The Leisure Seeker
by Michael Zadoorian
List Price: $13.99
Pages: 288
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9780061671791
Publisher: Harper Paperbacks
A sort of Easy Rider meets The Notebook, Michael Zadoorian’s poignant, funny, vibrant, and unforgettable novel, The Leisure Seeker, is a story of two seniors who escape from their retirement home and embark upon a hilarious and touching end-of-life road trip.
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1. Do you think that John and Ella’s children should have tried to stop their parents, or perhaps to have tracked them through their credit card transactions?
2. Did it bother you that John was driving? Or do you agree with Ella (page 21) that, “If they let sixteen-year-olds on the road” then John “who has an excellent driving record, should be allowed to do the same?”
3. How have you coped in your life with outliving friends and loved ones? Or how do you imagine that you will? How do you think it feels for Ella to have to watch John experience the loss of his best friend each time he remembers him, and asks how he’s doing?
4. John and Ella photographed all of their vacations and they watch slideshows during their evenings while crossing Route 66. Do you think that they brought a camera with them on this last trip? Do you think they should have left photos behind of this last journey for their family? Why or why not?
5. Upon seeing Cadillac Ranch (page 138-140) Ella says: “This so-called art feels to me like a slap in my generation’s face, everything we thought we needed after the war.” What do you think it was about seeing the antique cars buried in dirt that upset Ella most?
6. Discuss Ella’s promise to John --- that neither spouse would let the other be placed in a nursing home. Was Ella right to honor their vow? Do you think John would have been to do the same for Ella?
7. Why do you think that Zadoorian chose to narrate the novel entirely in Ella’s first person voice? How would the novel change if he had decided to tell the book in several voices, such as including Kevin and Cindy’s stories? Or including the voice of a grandchild?
8. Discuss the idea of a vacation where “the journey is the destination” and what that might mean for the modern family. Also, what wisdom does Ella wish she could go back and share with her younger self about family vacations?
9. Should someone who is mentally as sharp as a tack in a body that is failing them be able to make their own decisions about how they might pass from this world?
10. Why do you think it took a grandchild to voice that John might be developing Alzheimer’s?
11. If you had to plan one last road trip where would you go? What people or places might you stop and say goodbye to along the way? Who would be your co-pilot?
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"It's On the Road with shorter sentences and less drugs and sex."
— USA Today
