I read The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey and watched the Apple TV+ limited series. Here’

I read The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey and watched the Apple TV+ limited series. 

Here’s my take.

The Book

“That’s how Ptolemy imagined the disposition of his memories, his thoughts: they were still his, still in the range of his thinking, but they were, many and most of them, locked on the other side a closed door that he’s lost the key for. So his memory became like secrets held away from his own mind. But these secrets were noisy things; they babbled and muttered behind the door, and so if he listened closely he might catch a snatch of something he once knew well.”

This literary-mystery novel wasn’t what I was expecting, but kept my attention. The layered idea of an untrusting, testy, hoarding elderly man living in isolation with early stages of dementia, the will to remember and ultimately making a deal with the devil to tend to unfinished business is a clever take. 

Mosley vividly depicts Ptolemy’s wandering mind in the midst of his depleting memory and the bonds he forms in the present, as well as those he formed in the past, but mentally addressees presently. Think of a dream state. The relationship between 91-year-old Ptolemy and 17-year-old Robyn was initially unsettling because of the sexual references then veers into a close friendship, treating each other with care and protection like family, bringing clarity to each other’s life.

The Series

The limited series is a great adaptation of the novel. The one thing this visual portrayal captures that the book falls short of is the innocence of Ptolemy and Robyn’s grandfather-granddaughter or uncle-great niece like relationship from beginning to end. (Those sexual references in the book that gladly doesn’t make it to the screen.)

The layers of protection amongst our primary characters, the things they hold onto and how it all carries back to past life lessons and present revelations is well-translated from book to screen. Samuel L. Jackson and Dominique Fishback deliver compelling performances that feels like the characters were made specifically for them and complements one another, along with fitting actors to fill out the ensemble cast. The cinematography is vivid when it comes to showing Ptolemy’s state of dementia and well-thought out in terms of angles and scene structure, as well as the use of dull and vibrant colors to represent a foggy life versus one of clarity.