From Booklist *Starred Review* Ella and John Robina, eightysomethings, take off in their Leisure Seeker RV against the will of their son, daughter, and doctors. Destination Disneyland, via Route 66. Ella has refused further treatment for cancer, and John’s Alzheimer’s is four years advanced. So they leave the Detroit suburbs and head west. Ella navigates and narrates their trip—and their lives—while John, who veers from sentience to senility and rage to tenderness, drives. Crumbling, kitschy Route 66 triggers Ella’s thoughts. This is a purely character-driven novel, and Ella is a remarkable creation: she’s honest, tough, strong, funny, usually in pain, cranky, and frightened. Her narration is matter-of-fact, but laced with snarky one-liners. Having braved Chicago’s chaotic Dan Ryan Expressway, she comforts readers: “Between the two of us, we are one whole person.” John is a distressingly realistic portrait of a person with Alzheimer’s; Ella never knows when he’ll have a moment of lucidity or fly into a dangerous rage. Her middle-aged children’s panicked demands that the couple return home will resonate with any adult who has feared for a parent’s well-being. Zadoorian, whose debut novel, Second Hand (2000), was widely praised, has surpassed his initial success. The Leisure Seeker is pretty much like life itself: joyous, painful, funny, moving, tragic, mysterious, and not to be missed. --Thomas Gaughan