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The Perfect Nanny: A Novel
*Soon to be an HBO series starring Nicole Kidman and Maya Erskine*
She has the keys to their apartment. She knows everything. She has embedded herself so deeply in their lives that it now seems impossible to remove her.
One of the 10 BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR of The New York Times Book Review, by the author of Adèle, Sex and Lies, In the Country of Others, and Watch Us Dance
“A great novel . . . Incredibly engaging and disturbing . . . Slimani has us in her thrall.” —Roxane Gay, New York Times bestselling author of Bad Feminist and Hunger
“One of the most important books of the year. You can’t unread it.” —Barrie Hardymon, NPR’s Weekend Edition
When Myriam decides to return to work as a lawyer after having children, she and her husband look for the perfect nanny for their son and daughter. They never dreamed they would find Louise: a quiet, polite, devoted woman who sings to the children, cleans the family’s chic Paris apartment, stays late without complaint, and hosts enviable kiddie parties. But as the couple and the nanny become more dependent on one another, jealousy, resentment, and suspicions mount, shattering the idyllic tableau. Building tension with every page, The Perfect Nanny is a compulsive, riveting, bravely observed exploration of power, class, race, domesticity, motherhood, and madness—and the American debut of an immensely talented writer.
She has the keys to their apartment. She knows everything. She has embedded herself so deeply in their lives that it now seems impossible to remove her.
One of the 10 BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR of The New York Times Book Review, by the author of Adèle, Sex and Lies, In the Country of Others, and Watch Us Dance
“A great novel . . . Incredibly engaging and disturbing . . . Slimani has us in her thrall.” —Roxane Gay, New York Times bestselling author of Bad Feminist and Hunger
“One of the most important books of the year. You can’t unread it.” —Barrie Hardymon, NPR’s Weekend Edition
When Myriam decides to return to work as a lawyer after having children, she and her husband look for the perfect nanny for their son and daughter. They never dreamed they would find Louise: a quiet, polite, devoted woman who sings to the children, cleans the family’s chic Paris apartment, stays late without complaint, and hosts enviable kiddie parties. But as the couple and the nanny become more dependent on one another, jealousy, resentment, and suspicions mount, shattering the idyllic tableau. Building tension with every page, The Perfect Nanny is a compulsive, riveting, bravely observed exploration of power, class, race, domesticity, motherhood, and madness—and the American debut of an immensely talented writer.
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Community Reviews
thenextgoodbook.com
The Perfect Nanny by Leila Slimani
228 pages
What’s it about?
Myriam and Paul have two small children. When Myriam decides to return to work as a lawyer she looks for just the right nanny for her children- the perfect nanny. She finds Louise and it seems too good to be true. It is too good to be true…
What did it make me think about?
This was a good page turner that plays on our fears of leaving our children with a stranger. It also touches on the difficult choice that so many women have to make once they have kids. “For months she pretended she was okay. Even to Paul, she didn’t dare admit her secret shame. How she felt as if she were dying because she had nothing to talk about but the antics of her children and the conversations of strangers overheard in the supermarket. She started turning down dinner invitations, ignoring calls from her friends. She was especially wary of women, who could be so cruel. She wanted to strangle the ones who pretended to admire, or worse, envy her. She couldn’t bear listening to them anymore, complaining about their jobs, about not seeing their children enough. More than anything, she feared strangers. The ones who innocently asked what she did for a living and who looked away when she said she was a stay-at-home mother.”
Should I read it?
This is a good psychological thriller but if I was a young parent I would steer clear of this one. It is everyone's worst nightmare, but it would hit too close to home if I had a crib in my house.
Quote-
“She became aware that she could never live without feeling that she was incomplete, that she was doing things badly, sacrificing one part of her life for another. She had made a big deal out of this, refusing to renounce her dream of the ideal balance. Stubbornly thinking that everything was possible, that she could reach all her objectives, that she wouldn’t end up bitter and exhausted. That she wouldn’t play the role of martyr or of the perfect mother.”
If you like this try-
Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh
Tangerine by Christine Mangan
The Child Finder by Rene Denfeld
The Girl in the Red Coat by Kate Hamer
The Perfect Nanny by Leila Slimani
228 pages
What’s it about?
Myriam and Paul have two small children. When Myriam decides to return to work as a lawyer she looks for just the right nanny for her children- the perfect nanny. She finds Louise and it seems too good to be true. It is too good to be true…
What did it make me think about?
This was a good page turner that plays on our fears of leaving our children with a stranger. It also touches on the difficult choice that so many women have to make once they have kids. “For months she pretended she was okay. Even to Paul, she didn’t dare admit her secret shame. How she felt as if she were dying because she had nothing to talk about but the antics of her children and the conversations of strangers overheard in the supermarket. She started turning down dinner invitations, ignoring calls from her friends. She was especially wary of women, who could be so cruel. She wanted to strangle the ones who pretended to admire, or worse, envy her. She couldn’t bear listening to them anymore, complaining about their jobs, about not seeing their children enough. More than anything, she feared strangers. The ones who innocently asked what she did for a living and who looked away when she said she was a stay-at-home mother.”
Should I read it?
This is a good psychological thriller but if I was a young parent I would steer clear of this one. It is everyone's worst nightmare, but it would hit too close to home if I had a crib in my house.
Quote-
“She became aware that she could never live without feeling that she was incomplete, that she was doing things badly, sacrificing one part of her life for another. She had made a big deal out of this, refusing to renounce her dream of the ideal balance. Stubbornly thinking that everything was possible, that she could reach all her objectives, that she wouldn’t end up bitter and exhausted. That she wouldn’t play the role of martyr or of the perfect mother.”
If you like this try-
Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh
Tangerine by Christine Mangan
The Child Finder by Rene Denfeld
The Girl in the Red Coat by Kate Hamer
From a perspective of a character development this book was very interesting. With that being said the first chapter really gets you going with an intense opening scene, however it didn’t really match the rest of the book and the ending seemed a bit rushed and not as interesting from a thriller persepective.
Louise arrives at the home of Miriam and Paul with a spotless record and excellent recommendations from her previous family. But what began as an ideal arrangement slowly descends into unhappiness for everyone involved...
This book is described as an "exploration of power, class, race, domesticity, and motherhood," which I can agree with, but the underlying message seems to be that women, in general, spend a lot of time being unhappy and fantasizing about the life they don't have. Myriam attempts to balance the joys of her career and the joys of motherhood, and mostly ends up feeling inadequate and overwhelmed. Louise is fragile and neurotic: perhaps because of her estrangement from her own child, she is desperate to belong to a family, any family. Mila is a pouty kid, displeased with both of her female authority figures. The male characters (father and young son) seem to play ancillary, if not unconcerned, roles in the twisted, petty dramas of the women in their lives. I still can't figure out exactly what drove Louise from her desperate neediness to violently murdering the two children she cared for (I'm not giving anything away here, it's the first sentence of the book); frankly it just seems like bad writing. But who am I to judge the dark fantasies of motherhood?
This book is described as an "exploration of power, class, race, domesticity, and motherhood," which I can agree with, but the underlying message seems to be that women, in general, spend a lot of time being unhappy and fantasizing about the life they don't have. Myriam attempts to balance the joys of her career and the joys of motherhood, and mostly ends up feeling inadequate and overwhelmed. Louise is fragile and neurotic: perhaps because of her estrangement from her own child, she is desperate to belong to a family, any family. Mila is a pouty kid, displeased with both of her female authority figures. The male characters (father and young son) seem to play ancillary, if not unconcerned, roles in the twisted, petty dramas of the women in their lives. I still can't figure out exactly what drove Louise from her desperate neediness to violently murdering the two children she cared for (I'm not giving anything away here, it's the first sentence of the book); frankly it just seems like bad writing. But who am I to judge the dark fantasies of motherhood?
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