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    Child of My Heart: A Novel
    Unavailable
    Child of My Heart: A Novel
    Unavailable
    Child of My Heart: A Novel
    Ebook271 pages4 hours

    Child of My Heart: A Novel

    By Alice McDermott

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    A young girl's astonishing, poignant first look into the turbulent heart of things

    "I had in my care that summer four dogs, three cats, the Moran kids, Daisy, my eight-year-old cousin, and Flora, the toddler child of a local artist. There was also, for a while, a litter of wild rabbits, three of them, that had been left under our back steps.... "

    Alice McDermott's haunting and enchanting new work of fiction--her first since the bestselling Charming Billy, winner of the 1998 National Book Award--is narrated by a woman who was born beautiful. Her parents decided that her best chance in life was to marry a wealthy man, so she was raised on the east end of Long Island, among the country houses of the rich. On the cusp of fifteen, she is the town's most sought-after babysitter--cheerful, beloved, a wonder with children and animals, but also a solitary soul with an already complex understanding of human nature--when her favorite cousin, Daisy, comes to spend the summer.

    The narrator's witty, piquant, deeply etched evocation of all that was really transpiring under the surface during that seemingly idyllic season gives her wry tale--infused with suppressed passion, disappointment, and enduring hope--its remarkable vividness and impact. Once again, Alice McDermott explores the mysterious depths of what seems like everyday life with unforgettable insight and resonant emotional power.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMacmillan Publishers
    Release dateApr 1, 2007
    ISBN9780374706067
    Unavailable
    Child of My Heart: A Novel
    Author

    Alice McDermott

    Alice McDermott is the author of nine novels, all published by FSG, including Charming Billy, winner of the National Book Award, and That Night, At Weddings and Wakes, and After This, which were finalists for the Pulitzer Prize. She is also the author of the essay collection What About the Baby?: Some Thoughts on the Art of Fiction. Her stories and essays have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New Yorker, Harper’s Magazine, and other publications. She lives outside Washington, DC.

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    Reviews for Child of My Heart

    3.5/5

    10 ratings11 reviews

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    • 2/5
      It's a rare thing for me not to finish a book, but after the dead cat scene I just gave up. This is a story of a young girl (about 14-15) who takes care of her neighbor's child, a cousin who is visiting, and just about everyone else around. First, was hard to believe that even as an only child she had this much freedom. There is the aged father of the neighbor child (an artist, a doctor?) who seems to play a part, but I just couldn't stick with it long enough to find out.
    • 4/5
      Well-written but predictable, Alice McDermott’s “Child of My Heart” charts a Long Island summer when a precocious teen, collector of broken things, crosses the threshold of adulthood.Growing up an only child on a part of Long Island which seems to have only summer people and their assorted young offspring in it, Theresa babysits, walks dogs, comforts the emotionally neglected neighbor kids, and opens her heart especially to her cousin Daisy, the middle child of seven siblings, whose fey presence immediately sets up an internal tension. The events of the summer’s end advance inexorably, and some readers will drag their feet in an attempt to avoid what has been foreordained from the very beginning.Theresa is also walking another tightrope – fifteen and beautiful, she attracts the attention of more than one of the adult males on the island, and here is where the story drifts into deep and uncomfortable waters. Theresa seems preternaturally aware of her own sexuality, neither encouraging nor discouraging her lecherous elder suitors, handling their attentions and her responses to them with an almost clinical detachment. The growing attraction between the teen and a 70-year-old artist is, frankly, uncomfortable to read, though the actions are never described in anything but G-rated terms.Theresa is so capable with her young charges, so level-headed, so tenderly attentive to Daisy, that she is scarcely believable as a real teen. Beautifully written, yes – and the characteristics McDermott endows her with are absolutely critical to the unfolding of the plot. But there are moments when the reader wants her to simply break loose and BE fifteen years old – moon over a local boy, listen to pop radio, consider her shortcomings in a mirror, and daydream about what she will do when she grows up. That’s all irrelevant to the story McDermott is determined to tell, so it’s simply not addressed.There are some chewy notions in here – child neglect that doesn’t always depend on physical violence; the dangerous waters of burgeoning sexuality that borders on pedophilia; an adult society that is parallel to but not really involved with its young – but most of it gets buried under McDermott’s portrait of a not-quite-woman shouldering the cloak of the Maiden Goddess.
    • 4/5
      Sweetly told---I just wish the book had continued a little further.
    • 4/5
      Her books are psychologically very difficult, exploring many different aspects of childhood and parenting. I think it takes two or three readings to begin to understand her messages. I found this to be one of her more straight forward works. Her novels are not page turners, they force you to reflect on your own childhood and upbringing.
    • 3/5
      Parts of this book I liked very much, others I didn't. The relationship between the two girls was beautiful. I did not care for the relationship between the teenager and the artist. However, authors must tell us things we don't want to hear sometimes.
    • 3/5
      I first read this in high school and recently re-read it after seeing it was on Nancy Pearl's Book Lust. A beautifully written story but for some reason I was thinking it was about something else...I love her characters and use of words! I love the relationship between the two cousins despite all their differences. Artist reminds me of Picasso.
    • 4/5
      Sweet, compelling, innocent... and a very, very good story. The main character reminds me of a good friend!
    • 5/5
      Reading this beautifully told story was like stepping into, and becoming a part of the story itself, to become an additional character, or wish you were. That is how real these characters became and how much you came to care about them. Told in a gently meandering stlye, full of the rich details of nature and emotion, each sentence a song unto itself. Theresa, the only child of older parents, smart, exceptionally pretty, living on Long Island and attending a private girl's school, spends her summers caring for neighbor's pets and children. Alone much of the time, though not lonely, she is not a part of any social group and doesn't appear to have any girlfriends.The story takes place in the summer of her 15th year. Her young cousin Daisy, eight years old and a favorite of hers, comes to spend a few weeks away from her large (eight children) family. Theresa has a genuine way with children and pets, gentle, respectful, patient, appreciative,wise, weaving magical, enchanting stories and making creative, intuitive games out of simple activities. They adore her, as you come to in the course of the story. She truly cares for them, in a way the other adults in the story can't seem to bring themselves to. In fact they fall shamefully short of not only understanding, but into the catagory of negelect. This summer is a turning point in Theresa's life, and although it includes a brief, strange entanglement with an artist, father of one of her charges, it is her relationship to Daisy, "poor Daisy" that closes the door on her own idealic childhood. The author, Alice McDermott is a master of both word and mood. I was moved by this book in a way I can't quite grasp or describe, except to say that as I read it, I lived it. That I can enter the story through the skill of and author is without a doubt, remarkable! Read this book!!
    • 3/5
      I had some issues with the 15 year old babysitter sleeping with her much older employer and the child neglect shown throughout the book. However, it was an easy read and I did want to keep reading to find out what happened to all the characters in the story.
    • 5/5
      Great read, well writte, charming story of a teenager's summer out on Long Island. Very believable.
    • 3/5
      I had a real problem with the narrator of this story. She was beautiful and mature beyond her 15 years, an only child. When it came to a mature sexual situation, I had to suspend disbelief at how she handled it. And she was just entirely too perfect - I could barely stand her at times, though at other times she was a gentle, kind soul. My affections are strictly reserved for the little girl of the story, Daisy. If you read this book for any reason, read it for Poor Daisy.