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Book Review

The Assisted Living Facility Library (hardcover)

THE COLLIDESCOPE, May 23, 2022

Reviewed by George Salis

From "Central Park West Trilogy and The Assisted Living Facility Library by Richard Kalich"

The Assisted Living Facility Library is a somber and even at times sadistic novel that manages to be a constantly intriguing and even comfortable read. While technically not part of the Central Park West Trilogy, it acts as a coda. There’s an element of autofiction here, not to mention metafiction (one of the most unexpected bits in terms of the former categorization is Kalich’s friendship with David Markson near the end of his life when he was dying of cancer and nearly blind). I would have loved to read more about Kalich’s takes on his most beloved books and writers as he whittles down his collection of 10,000 books to 100 in preparation for a move into an assisted living facility (unfortunately, we never get the full list of books, but we do get titles like Thomas Bernhard’s Concrete, Erica Jong’s Fear of Flying, and Nathaniel West’s Miss Lonelyhearts).... READ MORE