STARRED REVIEW

The Caretaker

By Ron Rash
Review by
James Patrick Cronin’s narration allows the listener to hear author Ron Rash’s message: Love can both redeem us and cause us to betray those whom we love the most.
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The Caretaker (6 hours) is a moving story of love, fidelity and friendship set in the North Carolina mountains during the Korean War. Author Ron Rash draws on Shakespeare: Characters include a philosophical gravedigger, a scheming town leader and his wife, a young man unsure of life’s meaning in the face of death, and, in perhaps the clearest parallel, star-crossed lovers defying their parents. Never heavy-handed, these allusions give the novel a beautiful sense of inevitability without revealing what the ending will be.

Drawing on his Kentucky roots, James Patrick Cronin narrates with an authentic timbre and pace. His low-key performance and sympathetic portrayal of even the most unsympathetic characters allows the listener to hear Rash’s message: Love can both redeem us and cause us to betray those whom we love the most.

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The Caretaker

The Caretaker

By Ron Rash
Random House Audio
ISBN 9780593213520

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