googling Hendrik Groen and it appears that he’s nowhere to be found
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HAhahah I know right? It’s quite funny, but also pretty sad. This book shows us how relative life’s happiness is and how that old age can have quite the impact on your lifestyle and how you see life in general. Hendrik Groen is actually an alias for an author who no one knows (except probably the publisher). I believe there’s some truth and some fiction mixed into the story, but impossible to distinguish one from another. 😀
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Coincidentally, I have an opportunity to read this novel (in Dutch) but I wasn’t planning on really picking it up. I don’t know but reading a book about old people and reading what’s waiting for me isn’t very alluring. The comparison to a prison doesn’t make me look forward to my future in a retirement home :-). Maybe I should read it though and see for myself that it’s not all bad, if not for all the wisdom someone of 84 years undoubtedly has and is well worth hearing ;-).
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I think the book was originally published in Dutch too hahah I totally understand why you’d want to pass on reading this book. I would’ve done the same, but something made me want to explore a genre (humour/comedy) I never really go after just for a little bit of change hahah This book definitely highlights some really sad stuff about being old and what to expect from it, especially in a retirement home. Hopefully, if you ever read it, you’ll come to enjoy the story and its countless wise messages and funny moments. 😀
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I have been wanting to read this book… and I will, for sure.. I’m exactly the kind of person to read this and be completely put at easy re old age or get totally depressed about it, but I will defo get myself a copy 🙂
This is a great review- I am hoping the humor does it for me a bit better than for you… it is what it is, sense of humor is something that books tickle or not 🙂
ha, at the mention of inmates, the only thought rolling in my head was that in certain countries it is actually better if you end up in prison than a retirement home due to the neglect that goes on in some homes, and poor care due to poor funding… prisons don’t seem to be having that issue… but… not painting them all with the same brush of course…
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Ohhhhw! Who would’ve thought there would be people who have been interested in this book. You’re definitely right about the impact this book could have on the reader. The author does a really good job in showing both the good and the bad, all covered in a nice little sense of humour too.
Yeh… There’s actually some countries in the East where prison is sooooo focused on rehabilitation that their program and structure basically simulates home… Definitely far better than how some people treat elders in retirement homes for sure. A sad reality indeed. 😦
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Great review for this book Lashaan. I love the quote you included at the beginning of this review and when I read it I thought this would be a book that had you rolling on the floor laughing, and while it didn’t it seems like there was still something more that kept you interested in Hendrik Groen’s story. This does sound like an interesting book, not really my thing though. I’ve never read any diary style books before and don’t know if I could deal with the journalistic style or writing over a story with a beginning middle and end in order but I’m glad you enjoyed this book. 🙂
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I’m this book will have a lot of folks laughing far more often that I did though. I think older people will even find this far more amusing than teenagers for example. Oh, that’s actually quite interesting. The whole diary style thing can be pretty entertaining if done properly. I’m trying to think about a YA novel that might have used it and that I’ve read but all that comes to mind is Illuminae with its logs and entries. Thanks for the kind words Beth!! 😀
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Great review! It does sound like a fascinating readand I love that quote… A shame it wasn’t a total winner for you.
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Thanks Yvo! Yep. The whole comedy/humour genre can be a pretty hard sale for me. I do like humour integrated in other genres, but when a whole book is labeled comedy/humour, they usually don’t succeed in making me roll on the floor laughing hahah However, I’m sure other interested readers will find this pretty hilarious! 😀
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Haha I’m exactly the same! I’m very particular when it comes to humor in books and don’t laugh at just anything… But I guess my humor is weird in the first place because I seem to like those books most people don’t. 😉
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You review is so thoughtful! I had to chuckle at the opening quote (as I shuffle around the home with my own walker for the past two weeks 😉 ). I spent a lot of time with the geriatric population during my nursing years and feel that this might be an ideal and provoking read for myself. On the other hand, I also feel I will need to wait for the perfect moment to pick it up or I might fail to connect 😉 The afflictions of being a mood reader eh?
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Oh nooo hahahaha But yes, this is no book you can just pick up and expect to be thoroughly captivated. When in the right mood, I think you’ll find this book quite insightful with a nice dose of humour! 😀
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Besides health, a sense of humor is an important asset during all stages of life. The closer we get to the grave, the deeper our laughter should be, so being six feet under won’t feel as deep, eh? Is that Canadian enough for you . . . eh?
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I definitely agree! Without humour, we sure as hell ain’t going to learn anything out of life. Hahahah
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Firstly, I just adore the title of this book!! I also really like the concept and sound of the structure, even if it wasn’t rofl-in-public humour 😉 I have to say the use of the word “inmates” already made me chuckle! Great review!
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I knowwww! It’s actually what caught my attention first hahahah And then the blurb had me curious about what this old man could possibly have to share in such a… restricted area hahah 😛 Thank you so much!! 😀
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hahahahaha you’re welcome!
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Hi, haven’t visited you in forever! So little time
BTW, did you know that Photobucket is not paid? I can see you were hosting something on it, because the pics in your sidebar now look like “please update your account”. Bet that shouldn’t be the case… I’ve heard about this issue recently from several bloggers who had this problem too.
Great review 🙂 I have had this book in my scope, so maybe if I find it in my library one day, I’ll grab it 🙂
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Gosh, I haven’t had the chance to visit you as well! Sort of sad that I don’t get the notifications for your comments/replies via the WordPress notification thing though.. I think I might have missed some of your replies in my crazy email inbox. I’ll definitely have to go digging for those hahah
Oh… I’ve actually seen it around a couple of times on past posts. I really have no clue what it’s about or even how to fix it. Did you read about an easy fix for it? 😮
Thank you!! It’s a pretty unique book, and in the right mood, definitely enjoyable. Hopefully you’ll find it quite interesting when you grab yourself a copy Evelina! 😀 Thanks for dropping by, I always appreciate that!! It also reminds me that I should totally drop by your blog and check out what you’ve been up to. 😛
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Really? That’s weird, my Jetpack should take care of the replies
I thought it did!
I wouldn’t know about a solution to Photobucket cause I don’t use it 🙂 if I need embed codes for my blog, I just upload the pictures to my own blog media, and then use the URL that I get from there 🙂
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This sounds good to me. On my TBR it goes, mostly out of curiosity. From your review, I take it he kept a diary for a year n then published it. I just want to see/experience that for myself. So far, the diaries I’ve read have always been in stories and they are a bit misleading because the entries often flow seamlessly from one to another to maintain the story.
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I like the sound of that. I’d be curious to see how you fair with it too. It is indeed written like a personal diary. There’s sometimes a flow between entries, with events being talked about on multiple days, but sometimes it might also drastically change to a completely different subject based on whatever is happening. The overall product definitely glows with nice messages though.
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How cool is this?! I’m going to put it on my potential book club books! My group LOVES books like these. And they’ll probably be rolling at the “funny” moments, lol! Is it really depressing sh times? (I can’t handle too depressing…) I love the diary format and how it just cuts off in the middle of life. And the cover is so sharp! I appreciate your review a lot Lashaan but I wonder at the rating? (I’ve been struggling with rating the books I read so seem to be more curious?!) but why a 3? I didn’t really get a sense of why from your review… 😅😁
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I think it would be a fantastic pick for a book club. I didn’t find it highly depressing at all, but it does make you realize sometimes how sad old age can be, especially once you’re confined in a retirement home. The cover definitely played a role in my decision to read it too hahah I enjoyed the design and it easily gave me an idea of what Hendrik Groen MIGHT look like. While reading the book, I more often than not had these cartoon’ish version of the characters being brought to life rather than humans. I appreciate that you’re calling out my 3 star rating hahaha I’ve never seen anyone wonder about my rating after reading the review before! 😛 I gave it a 3 mainly because it was simply a book that I “enjoyed”. It’s not something I’d revisit and it wasn’t something that blew me away. The book in itself is classified as humour fiction, but I rarely found myself laughing out loud or even giggling (which I sort of expected since my type of humour might be hard to get right in literature).
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