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Child of My Heart (2002)

door Alice McDermott

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8482125,331 (3.58)20
A teenage girl, raised on the east end of Long Island among the country estates of the rich, reflects on her understanding of human nature during a seemingly idyllic summer spent with her eight-year-old cousin Daisy.
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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. ( )
1 stem LyndaInOregon | Sep 29, 2020 |
Sweetly told---I just wish the book had continued a little further. ( )
1 stem nyiper | Oct 19, 2014 |
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. ( )
1 stem Betty.Ann.Beam | Nov 23, 2013 |
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. ( )
1 stem briannad84 | Oct 30, 2012 |
Sweet, compelling, innocent... and a very, very good story. The main character reminds me of a good friend! ( )
  LynnAlex | Jul 5, 2010 |
1-5 van 21 worden getoond (volgende | toon alle)
The 15-year-old narrator, Theresa, is being paid one summer to walk several dogs, feed cats, and mind a two-year-old all day, as well as having her eight-year-old visiting cousin in her charge, on Long Island, New York. Her innate kindness leads her to extend the same expert, tender care to five deprived, neglected children living nearby. She is a perfect child-minder, gifted with understanding, sensitivity, and a wonderful imagination used to
entrance the children in her care, as well as thorough practical efficiency.
I longed to have had, or to have been, such a child-carer myself, and loved the book for that thread alone. Though Theresa's clear gaze we observe four different families, with the strained relationships and disturbing behaviour of the adults. We pity the immediate effects on the children, and fear for their future prospects. A beautifully written, moving book.
toegevoegd door KayCliff | bewerkNewbooksmag, Hazel K. Bell (May 1, 2003)
 
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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.
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A teenage girl, raised on the east end of Long Island among the country estates of the rich, reflects on her understanding of human nature during a seemingly idyllic summer spent with her eight-year-old cousin Daisy.

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