One of the 10 BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR of The New York Times Book ReviewNational Bestseller“A great novel . . . Incredibly engaging and disturbing . . . You read the entire novel knowing something terrible is coming. In that, Slimani has us in her thrall.” —Roxane Gay, New York Times bestselling author of Bad Feminist and Hunger“A book . . . that I’ve thought about pretty much every day . . . [It] … author of Bad Feminist and Hunger
“A book . . . that I’ve thought about pretty much every day . . . [It] felt less like an entertainment, or even a work of art, than like a compulsion. I found it extraordinary.” —Lauren Collins, The New Yorker
“One of the most important books of the year. You can’t unread it.” —Barrie Hardymon, NPR’s Weekend Edition
She has the keys to their apartment. She knows everything. She has embedded herself so deeply in their lives that it now seems impossible to remove her.
When Myriam decides to return to work as a lawyer after having children, she and her husband look for the perfect nanny for their son and daughter. They never dreamed they would find Louise: a quiet, polite, devoted woman who sings to the children, cleans the family’s chic Paris apartment, stays late without complaint, and hosts enviable kiddie parties. But as the couple and the nanny become more dependent on one another, jealousy, resentment, and suspicions mount, shattering the idyllic tableau. Building tension with every page, The Perfect Nanny is a compulsive, riveting, bravely observed exploration of power, class, race, domesticity, motherhood, and madness—and the American debut of an immensely talented writer.
The #1 international bestseller and winner of France’s most prestigious literary prize, the Goncourt, by the author of Adèle and Sex and Lies
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This is a tough, though fabulous read. I’m not a fan of trigger alerts, but I know many people have issues around reading stories featuring violence toward children. So, since I am wholeheartedly recommending this book, if you’re one of those people, take this as your warning.
Nor really my cup of tea.
I thought the book was great, but then the ending was not satisfying. To me, it just ended. I expected more depth, more introspection, but it just ended.
It kept me interested.
I couldn’t put it down!
This book had potential in the first few pages. After that, it fell apart. I will give it the benefit of the doubt that it lost something in translation. However, the end left so many things open. So many things seemed disjointed. At one point, the parents of the children decide to get rid of the nanny. It is winter. They decide to wait until Spring. I cannot determine what really happened to the children. Other than the nanny sinking into depression, what are the actual events that led to the attack. The nanny was hospitalized. The author briefly mentions a hospital, but nothing is really mentioned much after that about why she was hospitalized. Also, I didn’t really like any of the characters. I finished this book because I was hoping it would get better, but I really wished I had never started it. Not a fan of this book at all and I would never recommend it.
Didn’t love it. Seemed written to capitalize on the headlines. Characters were cliches. Yes, it kept me turning the pages. Yes. It was well written. But I felt as if I were reading pornography ultimately.
Enjoyed this turner!
Don’t expect a who-dunit. This is not a mystery novel. The reader knows from the first page that there has been a murder and that the nanny did it. And yes, what could be more awful? I also thought do I really want to read this book? But after hearing the author interviewed, I was very impressed. This is a stunning novel, more of a psychological and sociological exploration of the deep divisions in our society, the way those with money and privilege don’t “see” the lives of those less fortunate, even if they are doing something as intimate and important as taking care of their children, cooking all their meals, keeping the household together. Very thought-provoking, beautifully written.
Very scary and very believable.
The book had very little substance. It seemed to drone on about interesting but ultimately irrelevant details that in the end do little to clarify the characters state of mind or answer the big WHY.
I wanted to like this book so much more than I actually did. The story itself was interesting enough, but the characters fell a bit flat. I finished the book feeling like I didn’t know anymore about why the main event occurred than I did when I started.
Just 228 pages, this riveting tale of domesticity and control is hard to put down. Slimani obviously understands motherhood, the desire for career, the reliance on strangers to take care of your children. This book raises the question of whether mothers should endeavor to escape the “mind-numbing boredom that motherhood entails,” for the sake of a career. Many women around the world do it; society accepts it. Does that drive for the freedom and excitement a career offers cause parents to overlook strange behavior or do minimal checks into a candidate’s background before turning over the lives of their children? In this case, there were so many signs, so many red-flags that Myriam and Paul overlooked, for ease, expedience, comfort. Brilliant little book that raises some pretty big questions.
The Perfect Nanny by Leila Slimani
January 2018
Book club, fiction
Penguin Publishing
(Translated, original pub 2016 France
Also under title Lullaby by Faber&Faber 2018 USA)
Rating: 3.5/5
3.5 stars
Although it was obvious how the book would end given the first line in the book. I was disappointed with the abrupt ending. I didn’t mind the lack of explanation which is left for reader to decipher. It was just they way it seemingly just ended in the way it started. I’m sure it was meant to be that way, to leave you still thinking about it. From what I understand this book was a result of an actual event which occurred in US and not France the setting of the story. Disturbing non the less.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2018/05/14/a-nanny-who-killed-two-children-with-a-kitchen-knife-will-spend-the-rest-of-her-life-in-prison/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.adb25ca86bb2
Paul and Myriam (Charfa) Masses are a married couple living in France trying to adjust to life with 2 small children. They are no longer the carefree couple who were free to enjoy life in a whim. As much as Myriam loves her children, Adam and Mila, she yearns for the excitement her career as an attorney provided. Paul is an artist and musician who is content to return to work with his wife caring for the children.
The couple decide to hire a nanny when life as a stay at home mother becomes more than Myriam can handle. They eventually hire Louise who seemed to be “perfect” in every way, working above their expectations. The family begins to treat Louise as part of the family even including her on a family vacation.
The drama unfolds as the story of Louise is revealed and her troubled past. This perfect nanny is grieving many losses in her life including the death of her husband Jacques and estrangement from her daughter Stephanie. Of course her mental instability stems as far back as her own childhood.
Unfortunately, Louise is able to overcompensate for her insecurities so well that she becomes so enmeshed in people’s lives they don’t realize how toxic she is until the damage has been done.
The writer delves into a possible way a nanny might live if enough stress and dispair are present it is thought provoking and takes us into the mind of each character
This is one of those books that’s not a particularly pleasant space to inhabit–it’s creepy, and unsettling–but is still fascinating and rewarding.
Beware perfect employees- everyone makes mistakes. Love people for who they are not for your perfect ideals of people. Bells should ring when an employee wants to spend all their time with your family, right?
From societal clashes to motherhood challenges, this psychological thriller will connect with everyone on something. Well done.
This book was a dark psychological study of the mind of a murderer.
This was confusing – hard to read.