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3.3 AVERAGE
3.3 AVERAGE
dark
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
The perfect nanny’s murder of her two young charges reveals the tensions and ambiguities of class, nativism, ageism, poverty and motherhood.
dark
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It's a yes-but-no for me.
When I started reading it, I was like "ok, a nanny murdering two kids and now they are going to tell us her story, sounds interesing". But as the story goes on, I felt like Slimani rambles a lot, not describing the nanny's character in depth. She could have depicted her psychological character, explained her background, how she got to work as a nanny, but she tells nothing, just a few stories of how she interacts with the family, with her daughter, and few more. The chicken's passage marks a turning point in the story and, she recounts it as if it were just another story.
Besides, the police investigation could have been extended, instead of being 7 pages lenght and written in a hurry to finish the book.
When I started reading it, I was like "ok, a nanny murdering two kids and now they are going to tell us her story, sounds interesing". But as the story goes on, I felt like Slimani rambles a lot, not describing the nanny's character in depth. She could have depicted her psychological character, explained her background, how she got to work as a nanny, but she tells nothing, just a few stories of how she interacts with the family, with her daughter, and few more. The chicken's passage marks a turning point in the story and, she recounts it as if it were just another story.
Besides, the police investigation could have been extended, instead of being 7 pages lenght and written in a hurry to finish the book.
Rarely do I read a book that I can’t put down, but this was one. We know what’s coming from the first chapter, so it’s like a train-wreck in slow motion.
Hard to put this down! This psychological thriller lives up to its reviews.
От книги, если честно, осталось ощущение, как у окружающих о Луизе. Вроде все идеально, но при этом странно отталкивает. К концу я вообще пришла к выводу, что все это выглядит как студенческое эссе на вольную тему. Короче, я не до конца наверное поняла "зачем". Зачем мне вообще нужна была эта книга.
"Lullaby" by Leila Slimani was a complete revelation: after a friend recommended it to me, this book stayed on my TBR list for a looong time. I kept putting off reading it because I feared it wouldn't live up to the hype, but it definitely did! When I finally started reading it, I couldn't put it down. It took me a little more than 24 hours to finish it.
I found it chilling, the writing style very original and captivating, and by switching the POV as it does - jumping back and forth among different perspectives and occasionally between the "before" and "after" timelines - it manages the impossible feat of portraying its protagonist as both repulsive and pitiable.
Halfway through, I think the author must have known about this and deliberately recreated the same effect in her book.
And did I mention that I'm in love with her writing style?
I'm definitely going to check out Leila Slimani's other novels!
I found it chilling, the writing style very original and captivating, and by switching the POV as it does - jumping back and forth among different perspectives and occasionally between the "before" and "after" timelines - it manages the impossible feat of portraying its protagonist as both repulsive and pitiable.
Halfway through,
Spoiler
as I was still rooting for the children and hoping that maybe the ending would reveal they had been saved, after all, it struck me that the author must have been inspired by the Greek classical tragedies (I'm thinking of "Medea" in particular, but a few others as well), in which the most gruesome murders, especially those of children, would happen off-stage and be related to the audience by some secondary character, but even before the murder, the audience, who were well familiar with the plot, would look at the actors playing the children running about the stage and it would all add to the tension.And did I mention that I'm in love with her writing style?
I'm definitely going to check out Leila Slimani's other novels!
This book starts solidly, completely engaging, the nanny has murdered the children. It explains all this in the first few pages. This book builds on the character of the nanny, written in third person through other characters, and the nannys pov. We are told how the murder happened and who did it and the book builds and builds until right at the end there is still no revelation as to why. I felt as though I had been robbed of this information as I wanted to know why.
Another short book I read in one sitting (train, airport, plane). Great read, worth the good reviews. Interesting that I left Patsy (a 500 page tome) for something lighter that I could fit in my bag but they’re both about nannies. When I finished, I realised there were still lots of unanswered questions. I liked how dark it was. They weren’t a perfect family, the kids were a real handful and the nanny gave off a menace that was perceptible to others that was at odds with everything she did in some ways. Worth reading.