The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey

The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey (November 2010) is a novel by award-winning author Walter Mosley. Mosley has enjoyed a distinguished literary career, penning over forty books in the genres of mystery, science fiction, and political nonfiction. He is the first Black recipient of a National Book Foundation Medal in the category of Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. Mosley’s father was African American, and his mother was Jewish with Russian ancestry. Mosley identifies strongly with both Jewish and Black cultures. Many of his works, though not all, describe the experience of Black men in America. Mosley is best known for his Easy Rawlins historical mystery series. The first novel in the series, Devil in a Blue Dress (1990), became a 1995 film starring Denzel Washington. The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey recently became an Apple Plus series (March 2022) starring Samuel L. Jackson. The book is meant for adult readers and falls under the categories of Fiction Urban Life and Psychological Fiction. This study guide and all its page citations are based on the Kindle edition of the novel.

The book is set in contemporary Los Angeles in 2010. The protagonist is ninety-one years old. The story is told using limited third-person narration from the viewpoint of Ptolemy Grey. His pivotal memory occurred when he was a six-year-old boy living in 1925 Mississippi at a time when lynching was still common. Ptolemy Grey is experiencing memory loss, and the narrative frequently skips among events from the 1920s, 1950s, and the present. Likewise, many scenes are set in the rural Mississippi of Ptolemy’s memories, though the central action of the story takes place in contemporary Los Angeles and spans a period of roughly three months.

Ptolemy is a widower living alone in a shabby apartment. His caregiver is a great-nephew named Reggie, who looks in on him periodically. Ptolemy is entering the early stages of dementia, and he often confuses the past and present. His foggy sense of the world is shaken by two significant events. Reggie is killed in a drive-by shooting, and a teenage girl named Robyn becomes Ptolemy’s new caregiver. Robyn’s love stabilizes Ptolemy and helps to ground him in the present. He then takes an experimental drug that restores his memory for a few months before killing him. During this interval, Ptolemy gets one last chance to do the right thing. In following Ptolemy through his final months, the novel explores the themes of memory and forgetfulness, the transformative power of love, and what it takes to become a hero.

Plot Summary

Ptolemy Grey is a ninety-one-year-old Black man who lives in a shabby apartment in a rundown neighborhood of Los Angeles. He is experiencing progressive memory loss, and needs help with the simplest of daily chores. His grand-nephew Reggie stops by periodically to take him grocery shopping or to the bank to cash his social security checks. Reggie is exasperated because Ptolemy is a hoarder who refuses to throw anything away. Ptolemy’s rooms are crammed with memorabilia and trash, and his toilet no longer works. When Reggie is killed in a drive-by shooting, Ptolemy is briefly tended by an oafish grand-nephew named Hilly, who steals from him. Thankfully, a teenage ward of Ptolemy’s grand-niece steps in to look after him. The girl is named Robyn, and she quickly gets Ptolemy sorted out, both mentally and physically.

Robyn takes on the daunting task of clearing the rubble of Ptolemy’s life. She also helps to shine a light on his foggy memories. Ptolemy loves Robyn, and she genuinely returns his affection. When he shows her a suitcase containing ninety-four thousand dollars that he saved from his social security money, she refuses to take any of it. All Robyn wants is a day bed in his living room that she can call her own. Ptolemy buys her the bed, and Robyn settles in as his full-time caregiver.

While sorting through Ptolemy’s belongings, Robyn comes across a business card from a doctor who is seeking test subjects for a new memory drug. The drug will restore Ptolemy’s mental function, but it will drastically shorten his lifespan. He may only have a few months to live once he takes it. Over Robyn’s objections, Ptolemy agrees.

Ptolemy gains control of his mind again. He remembers a promise that he made to his childhood mentor, Coydog. Coydog stole a cache of gold coins from a white man, intending to use it to help poor Black people. Coydog showed Ptolemy where the coins were hidden though the six-year-old boy was too young to do anything about it at the time. Coydog was captured and lynched, and years later Ptolemy returned to recover the coins and bring them to Los Angeles. He hid them, but his dementia made him forget where the coins were concealed.

After taking the memory drug, Ptolemy finds the hiding place and tells Robyn his secret. They put the coins in a safety deposit box. Ptolemy introduces Robyn to an antique dealer who can buy the coins and a lawyer who will take care of the paperwork. She will be in charge of administering Ptolemy’s estate for the benefit of his shiftless relatives after he dies. Aside from arranging his financial affairs, Ptolemy’s newfound memory allows him to solve the mystery of Reggie’s murder. Reggie’s wife’s boyfriend, Alfred, killed him.

Ptolemy lures Alfred to his apartment with the promise of gold coins and gets Alfred to confess to Reggie’s killing. The two men struggle, and Ptolemy shoots Alfred before collapsing himself. Ptolemy wakes up in the hospital to learn that he only has hours left to live. Robyn is at his side until the end. Ptolemy has written her a farewell note expressing his gratitude for her love and explaining that she gave him the strength to do what needed to be done before he died: “I almost failed at my duty. A man only got to do one thing to set him apart. A man only got to do one thing right” (215).