Rating: 
Summary: Yet another mindless book for the masses
Review: I wanted to love Jamaica Kincaid -- I really did. I first picked up Lucy expecting to love it because I had heard such wonderful things about Kincaid.
What a pathetic disappointment.
The novel drones on with no purpose and little plot. The writing is on the level of a pre-teen novel. In fact, had I read this when I was 13, it would have been incredible. Unfortunately, I'm not 13 anymore.
The overarching flaw in Lucy is that the reader has absolutely no reason to care about the title character. She hates her new home -- for no reason. She hates her old home -- for no reason. She hates everyone she meets -- for no reason. At least once in every section she mentions how she either hates something or how something doesn't meet her approval -- however, we are never given a reason for her disdain or her high standards. In fact, we are given the opposite -- we are continually reminded of how ignorant Lucy is by her incessant complaining and idiotic comments.
The character is supposed to be powerful and honest and courageous. In reality she is self-absorbed, ignorant, and dull.
I really did want to like this book. Unfortunately, it's the kind of novel that will be praised by people who don't know any better -- who praise books simply because Oprah liked them.
If you've got nothing better to read when you go to the beach one day, it's fine -- just don't expect to be impressed or empowered by it. It's nothing more than a dimestore rag.
Rating: 
Summary: simply authentic
Review: I'm from the Caribbean and it is ironic that I had never heard of Jamaica Kincaid until I was in college. For that particular class we studied an excerpt from Annie John called the Circling Hand. That book was so great I searched and found more books by Mrs. Kincaid. Lucy was next. I absolutly loved this book. The angst that Lucy felt is so familiar to young women who immigrate from one country to another. I could feel all of her resentment and rage, her joy and her hopes her fitting in and not fitting in. I laughed and cried when I read and reread this book. As a matter of fact I think I will reread it again...
Rating: 
Summary: Powerful, Provocative, Thought-Provoking, and Angry
Review: In a graceful and simplistic, yet deceptive, writing style, Caribbean author Jamaica Kincaid examines and scrutinizes the [white middle class] American way of life in LUCY. This novel is 164 pages of pure social commentary, whether it be of America or of Kincaid's native Antigua. Throughout her work, Kincaid confronts challenging issues related to mother-daughter relationships, marriage, puberty and sexuality, and love. This book was meant to be talked about.
Rating:
Summary: Horrible!
Review: she is the type of woman you want to hate one minute and feel sorry for the next. she had a very peculiar way of looking athe world. her views, on life love and sexuality. the story is set in the late 60's, but it is timeless. definately a story you wont forget...
Rating:
Summary: Aloof, distancing, dispassionate - and mesmerizing
Review: The cadence of the speech patterns of the Caribbean comes through in Kincaid's writing. There is a lilting quality to the way she puts words together that lets you know exactly how she wants the lines to be read. It's easy to add the Carib accent, as well.
Lucy is a bright young girl come from The Islands to work as au pair for a wealthy couple with 4 daughters. As Lucy matures and rises from her past to carve out her own definition of herself in this strange new world, the marriage between the parents of the little girls unravels.
At the core of this book by Kincaid (and from others of her's I've read thus far)is the ambiguous love/hate relationship she has with her powerful mother.
Read it!
Rating:
Summary: An excellent book that needs to be read with an open mind
Review: The central figure of this novel is a teenage girl from the West Indies working as an au pair for an American family. Her name is Lucy, and as the story opens, she describes her first day on the job, her surroundings, and the ambivalence of being away from home. Faced with a different cultural backdrop and elements of time, Lucy is able to compare, dismiss, and draw her own conclusive ideals based on the premise that the family she's working for are not perfect as originally thought. As she matures, and her life focuses on the realistic ramifications of how things really are in this new environment, we began to see a difference in mannerisms and expression.Jamaica Kincaid, the author, colors this drama with a unique imagery that forces the reader to dig a little deeper for definitive tones that allow you to understand Lucy's character makeup, and why she thinks as she does. It is this penchant for the subliminal that the author gives this girl, that tend to have you believe that poignancy is a given rather than an afterthought. I found it to be a simple story short on plot, with no conflicting analogies, but allowing the author to speak volumes for a well written expose of differing themes to give it a profound niche. To wit: Kincaid's lilting prose and narrative stylings lend itself to a certain eloquence that you almost forget that this is a story set in the '60s dealing with such things as the mental anguish of leaving a homeland and alienation from familial relations; mother-daughter relations; teenage sexuality and promiscuity; and Lucy's exploration into the art of kissing. But because it reads as a timeless element to what is being portrayed, it's much more than a moot point when subtext makes a case for good writing! If readers are not familiar with Jamaica Kincaid's style of writing, this could be a novel that would be easily misunderstood, or worse, not read at all lest a point be missed where Lucy's strong voice and individuality emerges as a character of complexity and strength. This book has continually been recommended for reading lists and the recipient of countless English classes. Using the first person singular sort of gives it a believable track where you almost wish that you were in Lucy's shoes to be able to make the decisions she makes. It is my overall feeling that the author used the simplistic approach to delve into the sort of social commentary intentionally avoiding a conventional plot to derive at a surprising ending. Readers will not only be captivated by how Lucy comes to terms with the idiosyncrasies she dealt with, but will be able to resonate within to know that something good came of Lucy's quest to find herself. This is an excellent book, and I recommend it to be read with an open mind and a liberal approach to understanding the world of a teenager dealing with such complexities and being a better woman for it. Read it and learn!
Rating:
Summary: Surfaces
Review: This book was utter nonsense. It starts off giving the impression that the book may end up going somewhere, but quite the opposite happens. There are many paragraphs that I like to consider "biblical". By this, I mean that the paragraphs themselves are worded very delicatly, but say absolutely nothing outside of "we ate dinner" or "I kissed him". Another annoying point of the book is the sheer promiscuity of many of the chapters. Again, the first chapter pertains to family life, and gives one the feeling of "gee, I might want to keep this and read it to my kids", but its demise follows. Kincaid sends the reader spiraling into a world of love "experimentation". In the chapters that are preoccupied with developing this, we see Lucy do more then simply "kiss" her boyfriends. By the end you not only stutter when you speak, but also feel like your time has been waisted. Why? Because the plot is nothing more then that of a midnight XXX movie on [tv]! And the scenes are no different either. Now I'm willing to sacrifice an orthodox plot for a good book, but this is rediculous. I watched an interview with Jamaica Kincaid once on Charlie Rose. In this interview, she testifies that this is her story, as it happened. Please, a garbage truck driver has a story to tell as well, but no one really wants to hear it. Thanks Jamaica, for nothing. Normally, I would complain about much more, but it is this element that really dominates the book, thus giving me nothing more to complain about.
Rating:
Summary: An Island Girl's Coming of Age in the States
Review: This classic, Kincaid's tale of a West Indian girl who comes to the States and becomes an au pair to a wealthy white couple, has been re-released. I first read this novel about ten years ago as my introduction to Kincaid's writing and was both intrigued and in awe of her language, themes, and symbolic language.
Until she was nineteen years old, Lucy Potter had not ventured from her own little world on the small island where she was born. Now she is living with a family and learning a culture that is very different from her own. Lewis and Mariah and their four daughters want Lucy to feel like she is part of the family but at first she finds it difficult to fit in. She just wants to do her duty and in her off-hours discovers a new world through her friend Peggy and sexuality through young men, Hugh and Paul. Lucy often reflects on her life back on the island; the conflicts between she and her mother, and the British influence on the islanders. She remembers when she and her friends would read the Book of Revelations using the passages to terrify each other. She also remembers the time her mother showed her how to mix herbs that supposedly would cleanse a woman's womb but what they both knew was an abortion remedy. Lucy knows what is expected of her, to study for a respectable job like a nurse and to honor her family. She finds out that the tidy, neat world of the family she has come to love is not all it purports to be and how silence is a universal language. Kincaid's language is outstanding in remembering her home; "the color of six o'clock in the evening" is just one example. It is well known that her writing draws from her life experiences as in The Autobiography of My Mother and My Brother and I look forward to her latest offering, Mr. Potter which is reportedly based on her father's life. Kincaid was my introduction to writers of Caribbean descent and remains one of the greats. I actual rating for this book is a 4.5.-----
Dera Williams
Apooo Bookclub
Rating:
Summary: An Island Girl's Coming of Age in the States
Review: This classic, Kincaid's tale of a West Indian girl who comes to the States and becomes an au pair to a wealthy white couple, has been re-released. I first read this novel about ten years ago as my introduction to Kincaid's writing and was both intrigued and in awe of her language, themes, and symbolic language. Until she was nineteen years old, Lucy Potter had not ventured from her own little world on the small island where she was born. Now she is living with a family and learning a culture that is very different from her own. Lewis and Mariah and their four daughters want Lucy to feel like she is part of the family but at first she finds it difficult to fit in. She just wants to do her duty and in her off-hours discovers a new world through her friend Peggy and sexuality through young men, Hugh and Paul. Lucy often reflects on her life back on the island; the conflicts between she and her mother, and the British influence on the islanders. She remembers when she and her friends would read the Book of Revelations using the passages to terrify each other. She also remembers the time her mother showed her how to mix herbs that supposedly would cleanse a woman's womb but what they both knew was an abortion remedy. Lucy knows what is expected of her, to study for a respectable job like a nurse and to honor her family. She finds out that the tidy, neat world of the family she has come to love is not all it purports to be and how silence is a universal language. Kincaid's language is outstanding in remembering her home; "the color of six o'clock in the evening" is just one example. It is well known that her writing draws from her life experiences as in The Autobiography of My Mother and My Brother and I look forward to her latest offering, Mr. Potter which is reportedly based on her father's life. Kincaid was my introduction to writers of Caribbean descent and remains one of the greats. I actual rating for this book is a 4.5.-----
Dera Williams
Apooo Bookclub
Rating: 
Summary: Not bad, but not really good eithier...
Review: This was my first reading of Jamaica Kincaid. She has a short, concise style, which made me often feel like I was reading poetry. However, I felt that it also had some downsides, like stifling character growth. In Lucy, the title character comes to America to be an nanny for a rich couple with four young daughters. Lucy watches as their marriage crumbles and tries to avoid turning into her own mother, who for some reason she hates. I wish we knew a bit more about Lucy, like why she hated her homeland so much. It was an alright quick read, but had it been longer, I doubted it would have held my attention.
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