The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving | Jonathan Evison

I really liked this book. For one thing, Stewart O'Nan has the cover blurb and I really like O'Nan's novels. Second, Evison is funny. I wouldn't call it a comic novel but he is a funny guy. You can just imagine that being on a softball team and having a beer afterwards with this guy would be fun.

The main character is Benjamin Benjamin and his life is a mess. He was a stay-at-home dad until a disaster, not explained until the very end, upended his life, destroyed his marriage and his family and left him with a burden of guilt and personal pain that consumes him. Out of desperation he takes a course on how to be a caregiver and ends up getting hired to care for a teen-age boy, Trevor, with MD.

Evison builds out Ben's backstory and the present circumstance by moving back and forth. There is an ensemble of characters that ends up on an epic roadtrip that changes all of their lives for the better. Despite the tragedy, it's not a sad book. Like so many satisfying novels it's a story of redemption and making peace.