Things to do in a Retirement Home Trailer Park… When You’re 29 and Unemployed

Here’s the official blurb from the back of the book:

Aneurin (Nye) Wright hasn’t been on good terms with his father for a long time. When he receives a call on his birthday from his father, Neil, he isn’t quite sure how to react. Neil has been diagnosed with emphysema and is “certified for hospice,” a six-month death sentence. He needs help. Newly unemployed, Nye is free to move into the trailer park where his father lives and assume the role of caregiver. Neither Nye nor Neil is particularly enthralled by the situation.

Published in the UK 2012 by Myriad Editions and in 2015 in the US by Penn State University Press, it’s available on Bookshop.org, Amazon or here in my shop with special dedication and inscription options.

Reviews

“Aneurin Wright's debut graphic novel … is a shape-shifting chimera stuffed between book covers; a comic that explains the nuances of emphysema and elder care, a meta-meditation on death, loss and coping mechanisms, a tale of father-and-son reconciliation in which the father is a curmudgeonly rhino and the son a headstrong—and totally ripped—spectacle-wearing Minotaur. It's all at once heart-breakingly sad, visually arresting and, for anyone who has helped a parent navigate the end-of-life process, strangely comforting.”

“This original and devastating memoir of love and loss illustrates the value of hospice and presents caring for others as a sort of tragicomic ‘Olympic sport.’ Highly valuable for those facing illness in the family, caregivers, and anyone aspiring to live with empathy.”

“A powerful debut with a deeply resonant story about living with the seemingly impossible.”

“In the end, a serious joy pervades Things to Do. In my decades of reading the hospice and palliative care literature, I cannot think of a single book that would be a better companion for family members beginning on this particular work of caring. The book is equally valuable for homecare health workers, whom Wright depicts as vivid characters, each doing his or her work with dedication and expertise.”

“Wright gives mythical resonance to the gritty everyday realities, memories, and charged fantasies he depicts, not the least of which is the strained relationship between father and son.”

“The inventive symbolism never overwhelms the emotional honesty grounding this compelling memoir, which also contributes to the burgeoning field of ‘graphic medicine’ by exploring in both frank and funny terms the complex impact of illness and death on a family.”