Friday, September 16, 2011

The Caretakers by Shauna Nosler

The Caretakers

The Caretakers by Shauna Nosler

* I received this book from the author who requested a review. I received no compensation for this review. and the review is my honest opinion.*

The book opens up with a young woman getting an illegal abortion the year before Roe V Wade. It was one of the most emotional things I have read this year. Ms Nosler did an amazing job describing that scene. 
The book goes back and forth from 1972 to various years up to 1989. It is the story of one family. Early years deal with Mabel and one of her brothers, Jasper. While later years deal with Jasper's daughter, Rho, and her cousins, Mitch and Cecil at their Aunt Mabel's home. Ms Nosler was able to jump back and forth while maintaining the flow of the book. Her story was a compelling read. After her abortion Mabel is not able to have a child of her own. She has missing memories of parts of that night but has managed to get on with her life. Jasper has kept a secret all those years. He remembers that night and hold Mabel's missing memories. The summer of 1989 he finally opens up about it. Rho, Mitch and Cecil discover a cross on the property. Rho and Mitch decide they are going to solve the mystery of their aunt and the cross. Before they can though they have an argument right before Mitch's family leaves. Then Mitch has an accident. 

This book was an emotional roller coaster for me. It had reminders of summers when I was a child that brought sweet memories of my own cousins up. There are a lot of secrets, guilty feelings, sadness, anger, and forgiveness, hope and love. I think the most important thing they learn from this, (and in turn we learn), is how important communication is among people who love each other. I thought this was a beautifully told book. The characters were well developed - I felt like I knew them. The story flowed very well, something I wasn't certain would work going from one year to another then back again. I am giving this 5 stars. It is a book I would recommend.

3 comments:

KB said...

Sounds like a heartbreaking read.

Jack Knight (Les Dickinson) said...

On my ever growing list of reads.

Kristina said...

This one definitely sounds like an emotional read. Thanks for the review, I'm going to check this one out.

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