When Alicia arrives at Mercy Gardens, she is a riddle the other residents cannot solve.
Bold, indifferent, and seemingly immune to the social hierarchy headed by the formidable Hattie, Alicia does not behave like a woman losing her grip on reality. Most disturbing of all is her apparent relish for the home’s abject conditions—a stoicism that borders on the voyeuristic.
Hattie, Joyce, and Ramona have long navigated the failings of a system designed to ensure they are forgotten, but Alicia’s presence suggests a stranger, more unsettling shadow.
Written in a voice that is at once hyper-specific and hypnotic, The Young Geriatric is a taut, interior thriller. It is a provocative excavation of societal neglect and a sharp-eyed study of the power plays that develop when the world stops looking.
