4 out of 4 stars
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The Sounds of Sirens by Mitchell G. Kuhn is a fiction book that tells a tale of a couple, as they try to find a suitable home to spend their remaining days after retirement. Helen Chandler wants to move to an active adult retirement community, where she would have an improved social life. Mike, her husband, doesn’t want that, as he sees it as a step closer to the grave. He finds solace in watching television. Helen gets Mike to grudgingly agree to take a tour at some adult communities alongside her.
Mike is completely set against this move and finds objections to every community they visit. With perfect timing, he makes humorous but strategic statements to each sales agent, to manipulate Helen into being uninterested in any property. This is reflected in his thoughts at one of the communities they visited, “As they walked through each of the homes, each of the rooms, and each of the massive walk-in closets, I followed behind…Not like a puppy dog trailing its master, but rather as a tiger waiting for the proper time to snare its prey.” Can Helen get Mike to change his mind? Can they find common ground?
I was skeptical about reading this book at first, as I thought to myself, “what could be interesting about the life of retirees?” Boy, I sure found out! I was extremely happy that I picked up this book in the end. The author put together a masterpiece. I was happy to see that the elements of each community which the couple visited were described exhaustively. It almost felt like I was on the tour with them, as I could picture exactly what each community looked like. I was also pleased that the editor did a great job. This book was completely devoid of grammatical or typographical errors. As a result, my reading flow was maintained throughout the book.
I was also happy to see the relationship between Mike and Helen. The feuds they had made the story very realistic. Even if I wasn’t told they were a couple, I would have inferred it. This showed how well the author developed their characters. I was especially drawn to the character of Mike. The story was told from his eyes. I found him to be very humorous in his statements, especially in his frequent use of sarcasm. It was refreshing, as I had a lot of good laughs while I read. I also like that the reader can draw valuable lessons on what to look out for when selecting a home.
There was absolutely nothing to hate about this book. I enjoyed reading it. I could not take my eye off the pages, until the last page. In addition to how professionally written it was, the story was very original. As a result, I have the pleasure of rating The Sounds of Sirens 4 out of 4 stars. I recommend this book for people interested in fiction stories, as well as recent retirees.
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The Sound of Sirens
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