Sometimes you are so excited for a book to be released that the actual reading of said book is a letdown. Or perhaps it’s that some authors are better short story authors than they are long novel writers? I cannot decide, but in the interest of being fair, I can only say that I didn’t care for this one nearly as much as I anticipated or hoped for. The build up was more exciting than the reading.
The main protagonist Tassie Keltjin is 20. While this book was touted as a “coming of age†I saw it more of a broaching adulthood book rather than a coming of age. Tassie goes off to college and lands a job as a babysitter. This job is working for a well knit together character, Sarah Brink. Some of the dialogue between Tassie and Sarah was so well written it made me wish I had written those sentences myself. Moore has a way with the written language. If you enjoy poetry, you’ll love the language contained within the walls of this novel. Tassies father is a potato farmer and some of the information given on this topic is fascinating, I did not know these detailed things about potatoes prior to reading this one.
One aspect of this book that is done well entails her job as a Nanny. If you are a Nanny, want to be a Nanny or just fancy hiring a Nanny, these scenes are worth the price of this one. And, if you are a true fan of Moore’s then you must read it, how can a true fan pass it up? However, if you’re not you might want to skip this one. I cannot lie about novels. They either are fantastic for me or they fall short. This one kept having brief spurts of brilliance and they kept me going. I’m not sorry I read it. I did expect it to be more about September 11th and the events and emotions that surrounded that event as it was advertised, but it was mentioned in a few sentences and then quickly abandoned. However, having said all of this Moore is a fantastic writer and her wit with the word often made me overlook this books drawbacks. She can spin a wonderful sentence.
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