Review of THE ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF LENNI AND MARGOT by Marianne Cronin

 3 Stars

A patient in Glasgow’s Princess Royal Hospital, 17-year-old Lenni Petersson is terminally ill with an unspecified illness.  While awaiting her death, she becomes friends with a number of people.  One of them is Father Arthur, the hospital chaplain, who is nearing retirement.  Through the art therapy program in the hospital, she meets 83-year-old Margot Macrae who has life-threatening heart disease. 

The two women, whose ages add up to 100 years, decide to collaborate on 100 works of art to represent their combined century of life:  “It isn’t enough to have been a particle in the great extant of existence.  I want, we want more.  We want for people to know us, to know our story, to know who we are and who we will be.  And after we’re gone, to know who we were.”  Since Margot is the much better artist, she does most of the artwork whereas Lenni keeps a written record of their stories.

Chapters alternate between Lenni and Margot in chronological order.  Since Margot has lived a fairly long life, we learn a lot about her past:  her life has been full of both love and heartbreak.  Since Margot has lived 66 more years than Lenni, we learn much more about the older woman.  The problem is that her backstory dominates and Lenni’s past is only vaguely outlined.

In an interview included at the end of the novel, the author stated that “friendship is probably is the most important theme of the book.”  Certainly the narrative emphasizes that friendship can be found in the most unexpected of places.  I looked forward to reading about an intergenerational friendship, but the friendship between the protagonists is not really developed.  We don’t see the development of their relationship, as we do in Lenni’s friendship with Father Arthur and New Nurse.  Instead we are told that a friendship develops and the two go on to tell each other stories from their lives.  Hearing stories is not the same as having heartfelt conversations that develop connections. 

I enjoyed the interactions between Lenni and Father Arthur.  She is irreverent, inquisitive, and straight-forward.  She is witty and sarcastic.  He is caring, compassionate, and sensitive.  It is difficult not to like them so the bond the two form is understandable.  The relationship I had difficulty with is the one between Margot and Meena which receives a lot of attention.  I understand that Margot sees Meena as a free spirit, something she wishes she could be, but Meena just seems self-centred.  And if she’s such a rebel willing to engage in criminal escapades and willing to have an unorthodox relationship with The Professor, why is she so reticent to even discuss things with Margot?

While reading this novel, more than once I thought of the phrase, “If you love someone, set them free.”  Humphrey does that and so do Lenni and Margot at different times with different people.  Of course, the second part of the quote is important too:  “If they come back, they’re yours; if they don’t, they never were.”

This tear-jerker with its life –affirming message (life is possible even in the most inhospitable conditions) will appeal to many readers.  I didn’t hate the book, but I found it rather superficial.  I always check out any discussion questions at the back of a book.  The fact that 8 of the 20 questions (40%) refer only to the reader’s experiences and do not require any analysis of the book suggests there is really not much to analyze.  There are no answers to life’s – or Lenni’s – difficult questions, and the themes are not especially profound.