The Widows' Adventures

By Charles Dickinson

Book Overview

Widowhood came late in life to Ina and Helene, two sisters living in Chicago. Now there is nothing holding them back from one last great adventure: a long, leisurely drive to visit family in Los Angeles. Only Helene knows how to operate an automobile, however, and she has been blind for years. But with caustic, beer-swigging Ina as her eyes, she's willing to get behind the wheel once again. And now, on sparsely traveled back roads in the dead of night -- cruising at a comfortable twelve miles per hour -- they're off to see an America they never knew.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0688089240
• ISBN13: 9780688089245
• Release Date: January 1989
• Publisher: William Morrow & Company
• Length: 381 Pages
• Weight: 1.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.4" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Unexpected

I saw this book at a thrift store and passed it by. The next time I came to the store the book was still there. I picked it up and was hooked by the 3rd page. Being very close to my own sister I was given a glimpse of what our future would be like if we were in the same situation. The sister's journey is a wonderful one. I enjoyed every page and was sorry to get to the last one. I highly recommend this book.

Driving Blind

The cover on the first printing of this book caught my attention. You see, my Aunt went blind and used to have my Dad (who never learned to drive) tell her when cars or a stopsign were approaching. I was not disappointed. This book is marvelous. Dickinson is a fabulous writer, and develops his characters so that you are certain you know them. His writing reminds me of Anne Tyler (trade Baltimore for Chicago).One of the ways the elderly lose their rights is the loss of the driver's license. Also the sisters' sparring is just like my Mom & Aunts ... loving daggers. You will love this book.

A real classic - back in print

This book was out of print for a while, and I'm delight to see it's back. This is one of those books that people pass around saying, "you HAVE to read this." The basic premise -- a blind woman driving while her sighted sister (who can't drive) give directions --- doesn't begin to scratch the surface of the book. Beautiful, scary and funny all at once. I can't recommend this book enough

Sisters full of juice

Absolute delight; Dickenson writes like a dream, with unending imagination and invention. The two not-so-old ladies remind you of every tough-minded and slightly dotty old aunt you ever had. Aches with life and laughter and sadness and hope shaded with the knowledge that this life is all too temporary, and we better find out who we love and love them, soon.

They are old but so full of life.

Brilliantly witty dialogue between two elderly sisters as Dickinson's weaves their shared past with the slow motion present of old age. They snap at each other like only sisters can. The blue collar Chicago neighborhood where the sisters have grown up and raised their own families is decaying rapidly. Yet all their life experiences have occurred within these few blocks so they stay despite the urging of their adult children. Dickinson gives us an exquisite sense of the sisters' interior lives as small daily experiences trigger memories of their husbands, their small triumphs and their fights. Will they fade quietly into the sunset? Not without giving us an amazing ride. You will be cheering for them until the end of the book. You will be laughing along the way.