Read advance reader review of Minding Ben by Victoria Brown, page 7 of 7

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Minding Ben

A Novel

by Victoria Brown

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There are currently 46 member reviews
for Minding Ben

Anita P. (Lutherville, MD); Play Book Tag admin

Minding Ben
This story of an immigrant's experience in NYC is told in a well executed first person voice -- and the strength of this voice held my interest. However, the author tries to do too much. There are too many shallowly drawn characters. The three Jewish characters (the Bruckners and the landlord) are portrayed in the most negative light with no redeeming qualities whatsoever. Unfortunately, the overall impact is unsatisfying. There's a good book in here somewhere, but I don't think this one fully realized its potential.

Jane H. (Owensboro, KY)

Minding Ben
I guess giving this book a 3 rating sounds worse than the book actually was. It was an entertaining story and fairly well written but just an average story about being an immigrant "nanny" in New York City. I found the main character a bit too refined to be believable considering the cast of characters around her and as a result I never quite fell into the spell of what a really good story can do for you. All of the characters were too stereotypical and shallow -- the storyline too predictable. I was disappointed as I felt the premise of this book promised much more depth than it delivered.

Loren B. (Appleton, WI)

an eyeopener
Some of the characters needed to be fleshed out a bit and the plot needed to be more organized, But this was an eyeopener of a story and I came to admire Grace very much for how well she held up.

Kathy S. (Danbury, CT)

Pass
I so did not like this book. The characters were not well developed and the story line did not hold my attention. Every time the book started to get interesting, the author would drop that story line and begin another. I especially did not like how the book ended ... very abruptly and with many loose ends.

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