The timing of my reading this could not be more apt, as the trial involving the real life case this is based on--that of Yoeslyn Ortega, accused of murdering the children of two affluent parents on New York's Upper West Side.
Yoselyn is some piece of work. She deserves a post of her own, and she may get it.
Now, "The Perfect Nanny" is no "In Cold Blood," nor is it "Gone Girl."
It is a carefully modulated character study. On the printed page, it reads like a woman descending into madness, rather like Catherine Deneueve in Roman Polanski's 1965 film, "Repulsion." My God, that film is over fifty years old.
Leila Slimani, a Moroccan born journalist, writes in a reportorial style, keenly objective, and almost cold, as she chronicles the entry into Paul and Myriam's lives, Louise, the foreign born nanny. They are an upper arrondisement couple, while, she, a displaced person from a distant land, resides in some Parisian version of Goat Alley.
In this version, class resentment collides with familial and professional loyalties; Myriam is a fierce careerist, while Paul and Louise feel she should do more. Additionally, Louise falls into the "nanny trap," at being adept at looking after other people's children, but not her own. The reader finds this out, reading about Louise's daughter, Stephanie.
The trouble starts subtly, when Mila, the oldest of the two children, begins to act out against Louise, and she begins fighting back in ways that anyone would question. From there, the tension begins to build, and while the end results are disturbing, they are not graphic. The most chilling thing about the book is its final sentence.
The novel may not be perfect, but it is engrossing, and will encourage readers to dig further into the real case, I cannot wait to do a post on sicko Yoleyn Ortega.
And Louise is no Mary Poppins, either.
No comments:
Post a Comment