The Perfect Nanny by Leïla SlimaniMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
This is one of those books that I should have loved but it didn’t connect with me as I’d hoped. I hadn’t heard much about the book so perhaps I went in with some sort of preconceived notion of what it was about based on the cover. It appeared to be a thriller but it definitely wasn’t that. I’d say it’s more of a character study. If I’d come into the book expecting that perhaps I’d have enjoyed it more. This is definitely an intense read that really feels very closed off & claustrophobic as well as disturbing. It almost felt like I was watching the story unfold from the outside … I never felt I was a part of the world, rather I felt like an observer only. There was a distance between the story and me as a reader that was definitely unsettling. The writing was solid but sometimes it felt overwritten. I liked this one but didn’t like it a lot. I kept waiting for something (anything) to happen and it just never really delivered in terms of plot. I’m not sure if some of these feelings were due to it being a translation or if that was the intent of the novel itself. I don’t need a happy ending or all of the characters to be likable but I do need to feel a connection to the story or the characters. That just never happened for me with this one. I wanted MORE of everything. The ending didn’t satisfy me. All in all, worth picking up but go in expecting a very focused character study rather than a thriller!
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