Reviewed by Stephen K.
TITLE: Caregiver
AUTHOR: Rick R. Reed
NARRATOR: Taavi Mark
PUBLISHER: Rick R. Reed
LENGTH: 6 hours and 49 Minutes
RELEASE DATE: December 5th 2013
BLURB:
It’s 1991, and Dan Calzolaio has just moved to Florida with his lover, Mark, having fled Chicago and Mark’s addictions to begin a new life on the Gulf Coast. Volunteering for the Tampa AIDS Alliance is just one part of that new beginning, and that’s how Dan meets his new buddy, Adam.
Adam Schmidt is not at all what Dan expected. The guy is an original – witty, wry, and sarcastic with a fondness for a smart black dress, Barbra Streisand, and a good mai tai. Adam doesn’t let his imminent death get him down, even through a downward spiral that sees him thrown in jail.
Each step of Adam’s journey teaches Dan new lessons about strength and resilience, but it’s Adam’s lover, Sullivan, to whom Dan feels an almost irresistible pull. Dan knows the attraction isn’t right, even after he dumps his cheating, drug-abusing boyfriend. But then Adam passes away, and it leaves Sullivan and Dan both alone to see if they can turn their love for Adam into something whole and real for each other.
REVIEW:
How do you classify a story based in the early days of AIDS? Contemporary, Historical, Post Apocalyptic?
Having fled the great white North in favor of the Tampa Bay area myself in 79 and beginning to experience the freedom of coming out there myself just prior to the AIDS crisis, I was eager to revisit the Tampa of my youth but leery of the plague that I was sure would play a major role in this tale.
I fondly recall the guilty pleasure of checking out the guys tricking on the Courtney Campbell Causeway (though I never worked up the courage for that). I also recall discovering the Lighted Tree at Pass-a-Grille Beach, an open air bar housed amid the roots of an old banyan tree. I’m not sure of how busy it was during Sunday brunch… I only visited it at night when the 1000s of twinkle lights turned it into a fairyland.
While this tale does feature an AIDS related plot-line it’s so much more than simply a maudlin memoir of that time. It’s really more a tale of a young guy meeting an irrepressible spirit, and learning more about loving, acceptance, and assertiveness than he expected. The odd attraction that Dan feels for Adam’s soon to be ex felt is as emotionally loaded as any of the many, many complications this virus brought into our lives. The story brings back memories and there are times when I wanted to take each of the main characters and shake them and tell them what I now know to be true. But then, when I think back on my own behavior during that era, I’d first want to give my young self a good shake as well.
In the prologue the fictional author of this work protests that it’s not a memoir but a love story. The truth is, it’s both; and more as well. This book is so much more substantial than so much of the light fare that I regularly read, that I feel somewhat unqualified to review it.
The truth is, I’d read more of this type of work except… When one reads material this good and this true, it leaves wounds. And while one is stronger and better for the experience… after those wounds heal, I need longer to heal than I used to.
These days I generally base my overall rating of a book on how willing I’d be willing to read it again and whether or not it features characters that I care about and enjoy spending time with.
That criteria doesn’t quite work here. My five star rating is based on the criteria my younger, stronger self used to use. Yes, the book contains characters that I care about and enjoy spending time with, but it also features a story that facilitates an epiphany plus a deeper discernment and better self-understanding. It also brings a new sense of self worth and a better perspective on the past.
But be forewarned, that type of growth is often accompanied by a certain level of pain. This is a book in which you may well find yourself smiling or laughing while wiping away tears that are not exactly joyful. At least with the audio-book version of this book, ably narrated by Taavi Mark, I didn’t quite have the “reading through tears” issue.
Speaking of the narrator… Initially I was a bit thrown by Taavi Mark’s seemingly sedated narration. He does an admirable job of voicing the various characters so that each came across clearly, but the general prose seemed considerably less animated than I’m used to in audio-books. As I got further into the tale though, I was ambivalent about whether that was a bad thing or not. I now somewhat suspect that a more standard performance wouldn’t have worked as well in allowing the facts of the story to carry their share of the weight. I’d be curious what other think when they listen.
RATING: 
(and 5 hankies)
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