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Minding Ben: A Novel
Автор: Victoria Brown
Текст читает Joyce Bean
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Minding Ben invites listeners into the private world of one of the anonymous West Indian babysitters who have peopled the lives of so many young urban families for decades. Grace left Trinidad for New York with hopes for a better life and education. As she struggles to adjust to her new life-and to determine just what shape her American Dream will take-Grace finds work as a nanny for the unconscionable Bruckners, a job that pays meager wages for its demanding and humiliating responsibilities.
At the mercy of her employers, and unprepared for the playground politics within the West Indian babysitting community, Grace nevertheless carries the day as she navigates the complicated world of America with strength and perseverance. Minding Ben offers a rarely seen account of the immigrant experience in this strong, compassionate, and insightful narrative.
At the mercy of her employers, and unprepared for the playground politics within the West Indian babysitting community, Grace nevertheless carries the day as she navigates the complicated world of America with strength and perseverance. Minding Ben offers a rarely seen account of the immigrant experience in this strong, compassionate, and insightful narrative.
Активность, связанная с книгой
Начать прослушиваниеСведения о книге
Minding Ben: A Novel
Автор: Victoria Brown
Текст читает Joyce Bean
Описание
Minding Ben invites listeners into the private world of one of the anonymous West Indian babysitters who have peopled the lives of so many young urban families for decades. Grace left Trinidad for New York with hopes for a better life and education. As she struggles to adjust to her new life-and to determine just what shape her American Dream will take-Grace finds work as a nanny for the unconscionable Bruckners, a job that pays meager wages for its demanding and humiliating responsibilities.
At the mercy of her employers, and unprepared for the playground politics within the West Indian babysitting community, Grace nevertheless carries the day as she navigates the complicated world of America with strength and perseverance. Minding Ben offers a rarely seen account of the immigrant experience in this strong, compassionate, and insightful narrative.
At the mercy of her employers, and unprepared for the playground politics within the West Indian babysitting community, Grace nevertheless carries the day as she navigates the complicated world of America with strength and perseverance. Minding Ben offers a rarely seen account of the immigrant experience in this strong, compassionate, and insightful narrative.
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This book is "The Nanny Diaries" but instead of a white college graduate, the nanny is an illegal 18 year old from Trinidad. Grace is very likable, and the dialogue is very interesting, as it's written in the accents of Trinidadians, Jamaicans and people from other Caribbean islands. Then, of course, there's the disliked mother who employs Grace, the odd husband, and in the case of this book, the child who played a very small role, even though the title made it seem as if the book would center around him. The ending left something to be desired as I would like to know what actually happened to Grace. I can't complain too much about it not being wrapped up in a pretty bow, though, because I hate when that happens. I just would have liked a somewhat more concrete ending, and for Grace to have grown slightly throughout the course of the book.
Rating: 3Enjoyed this book. Finished it in a week.
Rating: 2Half-way through this book I was frustrated - I felt like there was a lot of character introduction missing. I couldn't figure out why Grace was living with Sylvia, who Bo was (Sylvia's lover, friend, cousin, brother?), and there was no explanation as to what happened after Grace was left at the airport. I was a hundred pages in, I couldn't stop despite the fact that I was really annoyed.I'd say that's a sign of a good book.While some of those frustrations could have been handled much earlier on, the fact that Grace's missing year and a half aren't explained until later turns out to be pretty important. I'm still a little annoyed that we never found out what happened with Carmen - though I'm pretty sure I have an idea...or I'm just going to continue to use my imagination. Book groups could have a field day with the missing Carmen story!As a former babysitter for an upper middle class family, I could empathize with Grace (despite the fact that I didn't have my own concerns of sponsorship). Everyone wants to raise their children in a specific way, but then there are those special folks that actually want OTHER people to raise the kid, but in their way. Bottom line: a good read.
Rating: 4could not get on the same page with the narrator perhaps another day
Rating: 2Overall I enjoyed this book I really liked the main character and following her life especially her relationship with the guy upstairs. There were some slow parts for me and some of the language was hard to follow plus being Jewish there was one point where a blessing was made that I dont even think is a real blessing so not sure whats up with that. I really liked the ending, I thought it was fast paced and interesting and in the end thought it was an pretty decent book, not one of my favs but definetly worth the read.
Rating: 4I received this book as an Early Reviewer copy.I did enjoy Minding Ben. It did a nice job of following the life of Grace from Trinidad, and her struggles when she reached America. It did not answer all your questions right away and sometimes you felt like something was being overlooked or you were left in the dark, but eventually most of them were answered.I would have marked it 5 stars, but the ending wrapped up things a bit too nicely. It would have been better had Grace developed her confidence, instead of once again relying on "good fortune" and the help of others to get her where she is going. I would still easily recommend this book.
Rating: 4Don't let the chick lit-style cover fool you: this novel about Manhattan nannies has some substance behind it. Grace is an illegal immigrant from the Caribbean struggling to find her place as a babysitter, dreaming of the day she'll be able to call the United States her permanent home. She pins her hopes on the Bruckners, the family who hires her and dangles the tantalizing promise of sponsorship. Of course, if things were straightforward, there would be no novel, and the various conflicts and problems that befall Grace over the course of her time in Brooklyn and Manhattan are heart-wrenching.This is not a perfect novel; Grace is not a particularly compelling narrator, and the ending felt not only rushed but kind of meaningless given what she went through to get there. But the undercurrents in this novel of racism, classism, and sexism are handled deftly, the author never preaching but always there to remind us about what is really behind the poor Caribbean women pushing strollers of blonde-haired, blue-eyed baby New Yorkers.
Rating: 4I wasn't sure I was going to, but I liked the book. It was a thoughtful, well-written, and enjoyable read.
Rating: 4Minding Ben is a painfully honest tale in it's treatment of immigration, race and poverty , but it's also frequently whimsical and laugh-out-loud funny, thanks to the refreshingly strong and self-aware characters at the heart of the story. From a dawn scene in the front yard of the narrator's house in Trinidad; to the backseat of a car parked outside a reggae club; to a playground where West Indian, East Indian, and Irish domestic workers mind their charges and negotiate subtle and intricate power relationships; to the heartbreakingly personal center of a race riot in Crown Heights; to an understatedly magical rooftop garden in downtown New York where time seems to stand still and anything feels possible; you are pulled into a mesmerizing world of carefully fleshed-out characters, several of whom you'll find yourself caring about and empathizing with even if, had you met them in the real world, you would be tempted to avoid and take sides against them. This book is certainly a keeper
Rating: 5This was a book that came unbidden to my reading pile, but came it did and read it was. It is a a well-written portrayal of the difficult and often dangerous life of urban America for the immigrant in search of the elusive American Dream. A sixteen year old Trinidadian girl flies to New York City seeking adventure and the opportunity to work and study. Her cousin fails to meet her at the airport and she makes her way into the city on her own. From the getgo, she is very much alone. Not yet street-wise but naturally wary, she actively seeks work as an "au pair", where she is to be paid under the table. When things go wrong, she has little recourse as she is there on a mere tourist visa. Immigrant meets the school of hard knocks. This is a semi-autobiographical account with fiction added to make the stories larger than life. It is a fine first novel which captures the ethnic diversity of a large city and the hazards encountered when those varying cultures meet. Throughout all the many difficulties, hope remains.
Rating: 3As a young woman Grace leaves her home in the West Indies for a job as a nanny in New York. She doesn't have the resources to obtain the correct papers, so she has to work illegally. This means she has to take whatever work she can get. Subsequently she ends up in an awful position, underpaid, overworked, and often humiliated. In the end she has to chose between her job and her loyalty to family, friends, and ultimately to herself.In the beginning I found myself sympathizing with Grace and I quite liked her humility, work ethic, loyalty to her friends, and occasional sense of humor. As the book wore on I got fed up with her willingness to be stepped on by others, even in situations where she could have stood up for herself. I found it unbelieveable that someone would stand to be so poorly treated for so little money, rather than return to her family who she loved. The end of the book, while lovely in a fairy tale way, was wholly unrealistic and didn't at all match the harsh realty of the first 300 pages. Not badly written, characters were well developed, and the plot moved along well, but not my favorite by a long shot.
Rating: 3For the most part, I enjoyed this book. Reading about Grace's life in Trinidad and her experiences with Ben and Miriam were great, but at some point it seemed like it was going through a checklist of what needs to be in a nanny book: 1) quirky neighbor whom nanny befriends - check! 2) lack of acceptance from other nannies - check! 3) sexual tension between the nanny and the employer - check! The end was abrupt, and really spoiled the book for me. It felt like a lot of threads that I expected to build up to something else just....got thrown all together.I didn't feel, like other reviewers, that Grace really lost her drive that brought her to America from Trinidad - it was more like she lost her way, like I think any 16 year old would when plopped into a completely different society. Her absolute doormat-ish-ness and irresponsible decisions (spending hundreds of dollars on a tank top) underscored that she was really still a child, yet there she was taking care of someone else's child. I'm hoping that's what the author intended, but honestly, all it did was make me dislike her.
Rating: 3Once again, another author I have never heard of but the premise of the book looked interesting. Once I started reading I couldn't put it down. Excellent book and worth reading!
Rating: 5This book started with quite a bit of potential. Overall, it was pretty good and interesting, but maybe a bit anticlimatic.
Rating: 3This is a somwehat predictable story of an 18 year old young woman from Trinidad who escapes the poverty of her island life to find a new life in New York. Not surprisingly, her challenges include continued money problems, employers who don't understand or respect her, the father who makes a play for her, and worries about her family back on the island. The ending is at first realistic, and then too pat, although satisfying at the same time.
Rating: 3This book was a long slow read with a suffering plot about a girl who comes to America (we are never really sure why) and finds herself a job as a nanny. Her life as a nanny with a family that treats her as a live in slave, is entwined with her life back home in the islands, and her life on the weekends in Brooklyn. None of these places provides much of a story or plot and the story drags on. The local island lingo intwined throughtout the story is often difficult to understand. I found the book too lacking in a real plot to hold my interest.
Rating: 1This is a book about a young girl from the islands who tries to make a new life in NYC. She has it very rough, with no family and little friends. She finds work as a nanny taking care of Ben, whose mother is not a character of good heart. I was appalled at how she treated Grace and hated her uppity attitude-unbelievable! It was a quick end, coming on fast. If you like to read about these girls and their lives, give it a go.
Rating: 3i really wanted to LOVE this book....i didn't.....i liked the book.....i thought it was ok....it just never went any place interesting for me. I found myself not caring about the people or the fact that it was set 20 + years ago. what i will say....is don't let that be the reason not to read it....it was just not my cup of tea. it is an easy read and i suspect there is a wide audience for it.....(just not me....)
Rating: 3This book I received through Early reviewers. The book starts out with a young girl(Grace) who came from a small village in Trinidad hoping to make a better life for herself in New York City. Grace has a rough start in the big city, but finds herself becoming a nanny for a wealthy family who has no sympathy or heart for her. The dialect or slang in the book is sometimes hard to understand and I often had an overwhelming sense of fustration wanting Grace to get a back bone and stand up for herself after repeated mistreatment and being taken advantage of. The ending of the book was too fast compared to the text of the story. Overall it was an ok read but not something I would read again or recommend.
Rating: 3A fantastic and insightful story that takes a deep look into the life of Caribbean immigrants who are forced into hard labor for little pay. Very well told, Minding Ben is a well-crafted tale of a Trinidadian teenager who comes to America for opportunities and instead finds misfortune, malevolence, dishonesty, distrust, and a beacon of hope.
Rating: 4i got this book through the early reviewers program. it was a quick read.grace is a 16 year old girl from trinidad who comes to america to live her dreams and instead ends up a nanny/maid to a wealthy new york couple. grace is a sweet girl that you want to succeed and that you always wish would grow a pair. she gets herself walked over nonstop and it becomes frustrating. the couple she works for were just despicable to me. they basically worked her like a slave and their entitlement and smugness was just too much for me.i think i'd recommend this book to someone. it'd be nice to read this summer on vacation.
Rating: 4I received this book through the ER contest. I was surprised at how challenging it was to read. The issues the main character deals with ring very true -- class, immigration, race, gender. The main disappointment was how the book ended -- too fast and too easy. The author had a great ear for the language of the Caribbean and it was fun for me to try to understand some of the slang. Not my favorite book, but I enjoyed it.
Rating: 3I liked the story ,but its not one that i would reread or even keep on my bookshelf. I wasn't a fan of the Nanny Diaries and that's pretty much what this is a retell. I had a hard time with the West Indian dialects. At points i was wishing this book was over. I passed it onto a friend that did enjoy the Nanny Diaries to see what she thinks.
Rating: 3This is a touching story of a sixteen year old West Indian girl (Grace) who leaves her comfortable but, boring and restricting home in a rural village in Trinidad to find a future with potential, in New York City. All her mother's plans to insure a safe passage for her to live with cousins, came to naught when realities of their life reduced their promised help to only room for a couple of days until she could find a job and place to stay. Her native intelligence (she had passed both her A and B school boards before leaving Trinidad) and her buoyant spirit allowed her to overcome the many obstructions that threatened to defeat her and force a return to her family and the limited future the island offered. She managed to find both a living arrangement and later a job just as her very limited funds were exhausted. She was hired by a family as a live in nanny and housekeeper for low wages and slave like expectations of labor and hours. The family promised to sponsor her for citizenship but, used this offer as an additional tie to keep Grace in bonded servitude. Her duties require taking her keep to the park for air daily where she befriends many other nannies similarly occupied with their charges. Grace's resourcefulness, likeability, beauty and optimistic grace allowed her to transcend the limits of her position and circumstances to find a promising future in New York. The range of characters from the slums she bunked in on weekends to the white people and fellow nannies that worked on the east side gives a view into the extent that the money perpetuates the inequities of the working relations of the undocumented emigrants and their employers. The story of the trip through life as Grace conquers New York is an uplifting tale of the bravery and undaunted spirit held by an island dream. I highly recommend this book for an enjoyable escape from your boring world and some insight in to the possibilities of an optimistic child.
Rating: 4Grace leaves her predictable island life in Trinidad to come to New York when she is only 16. She is on her own from the start, when the cousin who was supposed to meet her upon arrival, never shows. Grace is both innocent and mature. She has strong ethical sense, which really defines the way she lives. She takes a job as a nanny, working for low pay for an unkind woman, her kind of sleazy husband and their delightful child, Ben. Although they do not treat her well, Grace never sinks to their level.It's a pretty good book if you want something light to read.
Rating: 3A thoroughly enjoyable tale of a young girl immigrating to New York and finding work as a nanny for a disagreeable couple. The details of the immigrant experience were fascinating to me, but the island patois spoken by many of the characters took some effort to figure out.
Rating: 4Grace Caton's dream is to leave Trinidad and move to New York City. When she arrives in the city she finds herself along and forced to compete with other West Indian women for poorly paid, exploitative nanny jobs for Manhattan's wealthy. For most of the book Grace works for Sol and Miriam Bruckner, babysitting for their son, Ben. The Bruckners overwork and underpay Grace, lording the promise of a visa sponsorship over her head to keep her in their employ and justify their poor treatment. This book reminded me very much of The Nanny Diaries, both books looking at the strange world of New York nannies, and the abuse they take from their employers. Brown's work adds immigration issues into the tale, and Grace's hope for a visa leads her to consider options she might otherwise avoid, such as marrying a completely unsuitable American man, and continuing to work for the miserable Bruckners. Grace realizes quickly that everyone is willing to take advantage of her. Throughout the book I had a hard time understanding why Grace wanted to stay in New York, given how badly she was treated there. The Bruckners were a like a trainwreck, their behavior was so bad that it was almost painful to read about, but at the same time, it's hard to look away. The luxurious apartments of Manhattan's wealthy are a different kind of sweatshop, taking advantage of vulnerable workers and subjecting them to irrational whims and poor treatment.
Rating: 4I really enjoyed this book. Grace meets many trials and tribulations which she must face alone in a strange place. I found the language difficult to follow at times but at the same time it made the story more believable. I like the author's style of writing, the reading is smooth and the characters come to life. I would recommend this book to anyone wanting a good book to just sit back and relax with after a hard day.
Rating: 4Grace is only 16 years old when she leaves her family in Trinidad and boards a plane to the United States to live with her cousin. Once she arrives, however, nobody comes to pick her up at the airport and Grace begins her instant immersion into adulthood. As she struggles to secure basic housing, she comes to live with Sylvia, a woman she met walking down the street, her two children, and "Bo", a "cousin" of Sylvia's. Grace tries to seek out employment as a live-in nanny, a highly coveted vocation by many island immigrants, but struggles to find any available positions. When she is finally hired, she finds herself with the expectations of a live-in maid more so than a nanny, as the mother saddles her with household chores from morning to night and treats her more like a slave than as an employee. Grace does little to interfere with her own degradation and her passivity steadily becomes irritating over the course of the novel. As her family in Trinidad struggles with her father's declining health and Grace's living conditions decline, she is forced to make decisions (or passively accept decisions that are made for her) while trying to maintain some dignity and sense of self.I found this novel rather depressing, though there were some touching and funny moments. While I could relate to the spunk that got Grace to America at such a young age, it seemed to run counter to her passivity toward her circumstances and her unwillingness to confront her employers and their abusive behavior toward her. Though there were likeable characters in this story, few were caring enough to demonstrate a real relationship with Grace. Instead, Grace's situation just felt hopeless and unfortunate as she apparently had no vision of what she wanted once she arrived in the United States, and this did not change with time.
Rating: 4This book began well. It grabbed my attention right away, and I quickly became interested in the characters' lives. However, the storyline seemed to lose its way in the middle, and the ending (or lack thereof) left much to be desired.The thing that frustrated me the most was the fact that the main character was not very dynamic. Grace had all the necessary qualities for growth and change (youth, an open mind, a strong work ethic, life-changing experiences), but in the end she seemed just as clueless as when she first set foot in New York. At the end, she still seemed unsure of the life she wants and what steps and sacrifices she is willing to make to get there. All she wants is to live in America, with little thought as to how or why. This is why I only gave the book three stars. It had the potential to be a truly great story but missed its calling somewhere along the way.
Rating: 3