{"id":1948,"date":"2025-02-11T13:34:00","date_gmt":"2025-02-11T13:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=1948"},"modified":"2025-02-11T13:34:00","modified_gmt":"2025-02-11T13:34:00","slug":"starred-book-review-spin-cycle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=1948","title":{"rendered":"STARRED Book Review: Spin Cycle"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Spin Cycle<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

by Alfredo Botello<\/p>\n

Genre:<\/strong> Literary Fiction<\/p>\n

ISBN: <\/strong>9798888247242<\/p>\n

Print Length:<\/strong> 272 pages<\/p>\n

Publisher:<\/strong> Koehler Books<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Reviewed by Samantha Hui<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong>A moving, heartfelt story about the realities of caregiving and the proclivity to long for the past<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cI have decided that this must be some kind of unholy litmus test. A test that exposed my character, the raw pulp of who I really am\u2014and I am failing that test.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Strawberry ice cream, little fibs (fiblets), and cute animal videos on the good days; broken wrists, forgotten names, and outbursts on the bad. Alfredo Botello\u2019s Spin Cycle: notes from a reluctant caregiver <\/em>is an uninhibited, earthy look into the complexities of caring for a loved one who gradually becomes someone they didn\u2019t used to be.<\/p>\n

The novel adeptly explores unresolved trauma, caregiver guilt, and the difficult journey of coming to terms with both. Through this story of caregivers, readers are invited to reflect on what it means to love in an unfair world and care when the days feel as though they are filled with more tears than laughter.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThey aren\u2019t kids, so just being and playing isn\u2019t good enough. They aren\u2019t \u2018broken\u2019 grown-ups as Sweet P said, yet we expect them to reason and remember like we grown-ups do. They\u2019re something else, but our world hasn\u2019t primed us for that, hasn\u2019t told us it\u2019s something worth loving and celebrating.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Ezra Pavic finds comfort in the certainty of mathematics, prefers beating around the bush to speaking directly, and knows the pain and shame of failing despite doing everything right. When his once lively mother begins to lose her reading glasses, forget words, and even misplace her car in a Walmart parking lot, Ezra\u2019s desire for certainty is shattered, becoming nothing more than a childhood fantasy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In an attempt to cope with his mother\u2019s mental and physical decline, Ezra starts APPA\u2014Adults Patiently Parenting Adults\u2014a support group where he and his nine eccentric students process the trauma of caring for parents with dementia. But can someone who over-analyzes every situation to the point of inaction make the most important decision of his life?<\/p>\n

The novel is structured nonlinearly, with Ezra confiding in his longtime friend Danny about his brief time running APPA. These conversations with Danny are interwoven with scenes from his sessions at APPA and his time with his mother in the assisted living facility. Alfredo Botello writes with exceptional precision, his prose engaging and purposeful, heartfelt without being overly sentimental. The characters are brutally real and flawed, yet always capable of redemption. This novel feels like sitting down with a close friend who needs to vent\u2014a friend who will gradually bare their soul, no more, no less\u2014as long as you\u2019re ready to listen with an open mind and heart.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll these years I had spent trying to get her to do things \u2018right\u2019 again, trying to \u2018fix\u2019 her, fix the dementia. How absurd. I just assumed she was the student, and I was the teacher. My imagination failed me. I was learning from her.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Spin Cycle <\/em>forces its readers to ask themselves a difficult question: If I were in the same position, would I have the grace and patience needed to care for a parent suffering from dementia? The book digs even deeper, suggesting that perhaps patience isn\u2019t the most important quality when caring for a parent with dementia. With all the history, all the baggage, and all the resentment that comes with such a relationship, a regression of the mind doesn\u2019t require looking to the past for answers.<\/em> Readers are taken on a humanizing experience where they have no choice but to forgive themselves for their past crimes of impatience, frustration, and missed \u201cI love yous.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Thank you for reading Samantha Hui\u2019s book review of Spin Cycle <\/em>by Alfredo Botello! If you liked what you read, please spend some more time with us at the links below.<\/p>\n

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The post STARRED Book Review: Spin Cycle<\/a> appeared first on Independent Book Review<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Spin Cycle by Alfredo Botello Genre: Literary Fiction ISBN: 9798888247242 Print Length: 272 pages Publisher: Koehler Books Amazon Bookshop Reviewed by Samantha Hui A moving, heartfelt story about the realities of caregiving and the proclivity to long for the past \u201cI have decided that this must be some kind of unholy litmus test. A test […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1949,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1948","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bookreviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1948"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1948"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1948\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1949"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}