This is another one of my many bookcrossing finds. The book begins and ends with the same line, "I am a man you can trust". The story is about Barnaby Gaitlin, an average and ordinary man. He is sort of the family black sheep with a successful dad and older brother who are both doing financially well.
Barnaby works in a company owned by Mrs. Virginia Dibble called Rent-a-Back that helps the elderly or disabled move things around their homes and other sorts of chores that they need help with. When Barnaby was younger, he used to break into houses with his friends but once they were in the homes, he was more interested in looking at the photo albums and personal belongings of the people who lived there rather than steal. On one of these occasions, he was caught and his father had to pay $8700 for the things that he had stolen. This $8700 has always been a point of contention not with his dad, but with his mom who would bring it up ever so often.
Tired of having to put up with his mom's constant reminder of the $8700 that they wasted on him, Barnaby decides to pay her back. He starts to save money by asking for extra hours at work. On one day, one of his clients who happens to be his girlfriend's elderly aunt lost the cash that she was saving in the flour bin and accused Barnaby of theft. His girlfriend Sophia decides to replace the money back without the aunt's or Barnaby's knowledge as she wanted to "clear" his name. To Barnaby this only indicated to him that Sophia too thought that he was guilty of having taken the money from the bread bin. The aunt later finds her money and remembers that it was she who had changed the place where she hid the money earlier on.
Sophia then keeps reminding Barnaby that she had used her own savings to replace the "stolen" money and that she has no money to buy what she wants. Tired, Barnaby then goes to Mrs Glynn's house with his colleague, Martine, and takes the money from the bread bin and returns it to Sophia in an envelope with a note that says,"Sophia, you never did realize. I am a man you can trust".
There are a lot of real life observations in A Patchwork Planet. Society is so quick to judge you by your past and will always remind you of your past even though you have moved on and have changed your ways. Status is also very important to many people in life. In this book, Barnaby's mother seem to love Barnaby's best friend, Len, better than she does him. She doesn't let Barnaby cut his own birthday cake before Len arrives. Again, you are not really loved if you aren't as successful as your siblings. Such is the case between Barnaby and his brother whom his mother seem to prefer since he is successful.
Barnaby works in a company owned by Mrs. Virginia Dibble called Rent-a-Back that helps the elderly or disabled move things around their homes and other sorts of chores that they need help with. When Barnaby was younger, he used to break into houses with his friends but once they were in the homes, he was more interested in looking at the photo albums and personal belongings of the people who lived there rather than steal. On one of these occasions, he was caught and his father had to pay $8700 for the things that he had stolen. This $8700 has always been a point of contention not with his dad, but with his mom who would bring it up ever so often.
Tired of having to put up with his mom's constant reminder of the $8700 that they wasted on him, Barnaby decides to pay her back. He starts to save money by asking for extra hours at work. On one day, one of his clients who happens to be his girlfriend's elderly aunt lost the cash that she was saving in the flour bin and accused Barnaby of theft. His girlfriend Sophia decides to replace the money back without the aunt's or Barnaby's knowledge as she wanted to "clear" his name. To Barnaby this only indicated to him that Sophia too thought that he was guilty of having taken the money from the bread bin. The aunt later finds her money and remembers that it was she who had changed the place where she hid the money earlier on.
Sophia then keeps reminding Barnaby that she had used her own savings to replace the "stolen" money and that she has no money to buy what she wants. Tired, Barnaby then goes to Mrs Glynn's house with his colleague, Martine, and takes the money from the bread bin and returns it to Sophia in an envelope with a note that says,"Sophia, you never did realize. I am a man you can trust".
There are a lot of real life observations in A Patchwork Planet. Society is so quick to judge you by your past and will always remind you of your past even though you have moved on and have changed your ways. Status is also very important to many people in life. In this book, Barnaby's mother seem to love Barnaby's best friend, Len, better than she does him. She doesn't let Barnaby cut his own birthday cake before Len arrives. Again, you are not really loved if you aren't as successful as your siblings. Such is the case between Barnaby and his brother whom his mother seem to prefer since he is successful.
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