The Caretaker

This is the kind of the books that will get you out of a reading slump. The writing style and the story make the book feel like one of the classics. I needed this kind of book just now.

Set in 1951, during the Korean War, Ron Rash’s The Caretaker has at its heart the cruellest of deceptions set in train when the son of a small town’s wealthiest family is reported wounded and on his way home where his pregnant wife is waiting for him. Working as a hotel maid, Naomi is so far from the wife the Hamptons had set their heart on for Jacob that they disinherited their only son when the couple eloped. Before he left for Korea, Jacob had asked his childhood friend to look after Naomi. Blackburn makes sure that the couple’s farmhouse is in order, taking Naomi home to Tennessee as her due date draws near. When the telegram arrives at the town’s post office, addressed to Naomi telling her of Jacob’s return, a misguided act of kindness leads to a deception which causes terrible heartache.
It's the characterisation that makes this novel stand out for me. The Hamptons are carefully portrayed as largely decent people who suffered the deaths of two children before Jacob was born. Blackburn is the upstanding, loyal friend, a decent man who continues to do the right thing despite temptation and shunning by the town thanks to his disfigurement from polio. As ever, Rash’s use of language is strikingly evocative, his descriptions of the natural world marking the change of seasons beautifully. The ending wasn’t quite what I expected but that’s no bad thing.

A good old-fashioned story of life on American homesteads, typical family feuds, and the interaction with life beyond the homestead boundaries.
I loved it.
Many thanks to the publisher for an advance reader's copy for honest review.

Easily a new Classic of American Literature.
Loved absolutely every minute of it: the easy narrative style, being able to see the events from everyone's POV, the gentleness in writing grief.
A novel I'll be happy to revisit and recommend over and over again.
The briefness also lends itself to the view that we're just catching a glimpse into these peoples' lives, so much more has happened before and much more awaits them ahead

A beautifully written novel covering friendship, love, betrayal and sacrifice. I was so invested in this gentle story I finished it in one day. A book that will linger on the mind and absolutely perfect as a book club read. Thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for this review copy which is bound to be a bestseller.

.Ron Rash writes a beautifully poignant exploration of Appalachian North Carolina small town community and life at Blowing Rock in the 195os. The novel opens with a conscripted soldier, Jacob Hampton, experiencing the kind of freezing cold and dangers coming from across a frozen river that have claimed the lives of other men in the Korean War. Will he live to return home? The only thing that keeps him him clawing to survive is his 17 year old pregnant wife, Naomi Clare. Jacob had failed to live up to the expectations that his parents, Cora and Daniel, had for him, not finishing college, preferring instead to become a manual worker instead. What they could not stomach was him marrying 16 year old Naomi Clare from Tennessee, uneducated, poor, and working as a maid at The Green Park Inn.

Having experienced the tragic loss of 2 children, they had poured all their dreams and hopes into Jacob, they make the momentous decision to disinherit him. As Jacob leaves to fight, he has no-one to ask other than his best friend, Blackburn Gant, to keep an eye on and take care of a shunned and pregnant Naomi. Gant too is an outsider, with his limp and disfigured face from childhood polio, bullied, he is loyal and steadfast. At 16 years of age, his parents left for Florida, whilst he became the reclusive, compassionate, and diligent caretaker of the dead at the hill cemetery, his work ensuring he becomes a physically strong man. Gant goes out of his way to take the best care of Naomi he can, but does not anticipate how close the two of them become.

Neither he, nor a PTSD afflicted Jacob, could imagine the horrors of the lengths to which Daniel and Cora will go to ensure Jacob falls in with their plans for him. Rash penetrates the intricacies and complexities of the nature of community, family, marriage and friendship through the interactions and relationships between Gant, Jacob, and Naomi, whilst providing a marvellous sense of location with his rich descriptions. It is Gant who steals the show, who against all the odds, rises above the cards life has dealt him, ostracism, the injustices, the bullying by the likes of Billy Runyan, and the threats to his livelihood. This is an exquisite, profoundly affecting historical read that I am certain a wide range of readers will love. Highly recommended. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.

What a lovely read. A story of love, jealousy, a parents’ desire to hold on to their children and with the backdrop of a war and the mental health problems that can bring. The characters are all such individuals but there is one who seems strong enough to hold them all together. Blackburn, with deformities that set the townsfolk against having much to do with him and yet his loyalty to his friends is so strong. This was a story that appeared to be heading toward a real wrong being done to others and you’ll need to read it to find out whether that travesty occurs. It is so worth reading. A lovely book.

The description of both the setting and the time absolutely absorb you into the story to the point feeling the cold and smelling the Earth.
With beautifully described characters, particularly Blackburn and Naomi, and a twisted tale of lost love and firm friendship built this is a wonderful read.

I absolutely loved this book. It comes as no surprise to me that Ron Rash is also a poet. His beautiful, subtle prose is effortless, and I found the novel very filmic in its style. Although the love story between sixteen year old Naomi and the more privileged Jacob is at the centre of the narrative, the novel is also about male friendship, loyalty and a misplaced sense of familial duty. Set against the backdrop of the Korean War, it's a quiet page tuner. Highly recommended.

Set in the early 50’s in North Carolina, Jacob is fighting in Korea and Naomi, his young wife is pregnant and alone. Jacob’s parents have disinherited him since the deeply disapproved of marriage and not even the thought of her carrying their grandchild has softened their stance towards her. Blackburn Grant, disabled by childhood polio, will not be going to war. The facial damage from the polio and the subsequent bullying and social exclusion has led Blackburn to live a solitary life working at the cemetery and enjoying the nature surrounding him. He is Jacob’s best friend, Jacob showed him kindness in childhood when so many didn’t and now he is taking care of Naomi. When Jacob’s parents learn of their son’s injury in Korea, they devise a plan to get Naomi out of his life forever. A deeply felt, sparely written novel about friendship, love and loss.

I loved this book. It's beautifully written and had me hooked right away. I loved the characters, the setting and how realistic it all was. It's about people, both good and bad, and doing the right thing. Very glad to have had the chance to read this author.

I hadn't read any of this author's books but the blurb for this one drew me in and I'm so glad that I requested it. It's not a long book and the events happen over a short period of time, but the author packs so much in. For me it was compelling reading. A book all about relationships and how a single bad choice can be the catalyst for so much pain. Blackburn is a wonderful character. Living with disfigurement caused by polio and the subsequent ostracism because of his difference. He was was the one I was rooting for throughout.
The book highlights the prejudice, cruelty and bigotry that pervades every society when confronted by anything other than the 'norm'.