Blessings [Mass Market Paperback]

Anna Quindlen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 30, 2004

Late one night, a teenage couple drives up to the big white clapboard home on the Blessing estate and leaves a box. In that instant, the lives of those who live and work there are changed forever. Skip Cuddy, the caretaker, finds a baby girl asleep in that box and decides he wants to keep the child . . . while Lydia Blessing, the matriarch of the estate, for her own reasons, agrees to help him. Blessings explores how the secrets of the past affect decisions and lives in the present; what makes a person or a life legitimate or illegitimate and who decides; and the unique resources people find in themselves and in a community. This is a powerful novel of love, redemption, and personal change by the Pulitzer Prize–winning writer about whom The Washington Post Book World said, “Quindlen knows that all the things we ever will be can be found in some forgotten fragment of family.”

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The plot of Anna Quindlen's novel Blessings is constructed on the same model as E.T.: adorable orphaned creature is found by unlikely caregiver who against his or her better judgment falls in love with the little beast, while all the while, the authorities loom in the background, threatening to take the foundling away. In Quindlen's book, however, the foundling in question isn't an alien, but a squalling baby left at Blessings, a vast estate owned by an ancient, crabby matriarch named Lydia Blessing. By a fluke, the baby's parents abandon her by the garage rather than at the front door, and so she is discovered by Skip Cuddy, Lydia Blessing's newly hired handyman, who happens to be an ex-con. The plot proceeds from there in fairly E.T.-like fashion, minus the Reese's Pieces and flying bicycles. Skip, Lydia, and the baby they name Faith form a surprisingly loving and sustaining, albeit temporary, family unit.

Quindlen wrings a remarkable amount of pathos from this somewhat simple setup. One of her strengths as a writer is the quietness she brings to her story; family secrets of paternity and lost love are buried deep in the narrative, hidden in descriptive paragraphs where they subtly zing us with their news. Her ear is good, too: we believe Skip and his bad-boy friends when they're shooting the breeze. Best of all is her flair for observation. The book wouldn't work at all if she couldn't make us feel Skip and Lydia's amazement at the small joys of a baby ("The deep pleat in the fat at her elbow made her arms look muscled"). Here is a book that lives up to its title. --Claire Dederer --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly

Quindlen's novel of redemption and second chances is given a warm, sympathetic reading by Allen. Skip Cuddy is one of life's losers: abandoned by his parents as a child and railroaded by so-called "friends" into a crime that wasn't his fault as an adult. But he's content with his new job as caretaker of Blessings, the estate of elderly, isolated Lydia Blessing. When a frightened unwed teenager leaves her newborn by Skip's garage apartment (instead of the estate's front door, as planned), Skip finds a new lease on life in taking care of the infant. And when Lydia discovers the baby and agrees to help Skip raise her, she too finds new meaning in life, as well as a mutually rewarding friendship with Skip. (Of course, eventually the baby's mother wants her back.) Allen's voice is filled with compassion, and she does a fine job differentiating the characters. Particularly memorable are the voices of elderly Lydia Blessing; Korean maid Nadine; and Chris, a sleazy, manipulative friend of Skip's.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Fawcett; First Edition edition (March 30, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345468694
• ISBN-13: 978-0345468697
• Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 0.8 x 6.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (139 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #767,834 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Anna Quindlen is the author of three bestselling novels, Object Lessons, One True Thing and Black and Blue, and three non-fiction books, Living Out Loud, Thinking Out Loud and A Short Guide to a Happy Life. Her New York Times column 'Public and Private' won a Pulitzer Prize in 1992. She is currently a columnist for Newsweek and lives with her husband and children in New York.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

122 of 135 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Story Lovingly Told, September 17, 2002

By 

BeachReader (Delaware) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Blessings (Hardcover)

In this book Anna Quindlen delivers a lovely story of strength, support, and love.

Late one night, a teenaged couple abandons their newborn baby at the garage door of "Blessings", an estate inhabited by the elderly Lydia Blessing and her young handyman, Skip Cuddy.....and thus set off a chain of events that will propel both of these characters on a journey of discovery.

Skip, who lives over the garage and finds the foundling, will discover unexpected depths of feelings for this little one, whom he names Faith. He also discovers the nurture of which he is capable--and what the tribulations of fatherhood can be. This baby gives Skip's life a structure and purpose that it never had before. Lydia discovers that perhaps doing what is expected is not always the "good" thing to do....and questions what the "right" thing to do really is. She has lived in the past for so long, thinking about her family's many secrets, but this baby brings her into the present with a welcome jolt.

Despite trying to keep Faith's presence a secret, Lydia finds out that Skip has taken on the role of "father" to this baby, and the three of them become an unlikely sort of family. Quindlen shows us how a family is not necessarily comprised of those related by blood, but can be a unit made up of people who need, support, and care for each other. Together, Skip and Lydia find unexpected joy in Faith and find resources within themselves of which they were unaware. These two characters, of such different backgrounds and ages, also allow the author to tell the same story in two very different ways.

Quindlen has written a richly descriptive and moving novel, one of redemption and personal growth, and about doing the right thing. Her observational skills, so evident in the columns she has written over the years, make us understand and care about these characters, their pasts, and how their lives affect others.

I loved the double meaning of the title,"Blessings"...for not only was it the name of a house, but blessings were what these characters bestowed on each other.

A wonderful reading experience that this reader will remember with great pleasure.

60 of 69 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What A "Blessing" To Read!, September 22, 2002

By 

Teri Adams (Laguna Niguel, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Blessings (Hardcover)

This is such a beautiful story. I could not put this book down so I stayed up and read it from cover to cover.
The story begins with a baby being abandoned late one night by a teenage girl and the father of the baby. The baby is dressed in a flannel shirt with a hair clip on its umbilical cord and left by the garage in a cardboard box.

The box is then found by Skip, a house hand. Skip has never been around children much less a baby. He takes the newborn in as his own and the story begins. He becomes attached to the baby and raises it as his own... all the while keeping it a secret. We are then swept along as Skip learns to care for the baby and ends up dedicating his life to the baby. (I don't want to give up to much information on the baby.)

The name of the estate where the baby is left is called "Blessings" ... owned by an eighty-year-old wealthy woman named Lydia Blessings. As the story continues we learn the secrets of Lydia Blessings and her family ... AND, there are many secrets! The characters are richly written ... you will find yourself bonding with many of them as you learn their secrets. BUT, be prepared for some tears ... keep the Kleenex close at hand.

There are many "BLESSINGS" in this story. You will not be disappointed with this novel. It is a must read.

28 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars 2.5 Stars - Perfectly Average, October 23, 2002

By 

Maurice Williams "mauricewms" (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Blessings (Hardcover)

Don't expect page turning narrative or gut wrenching internal conflicts in this short novel. "Blessings" is a slowly paced sappy story of a man who finds an abandoned child while working on the wealthy estate of an elderly heiress. Secrets are the theme of the novel, and Quindlen doesn't come up with any fresh or unfamiliar ones. The main characters' lives are at first connected by circumstance of employment then by the love of the baby. The story unfolds pretty much the way you think it will. I experienced no surprises around the corner or startling revelations by the characters. It's certainly not a challenging or exciting read, but it's not among the worst reads of the year either. My experience with the novel may be more an indication of my expectations of the author than extremely average writing. After such stellar stories as "One True Thing" and "Black and Blue", I simply expected more from "Blessings. While let down, I'm not fed up. Hopefully Quindlen will return to her writing peak with the next novel.