The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving by Jonathan Evison
I first learned of Jonathan Evison on my new favorite television show about books, Well Read. The subject of his latest book, This Is Your Life, Harriet Chance didn't really appeal to me, but his conversation about writing intrigued me enough to see what else he'd written. Since my latest project is about aging, I thought The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving might be good research.
Benjamin Benjamin enrolls himself in a class on caregiving. He has hit rock bottom and figures it's as good a place as any to start rebuilding his life, even if it only pays $9 an hour. Ben's first assignment is to care for Trev, a young man with a rare form of muscular dystrophy. Trev comes with an overprotective mother and a clumsy father who she kicked out of the house long ago. Trev is angry about life in general. That is until Ben becomes his caregiver and his friend.
When I sat down to write this review, a book club discussion came to mind. When you dislike the protagonist, is it a good book or not? Ben is not a likable guy. His marriage and his family have collapsed, he's broke, has a drinking problem, refuses to sign the divorce papers his wife keeps trying to serve him, and the list goes on. Here's the spoiler alert. I might have been more sympathetic to Ben, if I had been told why his life was in such a state of disarray sometime before I had read 75% of the book.
Mr. Evison is the master of creating tension. There were so many great scenes in the book that could keep a reader on the edge of her seat. But I just couldn't warm up to a guy for no reason at all. The author kept me on the hook for far too long until Ben's disagreeable personality became ingrained in my mind and I couldn't change it. It turned out Ben had a pretty good reason for being the way he was, but for me, I remain stuck in between good and not so good.
I first learned of Jonathan Evison on my new favorite television show about books, Well Read. The subject of his latest book, This Is Your Life, Harriet Chance didn't really appeal to me, but his conversation about writing intrigued me enough to see what else he'd written. Since my latest project is about aging, I thought The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving might be good research.
Benjamin Benjamin enrolls himself in a class on caregiving. He has hit rock bottom and figures it's as good a place as any to start rebuilding his life, even if it only pays $9 an hour. Ben's first assignment is to care for Trev, a young man with a rare form of muscular dystrophy. Trev comes with an overprotective mother and a clumsy father who she kicked out of the house long ago. Trev is angry about life in general. That is until Ben becomes his caregiver and his friend.
When I sat down to write this review, a book club discussion came to mind. When you dislike the protagonist, is it a good book or not? Ben is not a likable guy. His marriage and his family have collapsed, he's broke, has a drinking problem, refuses to sign the divorce papers his wife keeps trying to serve him, and the list goes on. Here's the spoiler alert. I might have been more sympathetic to Ben, if I had been told why his life was in such a state of disarray sometime before I had read 75% of the book.
Mr. Evison is the master of creating tension. There were so many great scenes in the book that could keep a reader on the edge of her seat. But I just couldn't warm up to a guy for no reason at all. The author kept me on the hook for far too long until Ben's disagreeable personality became ingrained in my mind and I couldn't change it. It turned out Ben had a pretty good reason for being the way he was, but for me, I remain stuck in between good and not so good.
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