Rudy Harrington is ready for a new life. His daughters are grown, his wife has died, and the idea of running an avocado grove in Texas suddenly seems infinitely more appealing than staying in his rambling Midwestern house.
So a new life it is. Rudy heads off for a part of the world where he knows scarcely a soul. But he has a guide: a slender book called Philosophy Made Simple, each chapter highlighting the ideas of a different philosopher. No amount of Plato, Schopenhauer, or Sartre, however, can prepare Rudy for the surprises that emerge as he arranges for his daughter's Hindu wedding and gets to know Norma Jean - an elephant with a talent for painting - who is abandoned to Rudy's care and who leads him, ultimately, toward the prospect of a new love.
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Robert Hellenga was educated at the University of Michigan and Princeton University. He teaches at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois.
Riffing off his charming 1994 debut, The Sixteen Pleasures, Hellenga shifts perspective from father to daughter, detailing the former's postmarital adventures as he plans the latter's wedding. It's been seven years since the death of Rudy Harrington's beloved wife, Helen; his three daughters have flown the coop; and the time is ripe to sell his Chicago home of 30 years and buy an avocado grove in Texas. He's also been reading the college-level text Philosophy Made Simple by Siva Singh, his daughter Molly's fiancé's uncle, sparking a previously latent interest in life's big questions. Rudy attempts, at 60, to adjust to single life while singlehandedly planning an Indian wedding for Molly to Singh's nephew, TJ. His grove manager, Medardo, takes him on weekend trips to a Mexican gentleman's club; there, he meets Maria, an employee with a penchant for weakhearted middle-aged men. A denizen of a nearby trailer park is Norma Jean, a lovable elephant with a tremendous talent for painting. When Molly, TJ, Siva and Nandini (Siva's sister and TJ's mother) arrive, Nandini is as taken with Norma Jean, whose owner is suddenly MIA, as is Rudy. More twinkly humor, mild insight, clean prose and gentle homilies follow in this thinker's light gem. (Mar. 8)
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