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The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot is not a book about illness – it is a joyous, heartfelt and sometimes funny story about life. The two unlikely friends provide strength to one another as they face the inevitable. In addition to Lenni and Margot, there is a wonderful cast of characters who add warmth, depth and humor to this incredible tale.
Margot had fallen in love with a star-gazer who was fond of quoting poetry to her, particularly “The Old Astronomer to His Pupil” by Sarah Williams that ends with this wonderful stanza. Margot is an 83 year old woman who is terminally ill with a heart condition. She meets Lenni and they decide to complete 100 paintings in the art therapy room at the hospital. Each painting represents one of their combined 100 years. The author presents each year in the form of Margot or Lenni telling the other the story of that year. Through these moments, they relive their lives together. Margot tells her life story – full of loss, reinvention, and all the different types of love she has experienced. I think the same is true of dying. We can’t know why you are dying in the same way that we can’t know why you are living. Living and dying are both complete mysteries, and you can’t know either until you have done both.”I struggled to think how to phrase exactly what had brought me here. A long dead man and his unequally loved sons. A fish. A priest. An itching to do anything other than mind white water rafting. . . None of those made enough sense to verbalize in front of a geriatric audience. Does the Temp and the Homeless Man’s relationship mirror Lenni’s relationship with her father? Margot’s relationship with Johnny? The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot is a lovely novel and really helps us look at our lives from the outside in. I thought of what my own 42 paintings would look like, and what I want my remaining paintings to be. But there were two numbers in front of me that mattered, and would matter for the rest of my numbered days. And I will be forever changed by the people I have met and their bravery, their courage and their light.”
Cronin paints pictures with her words and through Lenni’s situation and encounters colours the story with wit and wisdom, with laugh-out-loud moments and weep-into-your-tissue moments too. It isn’t enough to have been a particle in the great extant of existence. I want, we want, more. We want for people to know us, to know our story, to know who we are and who we will be. And after we’ve gone, to know who we were.” Have you ever wanted to begin a book over again right after you finished it? That's me with this book... Instead of troubling herself and others with a question she couldn’t answer, she embraced her gift for painting and… celebrated the rest of her life exploring that talent… Narrator Sheila Reid performs fantastically as Father Arthur. Lenni has questions and concerns, and Father Arthur is earnest in his duties to answer Lenni the best he can. Their exchanges made me giggle and snort while listening.
Member Reviews
The answer I have, the only one I have,” he said, “is that you are dying because you are dying. Not because of God’s deciding to punish you and not because He is neglecting you, but simply because you are. It is a part of your story as much as you are.” An unforgettable and heartwarming debut about how a chance encounter with a list of library books helps forge an unlikely friendship between two very different people in a London suburb. So we find out about Lenni’s first and only kiss, and when it might be appropriate to kiss someone. We hear stories from Margot’s life, including her life-long relationship with anti-vivisection campaigner Meena, her first marriage to Johnny and her much later second marriage to Humphrey. This one has two amazing characters as you might guess from the title -- and both are terminally ill. Lenni is only 17 but her heart is giving out and Margot is 83, together they have 100 years of life! A story of mix-ups, mess-ups and making the most of second chances, this is the new novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Jojo Moyes, author of Me Before You and The Giver of Stars
We want for people to know us, to know our story, to know who we are and who we will be. And after we’ve gone, to know who we were.” revenge is the only thing you can do to satisfy your anger, but you might find that after time has passed, forgiveness is what has done you the most good, is what you are most proud of.” They paint pictures for the years of their lives and during these times.. they tell each other the stories of their lives so far. Margot travels to Vietnam to see Meena – where is the furthest you have travelled to see someone you love? Seventeen-year-old LenniPetterssonlives on the Terminal Ward at the Glasgow Princess Royal Hospital. Though the teenager has been told she’s dying, she still has plenty of living to do. Joining the hospital’s arts and crafts class, she meets the magnificent Margot, an 83-year-old, purple-pajama-wearing, fruitcake-eating rebel, who transforms Lenni in ways she never imagined.I loved the way Marianne Cronin weaved the memories of Lennie and Margot throughout the book. I laughed and cried in equal measures. Lenni and Arthur have very different opinions, but they manage to be friends anyway. What do you think makes them so compatible?
A beautiful friendship if formed between 17 year old Lenni and 83 year old Margot during their hospital stay. They celebrate each other and their life experiences in this wonderful story of life, memories, friendship and love. Sharp and funny, warm and wise, a remarkable friendship sparks two lifetimes of shared stories in one unforgettable book. I loved it.”— Jess Kidd, author of Himself cherry red hair, which clashed with her blue uniform like there was no tomorrow. She’d only been on the May Ward a matter of days and she was nervous, especially around the airport children … As Lenni and Margot are getting to know each other at the weekly class, it occurs to Lenni that the age of herself and of Margot adds up to 100 years. Inspired by this fact, the two embark on a project to make one piece of artwork for each of their 100 years and are only hoping they can get it done before one of them passes away.of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot by Marianne Cronin I definitely cried towards the end, but mostly because this book made me really think about the friendships I have had throughout my life and how I can use my life to make a difference in the lives of others, if only in a simple way. If only we could all be a little more like Lenni sometimes. If the mind is so powerful that it can kill a man with no illness and save a man who’s dying, I would never want to give my brain the opportunity to kill me by not believing that I might get better.” Lenni is only seventeen and has a terminal illness. Do not be fooled into thinking she's going to be ok. She's not. But her story is one that will worm it's way into your heart and squeeze tightly. It will leave you breathing so hard and weeping so bad. She's such a determined young girl and a bit ornery too. But in a good way. She has so much life it is hard to believe she is dying.
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