Switzy by Emma Cline

This was a difficult read, and that is at least partly due to the subject at hand. The main character, David, is a former business executive who was good at what he did, successful and it seems also trsuted, who has made a monumental business error, and one that he cannot quite remember the exact details of. He has what seems to be a rapidly progressing dementia, more like Lewy Body dementia that Alzheimers, and he has a care taker whose job is to keep him more or less out of trouble. It is not a 24/7/365 kind of situation, but when left to his own devices, David gets into trouble, and he cannot see his way out of it once he is there. David has elected to go to Switzerland to have euthanasia, which I know from reading Amy Bloom's memoir In Love that you have to be cognizant enough to be able to consent to the procedure. It is expensive but allows for death before all dignity is lost. David is on a farewell tour before his final act, where he first meets with his estranged daughter--she is unaware of his illness, and is encouraging to continue in work. They lack a connection, and it seems that the feelings are mutually distant. Then he meets briefly with a childhood friend who he wronged, or at least who he did not stand up for, and he wants to apologize to him, which he does. The friend has long ago forgiven him and is quite puzzled by his visit--as was I. Perhaps in the throes of forgetting the present we are haunted by past wrongs, but in any case this meet up ends with a wimper rather than a roar. The book is all told through David, so there is a fair amount of forgetting and confusion, a failure to read the social cues, and also a feeling that while he grasps what he is about to do, he is not altogether with it. The people around him back away from his confusion rather than correcting him. and it is also quite clear that this is a rich man's exit, one that is not available to most of us. It was long listed for the Booker prize, and is very much in keeping with what you might routinely find in books with that recognition. It is well written, off beat, and unusual.