- Paperback: 176 pages
- Publisher: Plume (Oct 1 1991)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0452266777
- ISBN-13: 978-0452266773
- Product Dimensions: 20.1 x 13 x 1.8 cm
- Shipping Weight: 150 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #292,505 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Lucy, a teenager from the West Indies who has renounced her family and past, comes to America to work as an au pair and detachedly observes the deterioration of her employers' marriage. "This is a slim book but Kincaid has crafted it with a spare elegance that has brilliance in its very simplicity," said PW.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Like her Annie John ( LJ 4/1/85), Kincaid's new heroine travels the coming-of-age road. Lucy, a 19-year-old West Indi an, sheds her cloistered colonial upbringing by accepting a job as an au pair in New York--the perfect setting for satisfying her gluttonous appetite for both mental and sensual stimulation. The startling disintegration of her employers' marriage triggers flashbacks of home and family; the reflected details are unsettling. Lucy finds being born "woman" places her in a territory she wants to explore and at the same time escape. As she begins her exploration, cathartic tears blur the first pages of her diary. But Lucy plunges ahead, reassured by the discovery of an authentic self. Strong in style and substance, dazzling with its sharp-edged prose, this is a novel no one should miss. Literary Guild selection; previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 6/1/90.
- Bibi S. Thompson, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
- Bibi S. Thompson, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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First Sentence
IT WAS MY FIRST DAY. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
IT WAS MY FIRST DAY. Read the first page
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Concordance
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not bad, but not really good eithier...,
This review is from: Lucy (Hardcover)
This was my first reading of Jamaica Kincaid. She has a short, concise style, which made me often feel like I was reading poetry. However, I felt that it also had some downsides, like stifling character growth. In Lucy, the title character comes to America to be an nanny for a rich couple with four young daughters. Lucy watches as their marriage crumbles and tries to avoid turning into her own mother, who for some reason she hates. I wish we knew a bit more about Lucy, like why she hated her homeland so much. It was an alright quick read, but had it been longer, I doubted it would have held my attention.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Surfaces,
By A Customer
This review is from: Lucy (Paperback)
Lucy is a well written book about a young girl coming of age, separated from her home and all that is familiar to her. The book deals with issues like displacement, sex, mothers, and rage. I was tempted to dismiss this book as pointless after reading it for the first time, but something about this book stayed with me. Like the ocean Lucy lived by and the Great Lake she visits, there is more to this book than just the waves on the surface. I recommend reading this book more than once and delving deeper than the first layer, you won't be disappointed.
1.0 out of 5 stars
LUCY, GET A LIFE...,
By
This review is from: Lucy (Paperback)
This book was utter nonsense. It starts off giving the impression that the book may end up going somewhere, but quite the opposite happens. There are many paragraphs that I like to consider "biblical". By this, I mean that the paragraphs themselves are worded very delicatly, but say absolutely nothing outside of "we ate dinner" or "I kissed him". Another annoying point of the book is the sheer promiscuity of many of the chapters. Again, the first chapter pertains to family life, and gives one the feeling of "gee, I might want to keep this and read it to my kids", but its demise follows. Kincaid sends the reader spiraling into a world of love "experimentation". In the chapters that are preoccupied with developing this, we see Lucy do more then simply "kiss" her boyfriends. By the end you not only stutter when you speak, but also feel like your time has been waisted. Why? Because the plot is nothing more then that of a midnight XXX movie on [tv]! And the scenes are no different either. Now I'm willing to sacrifice an orthodox plot for a good book, but this is rediculous. I watched an interview with Jamaica Kincaid once on Charlie Rose. In this interview, she testifies that this is her story, as it happened. Please, a garbage truck driver has a story to tell as well, but no one really wants to hear it. Thanks Jamaica, for nothing. Normally, I would complain about much more, but it is this element that really dominates the book, thus giving me nothing more to complain about.
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