Friday, March 3, 2023

Book review and excerpt from The Box by Peter Skeels



Review

This is a very unusual story that touches the very heart of the characters involved.

Written from the third person, I never really got to identify with each character as the author kept them aloof. Out of reach and almost secretive. An unemotional plotline that draws you in and kept your attention. It almost sound contrasting but that is the best way to describe it.

I cannot say I really liked Rupert, but I didn’t dislike him either. Nor Isabel, Lucille, or the Bodyguard. I could not really identify or say I would like to meet them in real life. Yet, there was something engaging about them. What they really think was never part of the story, yet you knew their attentions were pure. It is almost unheard of in today’s world.

The main topic of the story was about generational poverty on the one hand and generational wealth on the other hand. Right in the middle of this line the two worlds met, and you follow one woman’s life as she began to change due to Rupert’s involvement.

Rupert was the opposite of the rich I grew accustomed to. He had no dreams of becoming wealthier than he already was, he had not thought of controlling others nor be in power. He strived to be the best at everything he wanted to do; from being an exceptional piano player to a pro football player. His focus one dimensional while those closest to him thrived.

When he began with idea of The Box, he never knew it would enrich his life in the manner it did. Nor did he think of the impact it would have on Lucille’s community. The Box changed everyone’s lives, and for the better.

The simple concept and the name of the book coincide to give you a simple story with no pompous air surrounding it. Through one person, who had the means, the author showed how a community could be helped without the drama life gives.

A brilliant plotline that kept the same pace as you get to know the people, their lives, and the impact we can have on others when we remove the emotional side of it all.

Goodreads / Reedsy / Amazon / Barnes & Noble


Excerpt from The Box by Peter Skeels.

While Rupert waited, he was taking care of all his other needs; some professional and some personal. The most pressing personal need was his mother’s desire to end her stay here. She had been staying at her home here since the death of her husband, and now she was wanting to return to their San Francisco home for the winter. Rupert’s mother loved and demanded to be taken care of. Of course, she would be bringing her staff with her to San Francisco, and now Rupert needed to alert the household to have everything ready for her departure. Once his mother’s staff were alerted, her staff would take charge as they knew her better than anyone. Rupert would need to be “on call” for the entire month, except for the one week when he flew to corporate on business. It was during these times that he leaned on his bodyguard the most. The workouts were the most intense, his runs were the most gruelling, and he used those workouts and runs to rid himself of the stress of being with his mother. Rupert loved his mother with all his heart, yet his mother was old school in that she felt she was privileged and she felt she ranked above everyone who was not in her class, as she called it. Her class was defined by how much money they had, where they lived, what they ate, and her class was defined by all the personal wealth they had acquired. Rupert certainly had his share, and he loved everything he had, as did his mother. Rupert was not only wealthy by birth, he was also wealthy by personal achievement. Rupert understood hard work and dedication to achieve a personal goal or goals. His mother married into money and that was good enough for her. Rupert loved his mother and she loved him, and yet his mother was crippled emotionally by the loss of her husband. The second item, and this one was professional, was that now Rupert had received two official offers from two professional football teams. Both offers were for four-year contracts, both were for nearly two hundred and fifty million dollars, one was on the west coast while the other was on the east coast. Rupert was not poor even if he only counted his personal earnings to date. After paying his trainers and team, after bonuses and all taxes, his net earnings were still a quarter of a billion dollars. Rupert understood money, and he understood what generational money was, and a quarter of a billion dollars for a twenty-three-year-old was the definition of generational money. He could never spend that much money and a lot of his current wealth would be there for the next generation. He didn’t need the money but he loved the idea of playing pro football. Rupert went and got a glass and pushed the glass into the icemaker, and then filled his glass with ice tea. Taking the glass with him, he went out on his deck to think.

Rupert loved the hand-carved doors in his home, each door completely unique except for the two that closed off the dining room. Those two doors were a matching pair, carved as identically as was humanly possible. Craftsmanship as intricate and delicate as that on display in his home was simply beautiful. The attention to detail in the doors could have one standing in front of the doors or door so long you could forget where you were going. Arriving at the table on his deck, he sat down and noticed immediately the beads of water beginning to form on the outside of his glass. He smiled, knowing his idea was already being assessed, valuated, and being made better than his original, simple idea. Rupert sat, mulling over the ideas his mechanic had informed him about. Ideas like deploying pulleys, from a large pulley at the windmill to a small pulley on the generator, which would make the generator spin many times faster than using a straight pulley to pulley system. Rupert was impressed by the simple logic and by his mechanic’s acceptance and ability to use ideas already proven and already in use. His mechanic also felt a 12-volt battery would be a good option too, as this would provide power when there was no wind. But it would most likely be optional due to the additional cost, and perhaps be utilised for main water collection centres rather than for individual homes. Perhaps even an array of batteries could be deployed at the main water collection points for more uptime, and consequently, more water production. As Rupert sat thinking his bodyguard approached. Rupert stood up and the two men hugged briefly. Rupert smiled, chuckled and then said, “You know Bodyguard, I’ve called you that for so long that many people think it’s your first name. It’s not a bad first name, right?” The two men laughed. His bodyguard replied, “If you called me anything else, I probably wouldn’t know who you were talking to!” Again, the two men laughed. His bodyguard spoke, “You being alone here?” Rupert replied, “No, no. Please sit. Go grab a glass and get some tea if you want.” His bodyguard shook his head no, took a seat, and Rupert told him what he was thinking about. When he was done talking, his bodyguard shook his head in amazement at the size of the offers, and the fame another career could bring to Rupert.

His bodyguard continued, “I feel I must caution you about the injuries pro football is causing. It is true that you’re a world champion fighter but it is also true that pro football isn’t a one-man versus one-man sport. Men, very large muscular men, running very fast with their head inside a thick helmet and pads all over, will come at your blind side and without even slowing down BOOM they’ll smash into you. Yes, the crowds will go crazy, yes, the adrenaline will flow again, but two-hundred and fifty-pound men, and three-hundred and eighty-pound men hitting you can break things.” He continued, “I know you don’t fear, it’s not part of who you are. In MMA you can prepare almost totally, but in football there’s a lot that can and does happen that you can’t prepare for.”

Rupert told his bodyguard he was going to think about it some more, and with that his bodyguard departed, telling Rupert he was going home to change and would be back in 15 minutes for their run.


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