From my star rating, you can tell that I didn’t particularly like this novel. It’s really popular, sold a lot, won some prizes, and people seem to like it. I think it’s oddly generic and splits the difference between a serious literary novel, which I don’t think it quit gets to, and a good thriller, which it doesn’t quite get to, and takes the least good from each and coming up with a not particularly interesting novel.
Some stray thoughts: in one way, this is a kind of indictment of white woman middle class culture. And I think there’s plenty to say about that, the ways in which white women will often not see how their privilege shapes the world around them, and especially how this is true in middle class spaces of gentrification. And those are worthy of investigation, but if you’re quite hitting a literary consideration of the idea then you’re limiting your ability to significantly critique it. And if you’re trying to really attack some ideas in a thriller, then you’re again hitting at them in short shrift or worse using them as tools instead of exploring ideas.
Ultimately the biggest problem with this novel is that it’s kind of boring. There’s not a lot of dialogue through out so we’re constantly told what the characters are saying and not just having them say it. So in addition to that I think the plotting is a little jumbled and I didn’t exactly get lost, but once I lost connections a little, I didn’t feel particularly compelled to find my place again.
(Photo: https://www.amazon.com/Perfect-Nanny-Novel-Leila-Slimani/dp/0143132172/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2YI70OT25AJ5H&keywords=the+perfect+nanny&qid=1562012042&s=gateway&sprefix=the+perfect+nanny%2Caps%2C130&sr=8-1)