Description from Goodreads
Lucy, a teenage girl from the West Indies, comes to North America to work as an au pair for Lewis and Mariah and their four children. At first glance Lewis and Mariah are a blessed couple – handsome, rich, and seemingly happy. Almost at once, however, Lucy begins to notice cracks in their beautiful facade.With a mixture of anger and compassion, Lucy scrutinizes the privileged, facile world of her employers while comparing it to the vivid realities of her home in the Caribbean. Lucy has no illusions about her own past, but neither is she prepared to be deceived about where she presently is.
In this environment a new person unfolds: passionate, sexually forthright, and disarmingly honest. In Lucy, Jamaica Kincaid has created a startling new character: a captivating heroine possessed with clear-sightedness and ferocious integrity.
My Thoughts on the Book
What I really enjoyed about Lucy, that even if it was a fairly short read, it's abrasive, well-written, and showcase that it's fully possible to write engaging female characters that's angry and justified so. That's what I found really appealing with this book. It's a no-nonsense book. The characters are well-written and I love the writing style and prose of Jamaica Kincaid.
There's also the idea that symbols and images could mean different things for different people. For instance daffodils. To the American woman, it meant spring and new beginnings, but for Lucy, it meant colonialism as she had to memorise Wordworth's poem about daffodils, and they didn't even grow where she came from.
Lucy might be a short read, but it's a book that potentially could make people think a bit.
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