72 was his number. Denny Voss and his mother, Nana Jo, kept the paperwork tucked away safely in an old freezer in the basement along with all their important documents. Later, his doctor diagnosed him as Neurodiverse and when Denny told the doctor that some people called him simpleminded or a dimwit, the doctor responded that the doctor assured him he was fine just the way he was and his big heart mattered more than his IQ score.
Denny Voss is in jail for the third time despite his best intentions. The first time was for kidnapping Tom Hanks, the neighbor’s pet goose named after the movie star. The second time involved a bank robbery and this time it is for murdering his neighbor (or, as Denny might say, ‘doing murder to his neighbor’).
Nana Jo, his mother, loves him to the moon and back which is as much as you can love anyone according to Denny but she had an untimely stroke at the same time Denny wnet to jail for the third time. Under better circumstances, Denny lived with Nana Jo and his deaf and blind Saint Bernard, George. He also had a sister, Lydia, who was much older than Denny and lived in New York. But Denny had a good life according to him.
Angus, a cousin shared a duplex with Nana Jo and Denny. He helped Denny get a job with the Department of Transportation and they spent the week together driving around in a DOT truck. It was Angus more than anyone who taught Denny how to fit in to his peer group as best he could. Angus told the world who he was by the philosophy of his T-Shirts.
As Denny helps his therapist and lawyer prepare for trial, Denny both writes and tells his story. The characters that come and go and also stay in Denny’s life feel like friends by the time Denny is finished.
Cops who take Denny for a ride to visit George and his mother while hospitalized, Angus who teaches Denny to sing the theme song from Toy Story to quell his anxiety and and Nana Jo who gives everything for Denny when she is able, are all part of a hilarious but poignant account of Denny Voss’s life going sideways. Love takes many forms and Holly Kennedy doesn’t miss any of them in her masterpiece of a novel. Most of all, Ms. Kennedy teaches us that the love of a family can sustain us and is not limited to traditional genetic ties.