Böcker av Bob Puglisi

Set in 1975, UNASSISTED LIVING is a tragicomedy about Mildred Meyers, a feisty, seventy-year-old who leads a revolt against the City of New York and a wealthy real estate developer who wants to demolish her Lower East Side tenement to make way for condominiums. Mildred and her cohorts take on the police with rotten produce, eggs, shaving cream, and whipped cream. The police arrest Mildred and her elderly accomplices. Nancy, Mildred's daughter, a busy prima ballerina, goes to New York to bail out her mother. In order to save Mildred from a stiff jail sentence, Nancy must take her mother back to Los Angeles with her. Nancy finds a home for Mildred at the Star Bright Senior Residence in Hollywood. Stanley Cutler, a loveable, longhaired hippy-type in his early-thirties, owns and operates the semi-rundown establishment. Mildred adapts surprisingly quick to her new environment and bonds with Stanley and his quirky residents. She proves to be a real asset when the Los Angeles Licensing Commission and the IRS harasses Stanley. Mildred senses that someone or something is behind the harassment. Eventually, Mildred's over-bearing personality hits everyone like an unexpected tornado. After an incident in which Mildred betrays the trust of her fellow residents, she decides to move to Hawaii, a dream she has harbored for years. Her daughter agrees to fulfill her mother's wish-until something unexpected happens to Nancy that changes Mildred's plans. UNASSISTED LIVING is an optimistic view of aging with humor overshadowing moments of sadness.

One year after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the Vietnam War continues to escalate and the draft hangs over the heads of young men in Corona, New York. The sounds of doo-wop, the Four Seasons, Elvis, and Sinatra still play on the jukebox at Al's Bar and Grill where twenty-one year old Frankie Russo and his friends hang out. On one of the most important days in young Frankie's life, he has an accident with his brand new 1964 Pontiac Bonneville and it becomes one of the worst days of his life. The actions he takes following the accident change his life forever.