Customer Reviews

The Crossley Baby (Ballantine Reader's Circle)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

not sure some people that read this realize that the author of this book is not the same who wrote the Kushiel fantasy series. So, if you think they are the same person, you will be greatly disappointed.

From the reviews, I expected "The Crossley Baby'" to be yet another attack on "career women," another hymn to stayathome mothers. In fact, it's neither. Jean, the hard-driving businesswoman sister, is a wonderful comic invention -- watching her always get what she wants is fascinating, and , like the serpent in the bible, she gets all the best lines, too. Sunny, the "nice" suburban-mom sister, gets what she wants too -- but in the process she has to toughen up a bit and shed some of her illusions about what you can get with a smile. I loved Carey's dry wit--very sharply observed.

At the heart of this wonderful book are three sisters, Bridget, Jean and Sunny, all of them very different from one another. Jean is an executive on the fast track, with a biting wit and hardened, calculating side. Sunny is a mother, wife and wonderful friend to those who know her. And Bridget...is the ethereal spirit who doesn't quite seem grounded in reality.
Although the book's title makes it seem as though it would focus on a baby, this isn't the case. I was absolutely riveted by this novel, which isn't so much about a baby (The Crossley Baby in the book's title) but about the various ways in which family members relate to one another and how an unexpected turn of events affect their connections, for better or worse.
Beautifully well-written, with the humor, detail and depth of a classic, this is a book to be savored. While updated for today's readers, it reminded me of Jane Austin novels, creating a whole world for the reader to inhabit, complete with people that seem to jump from the pages, eccentricities and all.

I was so looking forward to this book after reading a "literary" review but was so disappointed. The premise was good but the book didn't deliver. I stuck with it to the end, but it didn't help.

I had read Carey's other books (the Kushiel trilogy, and Banewreaker) and was completely delighted with them. Figuring that a good author generally doen't put out a bad book, I picked this one up. Well, now I have learned better.

This book is painfully dissapointing. Sunny is written like a caricature of that friendly girl in high school who solved everybody's problems by putting her ankles behind her ears. Bridget is written like a ghost long before she's actually dead. Jean is almost a saving grace, but it's too little too late.

Don't waste your time. This author is a wonderful writer, just not in this book. I feel like I just bought a Maria Callas recording, only to hear her yodeling on the disc.

... than the reviewers. I found this to be pseudo-literary, interiorly-focused drivel. While the premise was somewhat interesting [the reason for the second star] I found the writing as annoying as that of Erica Jong, who turns out the same kind of cutesy closet philosophy and know-it-all narrative.

Yuck. Stick with genre BDSM, Jacqueline.

That's all I can say.

Well, maybe not all. Talk about a stupid book.