The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey - Walter Mosley

The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey

By Walter Mosley

  • Release Date: 2010-11-11
  • Genre: African American
Score: 4.5
4.5
From 248 Ratings

Description

A masterful, moving novel about age, memory, and family from one of the literary icons of our time.

Coming in March 2022 from Apple Plus , a six-part series starring Samuel L. Jackson

Ptolemy Grey is ninety-one years old and has been all but forgotten-by his family, his friends, even himself-as he sinks into a lonely dementia. His grand-nephew, Ptolemy's only connection to the outside world, was recently killed in a drive-by shooting, and Ptolemy is too suspicious of anyone else to allow them into his life. until he meets Robyn, his niece's seventeen-year-old lodger and the only one willing to take care of an old man at his grandnephew's funeral.

But Robyn will not tolerate Ptolemy's hermitlike existence. She challenges him to interact more with the world around him, and he grasps more firmly onto his disappearing consciousness. However, this new activity pushes Ptolemy into the fold of a doctor touting an experimental drug that guarantees Ptolemy won't live to see age ninety- two but that he'll spend his last days in feverish vigor and clarity. With his mind clear, what Ptolemy finds-in his own past, in his own apartment, and in the circumstances surrounding his grand-nephew's death-is shocking enough to spur an old man to action, and to ensure a legacy that no one will forget.

In The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey, Mosley captures the compromised state of his protagonist's mind with profound sensitivity and insight, and creates an unforgettable pair of characters at the center of a novel that is sure to become a true contemporary classic.

Reviews

  • Good read

    5
    By Ancu326
    Read this book for book club and was pleasantly surprised by how well the author depicted each character and formed a very interesting story.
  • One worth reading several times

    5
    By GrandpaSmokey
    What a beautiful tale. I look forward to the gift of finding it in my library years from now and reading it again.
  • Wonderful book!

    5
    By ksmljcs
    Great book
  • Very good.

    5
    By NeDav Colorado
    I really liked this book.
  • Awesome

    5
    By migflores
    Could not put it down. The story is breath taking, you cant help but care for Mr. Gray and his adventure to recovering clarity.
  • Last days of Ptolemy grey

    5
    By rlargman
    Very moving incantation on aging and the sadness of racial bigotry. A tour de force.
  • The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey

    4
    By jenajen
    Intriguing story. Although you may be able to figure out where it's going you keep reading because you want to hear the words.
  • Mr. Mosley did it again

    5
    By johnniemouse
    I have enjoyed every book that I read of mr. Mosley's. But this one I became part of. Maybe it is because I am old enough that I forget someones name I should remember or forget to do something that I should have remembered to do. But all of us older readers will remember Ptolemy.
  • The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey

    5
    By ShayPotts
    Excellent work! This book is so good that you try and read slow to make it last longer, but it's too good to last. Thank you Mr. Mosley.
  • So lovely

    5
    By Reluctant reader
    This was a wonderful telling. It reaffirms that good overcomes evil and yes, love does prevail.