Taking Care of Cleo

By Bill Broder

Book Overview

From Donna Seaman's review in The Chicago Tribune "Broder's Taking Care of Cleo is a cleverly disarming mix of psychological realism, romance and comedy... Broder combines a storyteller's delight in complicated predicaments with a painter's eye for landscape and body language, and a poet's sense of place... The setting he so lushly evokes is Charlevoix, Mich., a small Lake Michigan resort town. It's 1928, the height of Prohibition, and Charlevoix is the site of a turf war between bootleggers, a dangerous situation The Bearwalds are the only Jewish family in town, owners of the local dry goods store. Cleo, the elder daughter, is a beautiful, autistic twenty-year-old] Broder renders the emotional turmoil experienced by each of the Bearwalds with insight as their lives implode (due to Cleo's involvement in bootlegging). His portrait of Cleo, the source of the novel's radiance, is particularly arresting. As Cleo proves that she can live her own life . . . Ultimately Broder's sparkling, suspenseful and compassionate comedy of errors deftly reveals the complex symbiotic relationship between caregivers and the cared for . . ."

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1533046565
• ISBN13: 9781533046567
• Release Date: May 2016
• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Length: 360 Pages
• Weight: 1.16 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Excellent period piece

Obviously well-researched and therefore fascinating, this book is most interesting for its portrayal of prohibition-era rural Michigan, with the added twist of being set in a resort town that varies between winter provincialism and summer urbanity. That said, the characters are also well-drawn and would make for an exciting story in any setting. Overall a pleasure to read; I would highly recommend this book.

Another Color of Purple

Having met the author, and also born and raised in Detroit just 4 years after the events in the novel, I may be a bit biased. However, Bill Broder is a true word smith and a natural story teller. He recaptures the life and style of the location, Charlevoix Michigan, as well as the era. People today probably cannot imagine the immense wealth along with the extreme violence that existed in the pre-depression time. Broder's setting of a northern Michigan resort is a perfect venue for the characters---masters and servants---pursuing their individual passions, hopes, ambitions. During the brief summer vacation period, what in daily reality is a gentile community, is suddenly populated with Jewish families coming from all parts of the midwest. There follows an accomodation from all sides without expectations of egalitarianism. To me the plot of the novel, while interesting and necessary, is incidental to the descriptive recapturing of the era and its players. A very satisfying read.