Sunday, June 9, 2019

THE CAREGIVER By, Samuel Park


Engrossing, riveting, an original story line, unlike any other. No spoilers-but the author's tale becomes 'part' of the story. The story transitions from the past to the present from Bel Air California to Rio de Janeiro. Mara Alencar is a struggling voice over actress who will do anything to protect her young daughter, Ana. 

Mara in desperation to survive financially, becomes intertwined with a violent militant group. Mara is recruited because of her acting skills, but the part becomes much more complicated when she is asked to participate in a plan to overthrow the police chief in Rio De Janeiro. The consequences prove dire. 

Throughout the book, you keep asking yourself who is taking care of whom? Its the question that formulates the basis for the book. At times, you feel like you are in a story of espionage and violence and other times, it is clearly a meditation on living, and the passion to survive, one more day.

His descriptive writing takes you there. When describing Rio De Janeiro:

"Beaches where the sand was so fine, it glistened like the shavings of diamonds. Of water so cool, the sun felt like a friend. Bubbly and brown, like an ocean of milkshake. A place where you could hear the squeals of children, nearby, and you knew it was the happiest they'd ever been."

This book provides so much to the reader, a final gift from the Author. It's a meditation on love, life and the struggle to be present. As the Author describes, "as if night were a tall bottle of wine and because no one could find a cork, it kept spilling and spilling." its those moments, when we struggle to find meaning, to contemplate life in broad terms, and to remember the power, of a breath of fresh air.

"All she wanted was to be in a room, in a comfy chair, and able to breathe. That was enough. That was life. Those were riches. What could be more wonderful than to sit in a chair and say, I am alive. I am here."

Books by Samuel Park:

This Burns My Heart 2011
Shakespeare's Sonnets: A Novella 2006


1 comment:

Joan said...

Your description draws me to this book. Proposing the question of who's doing the caregiving got my attention.