The Caretaker: A Novel, Ron Rash, author; James Patrick Cronin, narrator
Although not even 300 pages, this is a powerful book. It takes place in the 1950’s, in a small town in North Carolina. From page one, the reader will be rapt! This is a love story, a mystery, a war story, a story about the bonds of friendship, a human-interest story, and a story about elitism and class warfare, kindness and cruelty, all wrapped into one. This little novel showcases every human flaw and every human virtue as it illustrates just how far someone will go for love and loyalty, for selfishness and greed. It illustrates forgiveness and redemption, alongside the unforgivable and egregious.
Jacob Hampton is a young man of privilege. He lives in Blowing Rock, where his family is one of the wealthiest, and therefore most powerful, in the town. He is also a young man with heart that does not judge people by false virtues or values, or by their academic prowess or their financial stature. He judges people by their goodness. He befriends those he actually likes, even those less fortunate than himself, because he feels true compassion, true concern for the plight of others. He is very kind and generous. Blackburn Gant is his closest friend. Blackburn is the caretaker of the cemetery. He had suffered from Polio as a boy, and it left him with a limp and a face that was somewhat disfigured. He was often bullied and shamed. Most people either stared or looked away from him, but not Jacob. Jacob was his friend; Jacob felt his pain.
Jacob fell in love with Naomi Clarke, a young teenager from the wrong side of the tracks. She was poor; she felt lucky to be working in town as a hotel maid. She was not the girl chosen for him by his parents, Cora and Daniel Hampton. She was uneducated and from a lower class. She was unacceptable to the people of the town and to his parents who refused to accept her. Jacob refused to accept their judgment, and so they eloped. His parents disowned him. Without money, they knew it would be tough, but they both got jobs and grew closer. Then, the unexpected happened. Jacob was drafted to serve in the army during the Korean war. Naomi was pregnant, so he swallowed his pride and turned to his parents for help, even though they were estranged. He beseeched them to look after Naomi and their coming grandchild, until he returned. They absolutely refused. Jacob turned to his friend Blackburn for help. He asked him to watch over her, and Blackburn readily agreed.
During the war, Jacob was grievously injured, requiring months of medical care. His parents knew when he came home, he would abandon them and move away because of how they had behaved. Still, they were not willing to accept Naomi, so to keep him with them, Cora devised a diabolical scheme to change the arc of Jacob and Naomi’s life into the direction that they had always hoped it would go. This is the story of that heinous scheme. Justifying evil seems to be easy for some people, while others could never consider it. Is there hope that goodness will prevail?
The book highlights Man’s inhumanity to man, yet it offers hope, that in the end, someone will be righteous. Someone will not be swayed by self-interest alone. Yes, all of us are driven, to some degree, by our own personal need, but some of us answer to a higher calling and are able to put the needs of others before our own. As is noted in the novel, some of our hearts can hold more than others.