bigbooklife's review
3.0
Minding Ben was not one of my favorite books that I read this year. It was a little drawn out for me. It took awhile for me to finish the book. The story picked up in the last one hundred pages. Minding Ben follows the journey of Grace, a Trinidadian newly located to New York. Grace encounters many different cultures and Victoria Brown does an excellent job using the appropriate dialect for each culture. It was hard at frst reading the authentic Jamaican, Bajan, and Trinidadian accents, but once I was used to it, it was actually a treat. The dialect made the story more authentic. As a character Grace made me a little upset. She could have taken a little more initiative in her life in New York. She moved at the age of sixteen to help watch her cousin's son. When her cousin abandoned her in the city, she was forced to grow up sooner than she planned, but it seems like she doesn't learn from her numerous mishaps in NYC. I would recommend this book for anyone who is looking for something general and non-descript to read. It's great book to pass the time, but again not one of my favorites that I read this year.
More...