The Caretaker of Lorne Field

Jack Durkin is the current caretaker of Lorne Field. From age 21 until his first-born son can take over at age 21, his contracted job is to “weed” the field every day. But he's not really pulling up weeds. They may look like weeds but they're Aukowies and if left alone will grow fast and in about 8 days would grow into a 9-foot-long fanged beast that would eat everything and everyone. And there's a giant field of them. The Durkin family has been doing this for 300 years but these days there are few people who believe the weeds are anything but simple weeds.

You can see where this is heading can't you? That's part of the problem. No real surprises. Another issue is that none of the characters are all that likable. Nevertheless, I zipped through the story in just a few days. Story could've really used some surprises, though.

I realize once again, I deviate from my fellow readers. I read a highly favourable review of this little book and thought it sounded utterly fascinating; and so, I grabbed it from the library when I saw it.

I'm glad I didn't buy it: It would have been a waste for me.

Essentially, you DO have a ‘Twilight Zone' plot. Man weeds all day every day. Weeds are bad killer creatures. Everyone things man is insane. Bad things happen to man. Luck is against man. Man is accused of hurting son who went weeding with him. Is man crazy? Is he the world's saviour?

Man weeds. And weeds. And weeds. Most of this book is either dysfunctional family happenings, which feel dull and dated to me–or WEEDING. There is so much weeding, I felt like I'd been weeding myself. The pacing is slow, despite the book's brevity, because of all the bloody weeding. And the crux of the matter, the most interesting part, doesn't happen until the very end. There are so many pages wasted on weeding, I couldn't handle it. At all. I do not recommend. At all.