Review of Caring for Your Clown Book One

[Bertha Jackson]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Caring for Your Clown Book One" by Oleander Blume.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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As young Oliver Tarsul feeds his cats before school one morning, he thinks he sees a clown in the forest around their cabin. Later on the school bus, he sees the clown following him. The clown is still stalking him when he gets to school, so he goes to the school counselor and tells her that he thinks an imaginary clown is following him. She believes it is a side effect of his medication and sends him home to his stepfather, Jon. Jon is not surprised that he saw the clown because Oliver's mom, Marie, had been working with clowns before her death. Dindet is an alien clown whom Jon hopes can help bring Marie back. He enrolls her in school as an exchange student. Oliver is infuriated because he blames the clowns for his mother's death and does not want to be responsible for her. Does Dindet mean any harm to Oliver? Will Dindet fit in at school? What secrets will Dindet discover about Oliver? Read the science-fiction book Caring for Your Clown Book One: Aliens are Real by Oleander Blume to get the answers to these questions.

Although this is a dark book about child abuse and discrimination, Oleander Blume does an excellent job of incorporating humor into the narrative. Oliver's cats have names like Egg, Bacon, and Pancake, and Dindet tells lame jokes to Oliver when she tries to cheer him up. For example, one was about atoms being untrustworthy because they make up everything. I like how the author differentiates voice tones with capitalization and thoughts in italics. The author's research on child abuse reveals how a child will turn inward when they submit to abuse, they feel guilty and deserving of the abuse because of the bad behavior, and when they hear certain words enough times, the words start to mean nothing. The author has done a fantastic job with character development. The alien clown with star-shaped eyes, Oliver's grief over his mother's death, and the attitudes of his classmates are easy to visualize.

Although this dark book focuses on abuse and transgender discrimination, the only negative aspect I found was that a professional editor had not edited the book. Some content involving child abuse was gory; however, it helped me understand the severity of the situation.

I am giving this book 3 out of 4 stars because of the lack of professional editing. Many of the errors I encountered were the inconsistency of spelling "god" versus "God." The errors had no impact on my reading enjoyment. I am curious how Oliver's story will continue in the sequels of this book.

Due to the darkness of this book, I recommend it to mature audiences that enjoy reading science fiction about alien clowns. If non-borderline profanity, clowns, child sexual abuse, or transgender discrimination trigger you, you may want to avoid this book.

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Caring for Your Clown Book One
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[nwankwo chibuchi]

Dindet and Oliver's story should be a great read. I'd love to find answers to the questions in the last lines of the first paragraph in this book. I'm ordinarily not a fan of science fiction but your review draws me to this one. Great review.

[Amy Luman]

I am usually a real lover of science fiction, butI don’t think this is for me. I don’t like gore in the books that I read and your characterization of this as a dark story keeps me from wanting to read it. I like my books entertaining.

[Blessing E]

There's a lot explored in this book. I still believe that I can read a science fiction book. It all depends on the content of it

[Adaeze Joan]

Wow. This book has a very interesting storyline. The author is very creative. I have never heard of a book that has an alien clown as one of the characters. Good job on the review.

[Waliyat_24]

Wow! I love this storyline. It’s captivating and contains quite some suspense. I’ll really like to know what plan Dindet has.

[Uwe Neufeld]

I am not so much a fan of clowns, since we had one as president a few years ago. Nonetheless it's a fascinating book with a curious plott.

[Stevenmusk]

Wow this seems really deep like there are hidden messages that could only be shared by reading the book. Thanks for the review.

[NetMassimo]

This seems like a terrific novel that addressed important issues and at the same time makes use of humor. Thank you for your great review!