Minding Ben
A Novel

I really liked this book, though I can understand why some people didn't. I noticed a lot of other reviews describing the characters as shallow or flat. I actually the author held back deliberately in a way that almost reminded me of Kazuo Ishiguro. Just because some thing isn't said doesn't mean th......more

When Grace Caton boards a plane heading to New York from Trinidad, she’s only sixteen years old. Promised a home with a distant cousin in America, Grace is both excited and scared as she makes her way abroad. But when Grace arrives, she finds that she’s been stranded with no one to retrieve her from......more

I read a very different type of book this weekend. There are many novels out there that discuss nannies and babysitters. They are generally very funny and the main character usually ends up with a rich man. What makes Minding Ben unique for me and therefore qualifying as shining in the dark is that......more

This is a novel about slavery in the 1990s. I'm serious. Slavery. Only it doesn't take place on a southern plantation, however, but in a Manhatten apartment. The slave, the heroine, Grace, is not brought on a slave ship against her will either. She comes via airplane from Trinidad and she willingly......more

Definitely a solid 3.5. Many friends did not love this one, and for sure the characters were painfully real and severely flawed, but it kept me going until the end. I read in the acknowledgments who it was NOT based on, but I really wonder if the Bruckners are based on someone and hoping they go to......more