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A review by tobin_elliott
CARETAKERS by Tabitha King
Did not finish book. Stopped at 52%.
DNF at page 142, so no rating.
Y'know, I paid a lot of money for this special Cemetery Dance edition of King's novel. Then I waited something like four years for them to finally get it done and sent out.
I'd previously read her SMALL WORLD novel, that didn't do a heck of a lot for me, but I also read THE TRAP, that I quite enjoyed.
And this one? Well, right up to page 120, aside from the grammatical errors (sorry, CD, you just ain't the publisher you used to be), I was actually quite enjoying the story. Then I read page 120...and the following 22 pages after that. And I'm out.
It may sound hypocritical, my reason for closing this novel and not reading further, considering some of the content I've written in my own works, so let me see if I can explain. But to do so, I have to get into some seriously spoilerific content, just so you know...
SPOILERS AHEAD
So, on page 120, having already found out that one of the two major players in this novel, Joe Nevers, isn't always the most stand up guy...he's messed around on both his wives, but now we're treated to his second wife accusing him of being obsessed with the other major player in the novel, Torie Christopher. And it's important to note that she's not wrong.
But Joe punches his wife. In the face. Hard enough that he not only breaks her nose, but leaves her both with nerve damage and needing plastic surgery to repair the damage to her nose.
Then, he takes her to the local doc immediately after, and the doc does what he can, warns Joe that, if she presses charges, he has to tell what he knows, but he promises to do everything he can to avoid that. And then he asks a few pointed questions that begin to shift the blame over to Joe's battered wife. Basically, putting it down to her being so cutting with her mouth that she was inviting it.
Then the battered wife, who's name is Cora, has her adult daughter over for Thanksgiving. The daughter, Jane, notices they aren't talking, then SHE takes her mother to task, ripping into her, and full on blaming her for bringing on the beating, then all but invites her to commit suicide.
When Cora leaves, the daughter then invites Joe into her bed. Of course he declines, and of course, he goes back on that.
Finally, Cora comes home, and she's got the town gossip with her. The town gossip starts laying into Joe, and then Joe—the guy that everyone's defending because they all think he's too stand up a guy to really be bad—tells the gossip she's lucky she's married to a friend of his, otherwise, he would have r@ped her.
Yes. Really.
And that's pretty much the summary of pages 120-142.
I'm not triggered. I don't get triggered. And I'm no prude. I've written about all of these acts.
I guess the thing that's bugging me is, everyone's defending him, and it truly feels like the author also wanted you to side with Joe. I know there's times we write despicable characters, and sometimes they're our lead characters. But a guy that does all that?
I think the author's intent is the thing that bugs me the worst. Sure, he does all this, but he's still a good man.
No, no he's not.
I have zero sympathy for a character painted in those colours. The story just kind of crashed and burned in those 22 pages.
So, whether you read through the spoiler or not, suffice it to say, there were multiple events, back to back to back that just pulled me right out of the story.
...and I think I'm officially done with Tabitha King. Which is too bad. She can write.
Y'know, I paid a lot of money for this special Cemetery Dance edition of King's novel. Then I waited something like four years for them to finally get it done and sent out.
I'd previously read her SMALL WORLD novel, that didn't do a heck of a lot for me, but I also read THE TRAP, that I quite enjoyed.
And this one? Well, right up to page 120, aside from the grammatical errors (sorry, CD, you just ain't the publisher you used to be), I was actually quite enjoying the story. Then I read page 120...and the following 22 pages after that. And I'm out.
It may sound hypocritical, my reason for closing this novel and not reading further, considering some of the content I've written in my own works, so let me see if I can explain. But to do so, I have to get into some seriously spoilerific content, just so you know...
SPOILERS AHEAD
But Joe punches his wife. In the face. Hard enough that he not only breaks her nose, but leaves her both with nerve damage and needing plastic surgery to repair the damage to her nose.
Then, he takes her to the local doc immediately after, and the doc does what he can, warns Joe that, if she presses charges, he has to tell what he knows, but he promises to do everything he can to avoid that. And then he asks a few pointed questions that begin to shift the blame over to Joe's battered wife. Basically, putting it down to her being so cutting with her mouth that she was inviting it.
Then the battered wife, who's name is Cora, has her adult daughter over for Thanksgiving. The daughter, Jane, notices they aren't talking, then SHE takes her mother to task, ripping into her, and full on blaming her for bringing on the beating, then all but invites her to commit suicide.
When Cora leaves, the daughter then invites Joe into her bed. Of course he declines, and of course, he goes back on that.
Finally, Cora comes home, and she's got the town gossip with her. The town gossip starts laying into Joe, and then Joe—the guy that everyone's defending because they all think he's too stand up a guy to really be bad—tells the gossip she's lucky she's married to a friend of his, otherwise, he would have r@ped her.
Yes. Really.
And that's pretty much the summary of pages 120-142.
I'm not triggered. I don't get triggered. And I'm no prude. I've written about all of these acts.
I guess the thing that's bugging me is, everyone's defending him, and it truly feels like the author also wanted you to side with Joe. I know there's times we write despicable characters, and sometimes they're our lead characters. But a guy that does all that?
I think the author's intent is the thing that bugs me the worst. Sure, he does all this, but he's still a good man.
No, no he's not.
I have zero sympathy for a character painted in those colours. The story just kind of crashed and burned in those 22 pages.
So, whether you read through the spoiler or not, suffice it to say, there were multiple events, back to back to back that just pulled me right out of the story.
...and I think I'm officially done with Tabitha King. Which is too bad. She can write.