I’ve known of Ivan Coyote for years now. I saw them speak when I was in college, an experience that was deeply impactful and that created in me a lifelong fan. But, much to my shame, this is the first book of theirs that I’ve actually finished reading – and I finished it in one go. It’s fucking brilliant, and one of my all time favourites.
Care Of is a selection of letters and messages sent to or left for Coyote after gigs over the years. These messages have been kept, carefully preserved and filed away, waiting for a time that, without our current set of circumstances, may never have come. But in true survivor fashion, Coyote took a horrible situation and turned it into an opportunity. Rather than connecting to audiences, they reached out and connected to those who had opened that door, who had shared some of their life experiences, their questions, their pain and their hope. This book takes these messages and pairs them with Coyote’s responses, creating a two-way conversation of sorts. Being a professional storyteller, Coyote takes these messages, and responds with – what else? – a story. Each is unique, insightful, poignant and beautifully composed.
The last couple of years have been hard – for all of us. For me they’ve meant not only incredible stress, anxiety and uncertainty, but near total isolation. I don’t think I even realized how lonely I was for much of it. So this book not only gave me the gift of stepping into other shoes and walking around for a while (one of my favourite things to do), but it helped me feel some kind of connection to other people. Like maybe I’m not actually alone in the world, even though it feels like it. Coyote has this amazing gift for creating an instant rapport with their audience and readers, and it’s like having a new friend. One who is open, honest, and won’t take any bullshit. One who will help to guide you through rough terrain, and who will listen and give wonderful advice. After the couple of years we’ve had, a book like this is a healing balm to many a weary soul. It’s worth a read, and another, and another.
Beloved storyteller Ivan Coyote returns with their most intimate and moving book yet.
Writer and performer Ivan Coyote has spent decades on the road, telling stories around the world. For years, Ivan has kept a file of the most special communications received from readers and audience members–letters, Facebook messages, emails, soggy handwritten notes tucked under the windshield wiper of their truck after a gig. Then came Spring, 2020, and, like artists everywhere, Coyote was grounded by the pandemic, all their planned events cancelled. The energy of a live audience, a performer’s lifeblood, was suddenly gone. But with this loss came an opportunity for a different kind of connection. Those letters that had long piled up could finally begin to be answered.
Care Of combines the most powerful of these letters with Ivan’s responses, creating a body of correspondence of startling intimacy, breathtaking beauty, and heartbreaking honesty and openness. Taken together, they become an affirming and joyous reflection on many of the themes central to Coyote’s celebrated work–compassion and empathy, family fragility, non-binary and Trans identity, and the unending beauty of simply being alive, a giant love letter to the idea of human connection, and the power of truly listening to each other. – Goodreads
Book Title: Care Of
Author: Ivan Coyote
Series: No
Edition: Hardback/Audiobook
Published By: McClelland & Stewart
Released: June 8, 2021
Genre: Non-Fiction, Gender, Letters, Introspection
Pages: 256
Date Read: October 16, 2021
Rating: 10/10
Average Goodreads Rating: 4.69/5 (410 ratings)
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