6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Stephen King Street intersects with Elm Street's worst nightmare, September 13, 2010
This review is from: The Caretaker of Lorne Field: A Novel (Hardcover)
Beneath Lorne Field are horrific monsters called Aukowies that make themselves manifest as innocent-looking weeds. If they aren't culled daily, Aukowies will emerge and terrorize the pastoral New England village. Billed as "a fantasy wrapped in a horror story inside a mystery," the palpable horror could happen with any aspect of society. Lorne Field and the neighboring town are a microcosm of that society. In this burg, Steven King Street intersects with Elm Street's worst nightmare.
Without politicizing, this novel may be construed to mean that the Caretakers of this country now experience early attacks by increasingly aggressive Aukowies, seemingly innocent weeds that pop up overnight. Nazis started as insignificant Aukowie-like wannabees that were ignored. They grew into monsters, because caretakers of freedom were ignored. With complex simplicity, Zeltserman may have us believe that now there are "Aukowies" disguised as radical sectarian factions that would destroy countries and personal freedoms, begging the question, Who is the next generation of Caretakers?
Woven into the deceptively simple plot is society's viciousness toward values previous generations have held dear, values that by their absence easily can be compared to Aukowies growing out of control. One key character chooses to close his eyes, not see what will happen. "But under no circumstance was he going to open his eyes," with all the effectiveness of a child covering his head with a blanket, to keep the boogeyman from seeing him. This is a startling wake-up call in the form of a noir-ish novel.
When berated by his wife Lydia for not getting a "real job," Jack Durkin says, "Those ain't no weeds I'm pulling. They're Aukowies." He plods on. A 300-year-old contract obligates the eldest son of each Durkin generation to be the next Caretaker. Durkin knows that "eight days would be all one needed to mature and break free from the ground." Durkin "had never seen a flower before growing in that field of death."
Durkin fulfills obligations of the three-century-old contract that requires him to daily kill Aukowies. When he feels unable to continue, Durkin knows that he cannot stop when "his battle-ax of a wife and his two gangly teenage boys," Lester and Bert, derisively disparage him. "That's right, you old fool, he thought to himself. Teach the world a lesson by destroying it." Durkin comes to terms with his situation, by telling Lydia, "I married you only because of the contract. But I didn't love you. I stole that from you. Because of me you never had a chance to marry someone out of love."
Durkin knew "Aukowies weren't born in hell. Most likely they came from another planet, maybe an asteroid that crashed hundreds of years ago." Sort of a Little Shop of Horrors plant that appears to be innocent enough, until it gets out of control. He tries to videotape the Aukowies in action but things go awry. "And now one intentional violation" of the Contract leads to another, and the Aukowies grow faster than he can control them just weeks before the first frost that will give him the winter to regroup.
Chicken Little cried that the sky was falling, with nothing more than an acorn hitting her head. Her feathered friends ran to tell the king, until Foxy Loxy devoured the birdbrains. Is Jack Durkin a foolish old man who only thinks Aukowies are more than innocent weeds? With more twists and turns than intestines horrifically spilled from the abdominal cavity, Dave Zeltzerman deftly weaves his troubling tapestry.
This could be sort of a complex metaphor with meaning that transcends contemporary fiction. Perhaps it's a simple tale of a man with an obsessive/compulsive disorder that compels him to pull weeds. Or could it be literary fiction's finest? THE CARETAKER OF LORNE FIELD is one of my Top Ten For `10 picks.
---Reviewed by L. Dean Murphy
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Real or Not?, December 31, 2010
This review is from: The Caretaker of Lorne Field: A Novel (Hardcover)
There was a time when the position as the Caretaker of Lorne Field was a high honor. A position of respect that came with a small cottage, a decent salary and freebies given by the local residents out of appreciation for the very difficult job held by the Durkin family. After all, only due to the diligent weeding by the Caretaker were the relentless Aukowie held back from rampaging across the world.
But 300 years have passed and in these modern times, few have any respect for the position, the family, or the ancient contract. Nobody but the current caretaker, Jack Durkin, take the Aukowie threat seriously. Not even members of his own family believe he does something that matters. Proving the validity of the threat is difficult due to the requirements of the ancient contract. Requirements that Jack for justifiable reasons is very loathe to break. As the evidence of a lack of threat and various calamities mount against him, Jack Durkin, finds himself increasingly isolated and questioning his own sanity while he struggles to protect the world in The Caretaker of Lorne Field.
Readers familiar with Mr. Zeltserman's work will recognize themes that he has hit before in other books. His stylized version of a redemptive noir is present in this novel where every decision Jack Durkin makes backfires against him worsening the divides inside and outside his family. Those decisions and the wisdom of them are also a key part of the author's often repeated theme questioning the sanity of the primary character. In this case, the division between sanity and insanity is stark. Are the plants the monsters that will take over the world if not plucked from the earth as soon as they sprout like Jack believes? Or, as many others suggest including his own family members, are the plants nothing more that harmless weeds that play a role in his delusions?
Mutually exclusive versions of reality frame events throughout the 237 page book that shifts in point of view from Jack, to his long suffering wife, to others. Along with touching on the themes of discord between brothers, obligations to family and community, respect for others and the themes noted above among others, the author weaves a compelling tale from start to end in The Caretaker of Lorne Field. There are reasons for everything no matter what it is in this fast moving tale that is marketed as horror but really is a mystery with just a touch of horror.
Material provided by the good folks of the Plano, Texas Public Library System.
Kevin R. Tipple © 2010
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8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another winner from Dave Zeltserman, August 27, 2010
This review is from: The Caretaker of Lorne Field: A Novel (Hardcover)
I became a Zeltserman fan after I read his superb noir trilogy SMALL CRIMES, PARIAH and KILLER. When I heard that he'd written a darkly funny horror (for want of a better genre definition) novel, I was curious -- of course -- but doubted it could top the trilogy. I was wrong. THE CARETAKER OF LORNE FIELD is a masterclass in character development, suspense and reader manipulation. Frightening, funny and poignant, it blends the cosmic horror of H. P. Lovecraft with the down-homey terror of Stephen King at his best.
CARETAKER is one of my books of the year.
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