Growing old

We Spread ~ by Iain Reid, 2022, psychological suspense, 304 pages

Penny, an artist, has lived in the same apartment for decades, surrounded by the artifacts and keepsakes of her long life.  She is resigned to the mundane rituals of old age, until things start to slip.  Before her longtime partner passed away years earlier, provisions were made for a room in a unique long-term care residence, where Penny finds herself after one too many “incidents.”

Initially, surrounded by peers, conversing, eating, sleeping, looking out at the beautiful woods that surround the house, all is well.  She even begins to paint again.  But as the days start to blur together, Penny — with a growing sense of unrest and distrust — starts to lose her grip on the passage of time and on her place in the world.  Is she succumbing to the subtly destructive effects of aging or is she an unknowing participant in something more unsettling?  This novel explores questions of conformity, productivity, relationships, and what it means to grow old.

Speaking of old folks, I got my latest booster Saturday.  It was bivalent, like this image found online.  That's good, I think, since I read that most experts agree that older people — I'm 82 — should get the new bivalent shots now, as should those who have chronic conditions and those who are immunocompromised.

Word of the Day

bivalent = The updated boosters are called bivalent because they protect against the original virus that causes COVID-19 and the omicron variants, BA.4 and BA.5.  The previous boosters are monovalent because they were designed to protect only against the original virus.