Customer Reviews

Down by the Water

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

 

 

This book was so badly written and disorganized, the characters were so poorly developed....I do not know why I finished it.

What little was revealed about these mostly spoiled and unlikeable characters made me want to give most of them a swift kick. The situations were farfetched and unrealistic --almost laughable. The plot, if one can call it that, jumped all over the place and never returned to where it left off. Contrivances and coincidences abounded. It was so obvious how it would end.

This book sorely needed some strong editorial input to get it re-organized and clean it up.

I had looked forward to this book since I really liked one of this author's other books, "Grace and Favor". It is a shame Ms. Upcher did not take more care with "Down by the Water".

There's not much to like here. The characters are, without exception, annoying and unlikable, from status-obsessed Hope right down to her destructive two-year-old daughter, Booty. If this family lived next door to me, I'd move. Luckily, all I had to do was toss the book without finishing it.

A huge disappointment and a waste of money. Keep browsing.

The book was an ok, average book. I thought that Hope was very spoiled and she annoyed me. I just couldn't really get into caring about her. The nanny was a more interesting character. It was strange how they ended really quickly by summing everything up and solving all the issues-it was a little too fast.
I don't think I'll look for other books by this author. Maybe if Hope had had some turnaround and decided not to be so spoiled and obsessed with money, she would have interested me more.

-heather

I thought the premise of this book was good. A British nanny with problems and tragedies of her own comes to America to sort a dysfunctional family out, and ends up sorting out her own life as well. However, all of the adults in this book were so incredibly self absorbed, including the Nanny, that I really did not find anyone to warm up to other than the children. The children, however, were simply stage pieces put in place to elicit reactions from the adults. Their actual well being does not seem to be a real concern for any length of time in this book. Did I find it amusing that the adults would frequently forget to watch the two year old, and she spent an inordinate amount of time lost in the woods? No, I did not think that was particularly cute, and I was surprised the author seemed to. When the dog that the little girl has continuously talked about and cried for suddenly disappears, and no one seems to be too very concerned, other then the kids, and the narrator (the nanny this time) explains that the kids did not have time to get attached, I am wondering if the author bothered to read her own previous chapters? When the adults continuously make really wretched decisions, without concern for the kids and often in front of the kids, I almost did not finish the book. I was attached to the kids, though, and I wanted to see what happened to them. That is the only reason I finished it. The book was disjointed, rambling and weird. I can only hope that ALL of the adult characters were fictional.

In Long Island Realtor Hope Collins-Calder has enough on her plate selling houses that she has no time to care for her children, the oldest being only eight. She knows she can obtain no help from her first husband, the father of her older two kids because he lives in California and even less assistance from her present spouse Eddie who resides more in Manhattan especially during the week. She hires nannies, but they seem to come and go rather quickly.

Eddie obtains the services of a forty-seven year English spinster with limited experience at best. English expatriate Annabel Quick accepts the job to flee her nightmares of a failed love affair and the death of her mother due to a fire. As Eddie and Hope have extra marital affairs, Annabel begins taking reasonable care of her charges and suitors soon appear. Will Eddie run off with his assistant? Will Hope return to her first husband? Will Annabel find happiness in America? Only one thing seems certain, the English nanny and her three wards make a happy family together.

DOWN BY THE WATER is a well written relationship drama that works because Caroline Upcher never allows the story line to turn into a soap opera or a cartoon style plot. Instead, the author cleverly provides a full perspective on the goings-on in the Calder-Collins household to include that of the critical secondary players. This, in turn, allows the audience to fully understand the desires and worries that motivate the key cast members. Ms. Upcher adroitly furnishes an intelligently graceful tale that will make her a fan favorite.

Harriet Klausner