The Manny by Holly Peterson
|
List Price: Our Price: $0.59 You Save: $6.91 (92%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of The Manny
Book Review: Whinebag Yuppies
Summary: 2 Stars
Jamie Whitfield, mother of Dylan 9, Gracie 5, and Michael 2, is a part time producer at NBS (a hybrid of NBC and CBS) who lives in a sumptuous apartment on Park Avenue. Her husband Philip II is a stuffed shirt and whinebag extraordinaire, going into meltdowns over trifles such as a shirt with a missing button. His sole goal is to stay quantum leaps ahead of the Joneses and to maintain his white collar, cutting edge professional facade. He is an attorney with a questionable stack of files.
The story opens with Dylan having a meltdown at his school's basketball game. He appears to be withdrawing more socially and does not interact well with peers. He won't confide in Jamie (small wonder - she does not really mention the 3 children very much and it is Carolina, their cook/laundress and Yvette, Gracie and Michael's nanny) who does the majority of parenting in that household. Dylan, however gets the most press.
Since Philip is like a 4th child and is seldom home, Jamie sets out to find a male nanny (manny) for her son. She feels he could benefit from a strong male role model.
After interviewing several candidates, Jamie literally stumbles upon a winner. Peter Bailey, a 36-year-old computer expert whose current job is teaching children chess in the park and creating a city-wide educational program on computer to improve learning is a Godsend to Jamie.
Peter immediately fits into the Whitfield household and Dylan likes doing "guy things" with him, such as going on walks and having private talks that don't include Jamie. Dylan had previously been in therapy and balked at returning because he said "feelings doctors" were "stupid" and a general waste of time. Peter is just the right Rx for this boy. Andrew Gold's 1977 one hit wonder, "Lonely Boy" could be the soundtrack of Dylan's character.
Jamie is so wrapped up in her job and does not see her home life falling around her in pieces. Peter does and makes every concerted effort to make see what is happening. Jamie has a potentially hot political story that could potentially change the course of the political climate (the story is set in 2007-2008) and does everything she can to convince the witness to stick to the story presented.
I had a sneaking liking for parts of the story, even if I didn't care for most of the main characters. Peter was the only adult character I liked. I loved it when he gave Jamie some straight talk. Jamie, a native Minnesotan looks askance at the other rich, Park Avenue socialites and goes along with things such as a ludicrous fund raiser for Faberge eggs so as to ensure Gracie a place in a top kindergarten. She, over Gracie and Michael's protests, insist that they dress in lederhosen for another child's "Sound of Music" themed birthday party. It is Peter to the rescue here, bringing a change of play clothes for the younger children as they did not like "dressing like yodelers," as he put it.
Dylan also is no fan of kiddie parties, which are really more for the parents and a forum for them to show off than they were for the children themselves. He complained that the clown and the little preschool songs "were for babies," and begged to watch TV in another room. In fact, it was at such a kiddie party that Jamie caught Philip with another woman.
Philip is a rude, boorish bigot and settling for him as long as she did did not make Jamie any more endearing. She seemed so disconnected from her children's lives that you had to wonder how much time she spent with Gracie and Michael. Yvette was raising them and Jamie was letting their childhoods slip by her.
The ending was not surprising, but I had a sneaking liking for certain parts of this book. I loved it when Jamie confronted some of the spoiled Park Avenue socialites and expressed her own distaste for ostentatious gatherings such as that stupid Faberge egg party.
Not one of my favorite books, but it does beat television. Had this story occured in the 1980s, the cast of characters would have been dismissed as a bunch of spoiled Yuppies, which they were. Tom Paxton's "Yuppies in the Sky" is the soundtrack of this book.
Book Review: Boring and weak in substance
Summary: 2 Stars
The storyline is weak and has a lot of foibles in manner. As for a fluffy light beach read, it's funny at times but not as witty and very slow paced. It bores me, couldn't even finish the book, although I tried my best. I simply cannot get into the head of the main persona, where she's living in some limbo world and doesn't know what she's in for, what she wants and how to get it done and so she looks to a MANNY and not her overbearing husband for help. Sucks.Book Review: Whew
Summary: 2 Stars
I really wanted to love this book. I really did. I bought this book on impulse because the cover caught my eye and it sounded interesting enough...I STRUGGLED through it. I forced myself to finish it because I had already bought it, but this book is just plain not good. There was no interesting story line and non of the characters were likable...I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.Book Review: Slow Torture
Summary: 1 Stars
I had started reading this book and then planned to ditch it; unfortunately all the televisions on a JetBlue flight went out and I was forced to plow through the whole thing. Now, I wish I had just slept.
Not only was this book poorly written and full of cliches, the plot line was weak and unbelievable, and the whole vibe was... icky. The main character, Jamie, may be one of the most loathsome people I've ever had to waste 5 hours of my life on. Part victim, part fish-out-of-water, part too-smart-for-her-own-good, I felt not one moment of sympathy or connection to this loser. And I can count on one hand the number of times she interacted with her children.
Just a sad story of a sad person in a sad scene, this book had no redeeming qualities and left me angry at JetBlue that their TVs went out!
P.S. The lady sitting next to me asked me, as I was halfway through the book, "Is that book any good?" and I immediately said "No, it's garbage", and she said "Ooo! Sometimes garbage is good" (ie, trashy novels), and I said "No, not that kind of garbage -- this book just SUCKS!"
Book Review: Simply Awful -
Summary: 1 Stars
If you enjoy books where the heroine is incompetent, has absolutely no self-esteem, can't handle her children, can't handle her marriage, has "friends" she hates but continues to socialize with, and who answers most questions with "I...Uh...Uh", then you'll just LOVE this book.
How anyone can find a thing compelling about this story is beyond me. Why should we care about this incapable, unfit woman who is the central character of this story? Oh yeah, she hires a hunk of a Manny, lusts after him throughout, but stays married to her rich jerk of a husband until the last ten pages of the book. She belongs in an asylum somewhere, along with the author.
I know I can't get my money back, but I sure wish I could get back the hours I spent reading this drivel.