Review: You Pass This One By At Your Own Risk!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 04 11, 2014
I know I sound illiterate, but at the end of this book, all I could say was "Wow!". Over and over again.I'm a huge reader, more than 600 books over the last year-and-a-half and, having read so much, it's really hard to surprise and enthrall me. Sometimes I felt like I've read it all. That is, until I read "My Brother's Keeper: The First Three Rules".Ms. Wilder is not just a good writer, she's very possibly a great one. She is as creative and inventive as they come, in this or any other genre, as this book amply demonstrates.At first, I was concerned that this book was just another second-rate genre ripoff - after all, you've got two broken men, Jon and Ellis, who meet cute, plus a mentally disabled brother, Rudy, who is 45, but mentally, only 4 or 5 (disability of the week?). You've got homophobia and gay bashing. Yawn, right?But then something happened - the book grabbed me, deep in my soul, where I live, and it never let go.First, the guys don't suffer the "normal" dysfunction you've become accustomed to, if you read much gay fiction. No jilted lovers, no parents hating their child because he's gay, no "I can't bring myself to say the word 'love'", none of the standard memes upon which too much gay fiction is based.Jon has severe psychological problems. He was forced to retire as a U. S. Marshall when he survived a shootout that killed his partner and dozens of young kids who were being held for sex trafficking. His dead brother comes to him at times of imminent danger to tell him "You will understand". Jon freezes. And only Jon survives, despite bullets singing through the air around him. Now he suffers an overwhelming case of survivor's guilt.Ellis is something else. He is a true innocent. His parents were killed in an accident when he was only 12, and he spent the next twenty years caring for his mentally disabled brother who cannot function without him, with the connivance of some caring adults who knew the two should not be separated. Ellis educates himself, manages their lives and does fairly well - except for the fact that he has never had a life. He's never been with a man. He doesn't even have a television. He has lived in a bubble where the guiding principle is to keep Rudy safe.Jon is at his wits' end, ready to give up, when Rudy sits down next to him, on a park bench, and offers him some bubble gum. That's when Ellis and Jon meet, and that's where a remarkable web of fate, intention and spirit come together. These two were meant to be together. It's a really important thing, it's part of some grand design, and only Rudy, the mentally disabled brother, knows it.There is a powerful layer of spirituality running under this plot and and these characters - one that will move your soul to both joy and tears, in the hands of this masterful author. Ms. Wilder's take on love is exquisite - expressed best when Jon sees Ellis smile and knows that he would do anything, sacrifice anything, to keep that smile on Ellis' face, forever. Their burgeoning love is simple, subtly introduced and beautifully rendered.What else could you ask for?I don't have the words to say quite how strongly I recommend this book. It moved me in profound and beautiful ways. I can't wait to read the other books in this series. You pass this one by at your own risk!