House Mother Normal

A Geriatric Comedy

By: B. S. Johnson

Narrated by: Rosalyn Landor, Stephen Thorne, Maggie Mash

In his heyday, during the 1960s and early 1970s, B. S. Johnson was one of the best-known novelists in Britain. A passionate advocate for the avant-garde, he became famous for his forthright views on the future of the novel and for his unique ways of putting them into practice.

House Mother Normal: A Geriatric Comedy is Johnson's most richly characterised, humane and sympathetic work. Eight residents in a home for the elderly sit down to dinner, along with the House Mother herself, and each takes it in turn to relay the proceedings of the evening from their own individual perspective.

By virtue of the novel's clever structure, the listener's comprehension of events is limited so as to allow them a powerful experience: Johnson's humorous yet deeply compassionate depiction of what it means to live life and grow old.

©1971 B. S. Johnson (P)2017 Audible, Ltd

Waste of time!

The only good thing about this book were the narrators. Would never recommend it to anyone.

Super Depressing

In case you thought this really was a comedy, as stated by the subtitle, this is a pretty seriously depressing story. The story, such as it is, is a few hours in the life of some nursing home residents in varying states of mental and physical decline. The same events are narrated by several different characters, including the sadistic house mother. The narration is well done, and the writing is definitely interesting, but the storyline is so depressing I can't really say I recommend it.