Rating: 
Summary: relaxing
Review: smoothly written, and a relaxing read, Alice McDermott must be a fragile and a sensitive person. an enjoyable book, easy read.
Rating: 
Summary: GOOD CHARACTERIZATION
Review: If you like books about children, hop aboard.In the summer of this year, we are introduced to Theresa, the expert baby-sitter who entertains her cousin Daisy up from Queens Village for the entire summer. Theresa works for the wealthy folk around her area, looking after their toddlers and sometimes walking and taking care of the owners pets. She is so tender towards her cousin Daisy's, it's totally touching. Meet Flora the toddler who is constantly under her care and whose father is a painter, and quite attracted to Theresa.....the Morans kids of Janey, Judy, June
Tony and Petey and the Kaufmans, the Swansons and the rest of the neighborhood. The story line was interesting and the characters more so, but it's a book that will keep you turning the pages as you will want to know what happens to these lovely children who spend their days on the beach and who dream about fairies and lollipops on weeping cherry trees. A good holiday read. Reviewed by Heather Marshall January 15th, 2003
Rating: 
Summary: Babysitter Becomes the Town Earth Mother
Review: In immaculate prose, Alice McDermott has created Theresa, a fifteen-year-old babysitter, who cares for several children and pets in her neighborhood, even adopting her cousin Daisy one summer. We learn that Theresa's caretaking is rooted in more than just her empathy and precocity; it is born out of necessity because Theresa finds herself a skycraper of moral sturdiness in a community of adults who, through alchohol, selfishness, and class envy, have abnegated their responsbility to their children, abandoning them as they pursue their self-interests. In contrast, Theresa is compelled to be a caretaker, to impose her moral sharpness where it's lacking. Distant from her parents, she finds solace in playing this earth mother role. She needs to be needed as much as the children and stray dogs need her. Detailed and realistic, the novel shows a heart-broken girl trying to take the slack in a world where adults have forgotten how to love.
Rating: 
Summary: Boring and motionless...
Review: This is almost as bad as Charming Billy, in which McDermott makes a laughable attempt to get inside an alcoholic mind. She doesn't understand yet that no matter how 'pretty' the language is, it amounts to nothing if the story doesn't propel you forward. I'm not talking Tom Clancy compel, nor Scott Turow compel - but even the most 'literary' novel has to have some forward movement, and give the reader some reason to turn pages. McDermott hasn't learned this simple principle yet; she's too wrapped-up in prettification for its own sake. Instead of using language as a tool to tell a story, she lets language control her narrative. Gimme the energy of Joyce Carol Oates any day. Despite the reviewers going dumbly ga-ga, I find nothing of any substance in this book at all. I hope Alice takes a sabbatical soon....
Rating:
Summary: Pretty good, fast read
Review: After a slow start, I began to enjoy this book and the summer adventures of Theresa and the childeren left in her care - the book has no chapters, which I found a little annoying (hard to stop reading & pick up where you left off) - and a few things were a little troubling (just how old was Flora who slept in a crib, drank from a bottle but seemed to talk like a 4-5 year old? - and just what was it that attracted Theresa to Flora's father? The attraction seemed to come from no where) - but it was an overall pretty pleasant read - a little predictable at times (Daisy) but for the most part charming (how cute was Petey and his crush on the girls!) It's the first book I've read by McDermott and I'd like to check out her other titles - something about it reminded me of Lovely Bones - perhaps it was the point of view it was told from - I would recommend it to anyone who wants a light read that is cute, charming and overall up-lifting. Perhaps a sequel down the road after Theresa goes to college would be an idea - to see how her perspective on life and love have changed and how the events of this summer affected her future and life's decisions.
Rating:
Summary: dissapointed
Review: I was dissapointed with this book, it was slow, and the relationship between the 15 year old babysitter and the 70 year old painter was odd, and out of character for the babysitter. some parts of this book were too in depth, and some parts left me wanting more. i loved the relationship between 15 year old theresa and her 8 year old cousin daisy, but the ending was abrupt and dissapointing.
Rating: 
Summary: Unbelievable
Review: Alice McDermott has such skill with prose. Why oh why did she not put a little more effort into character motivation? How could this 15 year old girl be such a saint, so self-assured? Why would she let a 70 creepy drunk touch her? The foreshadowing in the book was extremely heavy handed. And yet, some of the descriptive passages were so perfectly crafted, I was in awe of the sheer muscle of her writing. This will never be counted among her best novels.
Rating:
Summary: Coming of age in Long Island
Review: McDermott's latest novel Child of my Heart looks into one teen summer in Theresa's life. Theresa is fifteen here, beautiful (Liz Taylor looks) and has an easy way with kids and pets. Theresa's parents moved out to Long Island a long time ago to give their child the opportunity to move in the right circles: "They moved way out on Long Island because they knew rich people lived way out on Long Island, even if only for the summer months, and putting me in a place where I might be spotted by some of them was their equivalent of offering me every opportunity." Theresa handles her charges with amazing ease-fixing lunches, changing diapers, soothing egos with a practised caring hand. She takes daily walks to the beach with her cousin and assorted charges tagging along. Theresa's grace attracts the attentions of lonely men around her. She herself is keenly aware of her emerging sexuality: "my childish beauty was quickly becoming something a little thinner and sharper and certainly more complicated" she complains. Flora, one of Theresa's charges, has an artist dad who even at the age of seventy drinks like a fish and has an eye for pretty women. Theresa finds his attentions flattering and ultimately gives in to his charms. In some of the most beautiful scenes in the book, McDermott paints the relationship between Theresa and her cousin "Daisy Mae" with heart-breaking tenderness. Both girls are privy to a secret but letting the grownups know will only "spoil the summer." Instead, Daisy Mae and her precocious cousin spend some rare precious moments together. Daisy for one, knows it is never going to happen again. Running deep throughout the novel and serving almost to distract from (instead of add to) the story is the overwhelming presence of parental neglect. Almost all through the book, every child (and there are many of them) survives without parents. Even little toddler Flora is eternally perched outside waiting for her sitter with a bottle of punch cradled in her chubby palms. Her mom has walked out and her old father has no intentions of caring for her even if he knew how. This parental neglect cuts across all lines. Flora the child of a rich artist, is as much a victim of it as the Moran kids, Theresa's next door poorer neighbors. McDermott in her beautiful book makes us witness all the heartbreak and losses in crisp, precise prose. Her fifteen year old heroine is strong and wise both because of the pain and in spite of it.
Rating:
Summary: sad but true
Review: I tout Alice McDermott everywhere I go. No other book but The Hours has put me in a stunned, stumbling all-day trance the way At Weddings and Wakes did, or Charming Billy, and I am neither Irish, from NY, or Catholic. But I forced myself through this one. I expect the happier reviews are written right after completing it, because the final two pages are back to McDermott's usual translucent, heartbreaking-without-sentiment prose. Until then, though, it's repetitive narrative along the lines of And then I, And then we, And then I, ad nauseum. As to specific problems, Theresa seems not just precocious, but egotistical. My children are 22, 19 and 15, very confident, but none of them have had the confidence/egotism of Theresa at fifteen. I can believe her testing her sexuality with an older man before I believe she has that kind of confidence. Moreover, I don't believe what I counted as some days of ten-hour babysitting goes as smoothly, no matter what fantasies, stories and activities Theresa cooks up, as McDermott portrays. Theresa never once loses her patience or gets weary. Nope. Doesn't compute, and frankly, makes Theresa less likeable.
Don't let this distract you from Alice McDermott. Just don't read it as your introduction to her. Read At Weddings and Wakes and Charming Billy.
Rating:
Summary: A disappointment
Review: Yet another author in need of an editor. This is mediocre at best, which is unfortunate. Her last book, Charming Billy, was quite good.
| 
