PLOT SUMMARY

          The novel, “The Last of the Crazy People” by Timothy Findley, begins in the present, with the main character, Hooker, hiding in a stable with a gun, waiting for something to happen and thinking about what his plan of action is. Hooker then starts to think about the past, which then takes the story back in time, explaining the events that have led up to where he was in the present. Hooker lives with his family and a caretaker, and we find out his mother has developed an unreasonable hatred towards her husband and children because of a miscarriage that she had. She locked herself in her room and will not let her family see her. Iris, the caretaker, and Rosetta, the sister of the husband, are the only people who can see her and nurse her. Hooker is only 11-years-old, and does not comprehend the issue. His father, Nicholas, cannot hold the family together, and is unhappy about this matter, and Hooker's older brother, Gilbert, drinks and smokes and causes mischief, and this is not a good role model for Hooker to look up to. Hooker seems disconnected from his family, and in the beginning of the story, spends a lot of time burying deceased mice and birds his cats kill. The first half of the book portrays the image of normal events of the family, and not much of any concern is revealed. Then things start to happen, and everyone in the family starts to react, making everyone seem even more "crazy" than usual, and this leads to Hooker’s older brother, Gilbert, committing suicide. Hooker begins to realize his family is dysfunctional and this discovery brings us to the present time, where Hooker is sitting in a barn with a gun, waiting for something to happen. Nobody knows where Hooker went, so then his whole family and caretaker, Iris, start to look for him. As the family gets closer can closer to the stable, he shoots everyone left in his family except for Iris, who he has a secure relationship with. The story ends with Hooker admitted into a psychiatric hospital, and Iris feeling relieved that the whole nightmare was finally over.