The Mostly True Story of Tanner & Louise
Twenty-one-year-old Tanner Quimby needs a place to live. Preferably one where she can continue sitting around in sweatpants and playing video games nineteen hours a day. Since she has no credit or money to speak of, her options are limited, so when an opportunity to work as a live-in caregiver for an elderly woman falls into her lap, she takes it.
One slip on the rug. That’s all it took for Louise Wilt’s daughter to demand that Louise have a full-time nanny living with her. Never mind that she can still walk fine, finish her daily crossword puzzle, and pour the two fingers of vodka she drinks every afternoon. Bottom line — Louise wants a caretaker even less than Tanner wants to be one.
The two start off their living arrangement happily ignoring each other until Tanner starts to notice things—weird things. Like, why does Louise keep her garden shed locked up tighter than a prison? And why is the local news fixated on the suspect of one of the biggest jewelry heists in American history who looks eerily like Louise? And why does Louise suddenly appear in her room, with a packed bag at 1 a.m. insisting that they leave town immediately?
Thus begins the story of a not-to-be-underestimated elderly woman and an aimless young woman who—if they can outrun the mistakes of their past—might just have the greatest adventure of their lives.
Review:
This book was a lot of fun, and while it didn’t blow me away, it was a quick and easy read.
The book focuses on Tanner Quimby – a 21-year-old who can barely manage to peel herself off the couch and away from her video games long enough to be a contributing member of the household. Tanner hasn’t always been this way. At one point in time she was a star soccer player, but during her junior year of college she attended a party at a frat house where the deck she was standing on collapsed causing a severe break in her leg and ending her college soccer career and along with it, her full ride scholarship. She wants nothing more to go back to school and finish her degree, but she can’t quit feeling sorry for herself long enough to do something about it. Eventually, her parents get fed up with her and tell her she has to get a job and move out. They find her the perfect solution – one of Tanner’s mother’s friends needs help. Her mother – Louise – recently had a nasty fall and broke her hip and needs a live-in caretaker. Tanner is not at all skilled enough to be a nurse, but they really just want someone around to watch Louise in case she should fall again, as well as someone who can drive her to and from her physical therapy appointments. Easy peasy. Maybe the $100/a week will help Tanner save enough so that she can finally go back to college.
To say that 21-year-old Tanner and 84-year-old Louise Wilt have nothing in common is an understatement. Louise especially doesn’t understand Tanner at all. She thinks she’s lazy, uninteresting and needs to take better care of her appearance. Tanner isn’t sure she’ll be able to do this long-term, but a sexy handyman of Louise’s catches her attention and makes her decide maybe she should at least shower daily and change her clothes if this dude (August – is going to be making appearances.
But then one day while watching the news, Tanner sees a news segment about the FBI closing in on a decades old jewel heist. After all these years, agents believe that a woman may be behind it and the age-progressed photo of the alleged perp look a heel of a lot like Louise. The next night, Tanner hears police sirens in the distance and Louise wakes her up and tells her she needs her to pack a bag immediately and they need to go. Tanner hesitates at first, but then on a whim, decides what the hell, and she leaves with Louise – off to God knows where. Louise tells her they have to drive to California to help her friend, George because they are in trouble. Naturally, Tanner believes George must have been Louise’s accomplice in the Jewel heist, and part of her wonders if she shouldn’t get out of the car and leave Mrs. Wilt to her alleged criminal ways without her, but she goes anyway, and despite the questionable intention of the road trip, both Tanner and Louise end up developing a beautiful friendship.
The trip is fraught with mishaps, misunderstandings and mistaken identities, but it’s also filled with a lot of heart and a lot of learning experiences. Both of our characters begin to open up to one another and, despite the extreme age difference, begin to care for and understand each other. One especially touching passage happens in chapter 22, where Tanner makes a confession to Louise. The passage reads:
Without soccer, who was she? But that wasn’t all she was scared of. Or even the biggest thing. She took a deep breath, and then said in an even smaller voice, “I think I’m broken. Like I don’t even know how to be a person anymore. How to be… anything.
Rest assured, by the end of the book, we find out why Louise needed to get to George, what Louise and George had done in their past and who really stole the jewels. Overall, this was an enjoyable read.
