George K. Ilsley

•This is a book about dealing with aging parents that is disarmingly honest and real. As a young gay man, author George K. Ilsley moved across Canada from the east coast (Nova Scotia) to the west (British Columbia), about as far one can possibly get from one’s hometown in Canada, leaving his small-town life behind. But he returns home as a middle-aged man to help care for his now widowed father in his nineties. 

Despite (or perhaps because of) his age, his father is cranky, incorrigible, and at times to George, embarrassing; he has a penchant for asking women “Do you want to see my peanuts?” (ostensibly meaning the peanuts he grows in his garden), which attracts the attention of the local police. He’s also a hoarder, and refuses the help of nurses and caregivers. But as his health declines, George reckons with past memories of his parents – the loving mother whom he never fully accepted was an alcoholic; the stern father who beat him and never said “I love you” – before father and son come to a mutual understanding about the other, in the messy, complicated ways that families do.

•In many ways, The Home Stretch reminds us of Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant?, Roz Chast’s 2014 memoir about her aging parents that was a #1 New York Times bestseller, and Gratitude, Oliver Sacks’ final memoir written after his terminal cancer diagnosis, which like The Home Stretch, explores the ramifications of impending death in ways that are in fact a celebration of life.

•By the end of the book George’s father passes away; George wrote this book as a way to deal with his grief over losing both of his parents. Most of us are profoundly afraid of the idea of aging and death, but one of George’s ambitions for the book is to write through the fear and denial in order to understand it, and to reckon with it.

•This is George’s first work of nonfiction; he is also the author of two fiction titles published by Arsenal, but they were published many years ago and not appropriate to use as comps: Random Acts of Hatred (2003) and ManBug (2006).

•In George’s own words: “The loss of our parents is an event that all of us must face -- that is, all of us who are lucky enough to have them. Eldercare is a rite of passage, not just for the elder, but also for the caregiver as well. It is a challenge, but facing that challenge with humour and insight can be inspirational and therapeutic. ”

•US publicity by Beth Parker, New York.

Arsenal Pulp Press

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