Lucy: A Novel

the main character continuously veers off on tangents that have little, to any, relevance to the point (it appears) she is trying to make. These 'excursions' drag the story down and renders excruciatingly boring.I'm happy the author finally spoke to Lucy's sexual obsession, however even then, for her to begrudge her friend (Myrna) sexual exploitation was a bit concerning.I also read Annie John and couldn't help but notice that Annie John's father an Lucy's father had the identical relationships w/their grandmothers and that both these characters' paternal grandmothers' death were the same. Each died in her sleep w/the main character's fathers sleeping next to her.

I had previously read Annie John for a course in college and loved it. There are common themes in these two novels which layer Kincaid's exploration of identity, racism, post-colonial legacy, attachment (mother-daughter relationship especially), freedom, courage, and agency... Lucy as a female protagonist may be difficult for some readers to relate to but that would be most true of readers with limited scope, who do not have the ability to embrace human complexity, especially its inherent contradictions. Lucy is remarkable and fearless in her self-honesty, a perpetually redeeming quality in the eyes of this reader. This is a powerful work about a powerful female protagonist. KIncaid's writing focuses on Lucy's consciousness and insight rather than embroidered description of material details, another feature of her writing I strongly prefer. This could be a great book for a high level high school English course (as a coming of age story), but it's also a great read for the adult reader. I imagine a reader's perspective could change with years spanning a read and reread which indicates the quality and depth of Kincaid's writing.

I had not expected to find Jamaica Kincaid's fiction to so resemble the (men's) existentialist fictions of another century. But there is a proto-feminist--or at least socially grounded twist to the alienated protagonist as she, Lucy, a West Indian Black is thrown into a white world--the au pair for an upper class white family in New england or some North East region of the states-- fleeing her island and mother. Her complicated love/hate feelings for her mother (shadowed by love hate feelings for the white woman she works for) twist the usual existentialist turn on identity, even race, from the usual tale of solitary ego to a troubled meditation on a daughter/mother dyad also complicated by race and cultural alienation. she experiences the burgeoning sexuality of her 19 year old self --sex with men mostly--as something outside of herself while describing it also as fun and adventurous. Actually I see how this review is obscure because i really have to go back to re-read to get more fully the different layers of what Kincaid is doing, but it's a very compelling and nuanced read.

The complex and seemingly sinister disposition of "Lucy", appropriately named as the feminine version of Lucifer, is told in a simplistically subtle beauty that was either appreciated or lost on the members of the Uptown Girls Harlem Book Club. The story is of a young Caribbean au pair who recounts her experiences of her native land as she makes a home for herself in a cold New York-like city. Through her eyes the reader watches the dissolution of a flimsy marriage whose end is solidified when the handsome cultivated husband licks the neck of his wife's best friend.Lucy has a sour personality that is surpirsingly delicate. The issues of finding oneself, the relationships between mother and daughter, and the liberation, or lack thereof, of a young woman in the late 1960s is explored in a an unassuming wisdom that is quiet yet poignant. The book is short and makes for a quick read but the topics discussed are timely and easily filled, at least, an hour of our meeting.The book is sexy. Despite the sexual exploits of Lucy with males and a female, the book lacks the vulgarity prevalent in popular fiction today. The author is almost surgical with vocabulary and punctuation usage which makes for a delightful read whose beauty is either noticed instantly or comes to fruition like a sunrise when the words are fully reflected upon.

One thing you should know before picking up this book is that the main character, Lucy, is an extremely f**ked up kid who, overall, is wholly unlikeable. That being said however, the book does have its strong points. Lucy is a girl from the West Indies who comes to North America as an au pair. Her journey through the book not only shows us some of the prejudices she must endure, but more ironically shows the extremes of her own prejudices.I found a lot of the book to be seemingly hopeless and exasperating, but it is also an eye opener in the realm of the subjugated. There is also something of a ray of hope at the book's finish.Lastly, this book is very much manifested from some of the author's own experiences as a native of Antigua and it would really do a reader good to read Jamaica Kincaid's easily readable yet extremely angry essay, "On Seeing England for the First Time," before delving into this book."Lucy" is short and worth the time it takes to finish as I believe the story is more defined by what is furtively omitted (yet alluded to) than what is actually displayed in black and white.

My daughter liked this as an audiobook, so I ordered the book. I've picked it up numerous times, but haven't made it to the end yet. I have found it difficult to get involved with the main character, Lucy. The writing hasn't drawn me in, and it has been difficult to continue. I plan to try again.

I had heard so much of her. This is the first work of her's that I've read and I love it. I read some comments that its written on an elementary level. It's not that Kincaid has an elementary level of writing. That was Lucy's voice. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Great plot. As pessimistic as Lucy is...that's how some people actually are. And isnt that the point of reading? To gain insight to what we dont know or understand. Lucy stuck with me and to me, that defines a great book.

As probably influenced by the success of the book at the time of its launch, I expected a more structured prose, a more professional syntax and a more compelling story. It is basically a very disenchanted autobiography of a Caribbean authoress who clearly perceived racial attitudes against her, not realizing that she was actually acting scornfully against almost all the white women she met, who she considered superficial and empty. Disappointing.

Real and Emotional novel, full of love and rage. It lead you in the authors mind and heart, living her state of mind and feeling her strong emotions.

The book was written well but Lucy always beeing angry and hatefull towards everything and everyone became annoying quite fast.

Don't change the delivery date

Lucy is so angry, I found it difficult to enjoy this book