laurenleigh's review against another edition
dark
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Picked this up for a reading challenge as a thriller written by a woman, in translation. The original was in French, and there seems to be a few different titles for different publications, so I’ve also seen it as Lullaby. Thriller is probably the best genre definition, but the plot is relatively slow and the big denouement happens “off stage.” I kept waiting for some big reveal, some plot twist that explains this murderous climax, which you’re aware of from page one. The first line is “The baby is dead.” But there were no jump scares, no shocking turn of events that explained why a nanny would snap like this. It was a lot more real for this reason, and I’ve just learned that this was based on a true story. Yikes. There were certainly creepy parts (woah that scene with the chicken bones in the kitchen), but overall, it was more an exploration of class politics, sexism, and privilege. Having a rough backstory doesn’t excuse murdering children obviously, but it was telling to see the careful arrangement of injustice, assault, poverty which lead to the nanny’s violence. The tense feel throughout the book is coming from the nanny’s unraveling, which was well executed, but in the end, I don’t see this story sticking with me for a long time. It just never quite clicked.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Murder, Toxic relationship, and Sexism
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