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    Minding Ben: A Novel
    Minding Ben: A Novel
    Minding Ben: A Novel
    Audiobook12 hours

    Minding Ben: A Novel

    Written by Victoria Brown

    Narrated by Joyce Bean

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Minding Ben invites listeners into the private world of one of the anonymous West Indian babysitters who have peopled the lives of so many young urban families for decades. Grace left Trinidad for New York with hopes for a better life and education. As she struggles to adjust to her new life-and to determine just what shape her American Dream will take-Grace finds work as a nanny for the unconscionable Bruckners, a job that pays meager wages for its demanding and humiliating responsibilities.

    At the mercy of her employers, and unprepared for the playground politics within the West Indian babysitting community, Grace nevertheless carries the day as she navigates the complicated world of America with strength and perseverance. Minding Ben offers a rarely seen account of the immigrant experience in this strong, compassionate, and insightful narrative.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateApr 19, 2011
    ISBN9781452671062
    Minding Ben: A Novel

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    Reviews for Minding Ben

    3.5/5

    163 ratings71 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Nice story....the ending could have used a little dressing up but overall this was an excellent book. Miriam, her employer, is an interesting character, you're not sure whether to be angry with her for being so insensitive or feel sorry for her since she did not have a clue. I recommend this book and look forward to more of Victoria Brown.
    • 4/5
      This was an interesting read. I generally enjoy stories about nannies and their realationships with their employers and the children they care for. This was no exception. I liked that this was told from the point-of-view of an immigrant from Trinidad - a nice change from the many books about young white nannies in their twenties. It was an interesting look into the West Indian nanny community.I was somewhat confused about who was who in the first half of the book - keeping the many characters and their relationships with each other straight was a challenge. There were several past events that were never explained in full, and while that was frustrating (you never do learn what happened), it also kept me reading.The only real problem I had with this book was the dialog. It was VERY difficult to figure out what was being said when the dialog was written with a heavy Jamaician or Trinidian accent, and this slowed down my reading and impacted my enjoyment of the story. I still haven't figured out what "lime" means - I'm pretty sure it's not the fruit!Overall, I'd recommend this book - it's typical chick lit turned on its head and twisted around.
    • 3/5
      Minding Ben is a young immigrant's story of coming to America and trying to build a new life for herself. There were so many obstacles in her way, unfortunately most of the problems she faced were caused by the people around her. It was heartbreaking to watch both the family she lived with and her employers walk all over her. Grace is a naive girl and the people around her take advantage of her. It made me angry to read about the things the employers make her do and the way they talk down to her. I know the author based the story on her experience, and I hope for her sake she didn't have to deal with people as horrible as the ones in book. I will say the story was interesting enough to keep me wanting to read it and find out what was going to happen next. I do wish the the author talked more about Grace's first year in America and took the time to explain who certain people were. I also wish she had made Grace a stronger character who could stick up for herself once in awhile. The ending was also too abrupt and hard to believe. I really wanted more insight into Grace's future plans. This book isn't really what I expected when I read the description of the book because it barely talked about Grace's day to day life as a nanny, but it did shed light on the kind of people who would hire illegal immigrants and take full advantage of them. Overall I would say it was worth reading.
    • 2/5
      Enjoyed this book. Finished it in a week.
    • 4/5
      I have had this book sitting on my TBR stack for awhile now. I finally decided to read this book for a challenge. I am glad I read the book.Minding Ben is a story about a young girl named Grace from Trinidad. She decides to go to America to help her cousin raise her child. When she finally goes to New York her cousin never picks her up at the airport. Grace meets many different people in New York and finally becomes a nanny to a little boy named Ben. The parents are Sol and Miriam. I really didn't care for Miriam or Sol. Miriam because I just felt that she was very mean to Grace. Plus I felt that Miriam had a chip on her shoulder. Sol I would get annoyed with because he was nice to Grace but then would be different when his wife was around.I enjoyed reading the book even though some of the book was written in a broken dialect. That gave the story more truth to it. Giving you the feeling of actually listening to ladies from the Islands talking.Not sure if the author Victoria Brown will be continuing Grace's story but it would be interesting to see where she goes.
    • 4/5
      Half-way through this book I was frustrated - I felt like there was a lot of character introduction missing. I couldn't figure out why Grace was living with Sylvia, who Bo was (Sylvia's lover, friend, cousin, brother?), and there was no explanation as to what happened after Grace was left at the airport. I was a hundred pages in, I couldn't stop despite the fact that I was really annoyed.I'd say that's a sign of a good book.While some of those frustrations could have been handled much earlier on, the fact that Grace's missing year and a half aren't explained until later turns out to be pretty important. I'm still a little annoyed that we never found out what happened with Carmen - though I'm pretty sure I have an idea...or I'm just going to continue to use my imagination. Book groups could have a field day with the missing Carmen story!As a former babysitter for an upper middle class family, I could empathize with Grace (despite the fact that I didn't have my own concerns of sponsorship). Everyone wants to raise their children in a specific way, but then there are those special folks that actually want OTHER people to raise the kid, but in their way. Bottom line: a good read.
    • 2/5
      could not get on the same page with the narrator perhaps another day
    • 1/5
      Beautiful cover art
    • 4/5
      Overall I enjoyed this book I really liked the main character and following her life especially her relationship with the guy upstairs. There were some slow parts for me and some of the language was hard to follow plus being Jewish there was one point where a blessing was made that I dont even think is a real blessing so not sure whats up with that. I really liked the ending, I thought it was fast paced and interesting and in the end thought it was an pretty decent book, not one of my favs but definetly worth the read.
    • 4/5
      I received this book as an Early Reviewer copy.I did enjoy Minding Ben. It did a nice job of following the life of Grace from Trinidad, and her struggles when she reached America. It did not answer all your questions right away and sometimes you felt like something was being overlooked or you were left in the dark, but eventually most of them were answered.I would have marked it 5 stars, but the ending wrapped up things a bit too nicely. It would have been better had Grace developed her confidence, instead of once again relying on "good fortune" and the help of others to get her where she is going. I would still easily recommend this book.
    • 4/5
      Don't let the chick lit-style cover fool you: this novel about Manhattan nannies has some substance behind it. Grace is an illegal immigrant from the Caribbean struggling to find her place as a babysitter, dreaming of the day she'll be able to call the United States her permanent home. She pins her hopes on the Bruckners, the family who hires her and dangles the tantalizing promise of sponsorship. Of course, if things were straightforward, there would be no novel, and the various conflicts and problems that befall Grace over the course of her time in Brooklyn and Manhattan are heart-wrenching.This is not a perfect novel; Grace is not a particularly compelling narrator, and the ending felt not only rushed but kind of meaningless given what she went through to get there. But the undercurrents in this novel of racism, classism, and sexism are handled deftly, the author never preaching but always there to remind us about what is really behind the poor Caribbean women pushing strollers of blonde-haired, blue-eyed baby New Yorkers.
    • 4/5
      I wasn't sure I was going to, but I liked the book. It was a thoughtful, well-written, and enjoyable read.
    • 4/5
      Article first published as Book Reviewa: Minding Ben by Victoria Brown on Blogcritics.Known as the land of opportunities, America is a place where many different people come together under common ground. Throughout history, immigrants have made their way to this country and a new way of life in an effort to live their dreams.In Minding Ben by Victoria Brown, we follow the life of Grace Canton. She is a young woman from a very small village in Trinidad, who has chosen to immigrate in order to reach that golden ring. Leaving her home and making her way to New York is a difficult task. Her mother does not want her to leave but her father wants to live her dream. The pressure is uncomfortable, but the trip is on. She is to meet a relative when she reaches the states, one who can give her a place to live until she can find a job and set up a new home.However not everything happens the way they are supposed to. Her relative does not show, leaving Grace on her own in a city larger than she ever imagined possible, and a place she has never been. Finding a home with Sylvia, another expatriate of Trinidad she meets, performing small chores and watching her children, for a place to stay, Grace continues to look for that job, the one that will allow her to become a citizen.Finding what she expects is the perfect job, minding their son Ben; Grace accepts the job with a wealthy family, the Bruckner’s. Maintaining her relationship with Sylvia, living at her home when not at the new live-in job, she continues to do chores and watch Sylvia’s brood when she is able. Is this really her dream, her opportunity to become a citizen, and make a living wage? Grace is a young naive woman from another country; she is open and optimistic, and easy to take advantage of. She is loving and enjoys looking after children, and does not mind the other things that usually come with that type of job. She often receives notes, and occasionally a call from her mother, using subtle pressure to get her home. When her beloved father becomes ill, the pressure mounts. She plans on staying here though as her new employers have offered to back her for her dream of citizenship. What she finds though is entirely different from the promises they have offered.The groups of women that mind the children in the area of the Bruckner’s home meet often in the park with their small charges. Those relationships are also another look into the life of the immigrants and the reality of these West Indian babysitters that have been a staple in the lives of these families for decades.This is an enjoyable and interesting look at life on the inside of an immigrants dream. Minding Ben is well written with a pace that is easy to follow. It is full of fear and joy, but also littered with bits of story that are sad and sometimes create despair. Entire lives are lived in an effort to find their way in the home of their choosing, and the story is not always comfortable.There is love and laughter, sadness and pain and yet through all the trials and tribulations, Grace continues to keep faith and hope alive. An inherent kindness shows through and keeps you rooting for her to receive what she hopes for. It is a message of hope and makes you think about those things that we hold dear, the freedom and home that we were born too. The story makes you feel more passionate about those things that we hold dear as a country, and the reason we fight so hard to maintain those freedoms.This would be an interesting book for a book club or reading group. It is passionate and full of information. The struggles evinced will keep the intrigue going and the dialogue robust. If you enjoy learning about others and the challenges of change, you will love this book. It is an interesting inside look at the lives of those looking to find their way.This book was received free from the authors representative. All opinions are my own based off my reading and understanding of the material.
    • 5/5
      Minding Ben is a painfully honest tale in it's treatment of immigration, race and poverty , but it's also frequently whimsical and laugh-out-loud funny, thanks to the refreshingly strong and self-aware characters at the heart of the story. From a dawn scene in the front yard of the narrator's house in Trinidad; to the backseat of a car parked outside a reggae club; to a playground where West Indian, East Indian, and Irish domestic workers mind their charges and negotiate subtle and intricate power relationships; to the heartbreakingly personal center of a race riot in Crown Heights; to an understatedly magical rooftop garden in downtown New York where time seems to stand still and anything feels possible; you are pulled into a mesmerizing world of carefully fleshed-out characters, several of whom you'll find yourself caring about and empathizing with even if, had you met them in the real world, you would be tempted to avoid and take sides against them. This book is certainly a keeper
    • 3/5
      This was a book that came unbidden to my reading pile, but came it did and read it was. It is a a well-written portrayal of the difficult and often dangerous life of urban America for the immigrant in search of the elusive American Dream. A sixteen year old Trinidadian girl flies to New York City seeking adventure and the opportunity to work and study. Her cousin fails to meet her at the airport and she makes her way into the city on her own. From the getgo, she is very much alone. Not yet street-wise but naturally wary, she actively seeks work as an "au pair", where she is to be paid under the table. When things go wrong, she has little recourse as she is there on a mere tourist visa. Immigrant meets the school of hard knocks. This is a semi-autobiographical account with fiction added to make the stories larger than life. It is a fine first novel which captures the ethnic diversity of a large city and the hazards encountered when those varying cultures meet. Throughout all the many difficulties, hope remains.
    • 4/5
      When Grace Caton boards a plane heading to New York from Trinidad, she’s only sixteen years old. Promised a home with a distant cousin in America, Grace is both excited and scared as she makes her way abroad. But when Grace arrives, she finds that she’s been stranded with no one to retrieve her from the airport and nowhere to live. Soon Grace is living with the mercurial Sylvia and her patchwork family. Though Grace isn’t exactly freeloading at Sylvia’s, her luck in the job department has been pretty meager. As Grace searches for the perfect position, she is also considering marrying Sylvia’s brother Bo for a green card. Just when she thinks she’ll never get a job, a call comes for her regarding a nanny position. But Miriam, the woman offering the job, wants to hire Grace to be her maid, nanny and helper, all for ridiculously low salary. What is Grace to do with no other options on the horizon? With a sinking heart, she agrees to the job, and her life is never the same. Moving between the circles of Island immigrant nannies, her party-loving friends, and her mish-mash family at Sylvia’s, Grace discovers that life in New York isn’t as easy as she once imagined it would be, but despite the hardship and disadvantages she faces, she will not turn tail and run back home. At times funny, at times tragic, this is the tale of a young girl left on her own to manage life in the big city, and of the people she meets who will sometimes help and sometimes hinder her.This was one of those books that was really hard to put down. From the very beginning, I was caught up in Grace’s unusual tale. She had a great head on her shoulders and was very responsible, which is really unusual for a sixteen year old girl. Grace is living in an untenable situation at Sylvia’s because the family lives a very low income and restricted life. Grace’s presence is a godsend for Sylvia, who uses Grace’s services in minding her small children in exchange for room and board. But Sylvia is not always the best roommate, and the five residents are living in a two room apartment that may or may not be hazardous for their health. Sylvia can also be demanding and uppity, which is one of the reasons Grace must find herself another situation soon. But her lack of a green card is something that hinders her time and time again.When Grace finally lands a job with Miriam Bruckner, she knows she’s being taken advantage of but has no better option. Miriam is not only overly demanding but can be racist at times, and her inappropriate comments sometimes went over Grace’s head. Not so with me. When I read how Miriam would exploit Grace and then treat her with racist contempt, my blood would boil. I felt a little angry with Grace for standing by and taking all this ridiculous abuse, but time and time again, I realized she had no other options available to her. There were also some subtle sexual tension between Miriam’s husband and Grace, which did not go unnoticed by Miriam. Grace’s only respite from this horrible family was her connection to the other nannies in the building. But even there, there were rivalries and factions that Grace was loathe to get caught up in. There was a lot of internal and external conflict in this book, and it was all very realistic and emotionally charged. In spite of Grace’s innocence, there was a lot of messiness to her life and the lives of those around her, and in her struggle for freedom and independence she began to grow both in wisdom and experience.The third aspect of this book had to do with Grace’s ties to her island acquaintances living in New York, and these, I think, were my favorite sections. The interactions between Grace and her friends were sometimes portrayed in heavy patios dialect, and having had a few friends from the small islands many years ago, the patios brought back a lot of memories. Grace’s friendship with Kathy, another girl who immigrated from her village to New York, was full of gentle teasing and genuine affection. Often it was Kathy who saw Grace through her toughest times, and the two girls did a lot of leaning on one another over the course of the story. There was even a love component in this story in the form of another islander named Brent. As Grace begins to realize her own worth and to navigate her own struggles, her friends, including an American from her building, become the heart of her support system. I had a very affable reaction to her growing social ties and their effects as the book wound its way forward.I really enjoyed Minding Ben for a lot of reasons, primairly because of the interplay between the dramatic tension and the character creation of the story. Brown does an exceptional job imbuing her story with all the elements that a reader will find engrossing and takes the narrative through many believable twists and turns that kept me hungering for more. It was a really diverting read, and certain sections had a deliciously scandalous feel to them. This book would be a perfect beach read, and I can’t imagine anyone not falling for the unapologetic and winsome Grace. A very intriguing read, and one that I won’t soon forget. Highly recommended.
    • 3/5
      As a young woman Grace leaves her home in the West Indies for a job as a nanny in New York. She doesn't have the resources to obtain the correct papers, so she has to work illegally. This means she has to take whatever work she can get. Subsequently she ends up in an awful position, underpaid, overworked, and often humiliated. In the end she has to chose between her job and her loyalty to family, friends, and ultimately to herself.In the beginning I found myself sympathizing with Grace and I quite liked her humility, work ethic, loyalty to her friends, and occasional sense of humor. As the book wore on I got fed up with her willingness to be stepped on by others, even in situations where she could have stood up for herself. I found it unbelieveable that someone would stand to be so poorly treated for so little money, rather than return to her family who she loved. The end of the book, while lovely in a fairy tale way, was wholly unrealistic and didn't at all match the harsh realty of the first 300 pages. Not badly written, characters were well developed, and the plot moved along well, but not my favorite by a long shot.
    • 3/5
      For the most part, I enjoyed this book. Reading about Grace's life in Trinidad and her experiences with Ben and Miriam were great, but at some point it seemed like it was going through a checklist of what needs to be in a nanny book: 1) quirky neighbor whom nanny befriends - check! 2) lack of acceptance from other nannies - check! 3) sexual tension between the nanny and the employer - check! The end was abrupt, and really spoiled the book for me. It felt like a lot of threads that I expected to build up to something else just....got thrown all together.I didn't feel, like other reviewers, that Grace really lost her drive that brought her to America from Trinidad - it was more like she lost her way, like I think any 16 year old would when plopped into a completely different society. Her absolute doormat-ish-ness and irresponsible decisions (spending hundreds of dollars on a tank top) underscored that she was really still a child, yet there she was taking care of someone else's child. I'm hoping that's what the author intended, but honestly, all it did was make me dislike her.
    • 3/5
      Minding Ben by Victoria BrownI received this book from the Early Reviewers as a bonus to the book I actually ordered. When I read the back cover, the story line interested me because during graduate school, in the early 1980s. I lived in New Jersey with my brother’s family and their live-in nanny from Antigua in the West Indies. She told me many stories of other nanny’s behavior toward their white charges and it was interesting to compare her experiences to this book.The book, autobiographical in part, is about Grace Canton who at the age of 16 left Trinidad to come to America. She escaped poverty and narrow life opportunities, but left a much loved mother, sister and ill father. After several unhappy experiences occurring over the first year that she spend in America, she landed a job with a family living in New York City, minding the little 3 year old boy. She suffered the indignities of unfair work requirements, the meanness of the mother of the little boy (“make me a sandwich with the turkey but make yourself one with bologna – it should still be good”) and a sexual pass by the father. Like other reviewers at LibraryThing, I found it rather surprising that the drive that brought Grace to America seemed almost to disappear once she arrived. She allowed herself to be treated with such disrespect by her employer even though at one point she could have taken her friend’s Kathy’s job, with much better pay and living arrangements. Several people suggested that she could model and yet Grace did not explore that idea at all. Also, like other reviewers, I felt that the story ended rather abruptly, as if the author became bored with the project and decided to stop writing. In all, I think the author’s writing style was good; the story line was interesting and the characters well drawn. We will always remember Kathy’s bedazzled clothing. It is a successful first book and I will look for more from Ms. Brown.
    • 5/5
      Once again, another author I have never heard of but the premise of the book looked interesting. Once I started reading I couldn't put it down. Excellent book and worth reading!
    • 3/5
      This book started with quite a bit of potential. Overall, it was pretty good and interesting, but maybe a bit anticlimatic.
    • 3/5
      This is a somwehat predictable story of an 18 year old young woman from Trinidad who escapes the poverty of her island life to find a new life in New York. Not surprisingly, her challenges include continued money problems, employers who don't understand or respect her, the father who makes a play for her, and worries about her family back on the island. The ending is at first realistic, and then too pat, although satisfying at the same time.
    • 1/5
      This book was a long slow read with a suffering plot about a girl who comes to America (we are never really sure why) and finds herself a job as a nanny. Her life as a nanny with a family that treats her as a live in slave, is entwined with her life back home in the islands, and her life on the weekends in Brooklyn. None of these places provides much of a story or plot and the story drags on. The local island lingo intwined throughtout the story is often difficult to understand. I found the book too lacking in a real plot to hold my interest.
    • 3/5
      This is a book about a young girl from the islands who tries to make a new life in NYC. She has it very rough, with no family and little friends. She finds work as a nanny taking care of Ben, whose mother is not a character of good heart. I was appalled at how she treated Grace and hated her uppity attitude-unbelievable! It was a quick end, coming on fast. If you like to read about these girls and their lives, give it a go.
    • 3/5
      i really wanted to LOVE this book....i didn't.....i liked the book.....i thought it was ok....it just never went any place interesting for me. I found myself not caring about the people or the fact that it was set 20 + years ago. what i will say....is don't let that be the reason not to read it....it was just not my cup of tea. it is an easy read and i suspect there is a wide audience for it.....(just not me....)
    • 3/5
      This book I received through Early reviewers. The book starts out with a young girl(Grace) who came from a small village in Trinidad hoping to make a better life for herself in New York City. Grace has a rough start in the big city, but finds herself becoming a nanny for a wealthy family who has no sympathy or heart for her. The dialect or slang in the book is sometimes hard to understand and I often had an overwhelming sense of fustration wanting Grace to get a back bone and stand up for herself after repeated mistreatment and being taken advantage of. The ending of the book was too fast compared to the text of the story. Overall it was an ok read but not something I would read again or recommend.
    • 4/5
      A fantastic and insightful story that takes a deep look into the life of Caribbean immigrants who are forced into hard labor for little pay. Very well told, Minding Ben is a well-crafted tale of a Trinidadian teenager who comes to America for opportunities and instead finds misfortune, malevolence, dishonesty, distrust, and a beacon of hope.
    • 4/5
      I guess the fact that I went into reading this not expecting a Nanny Diaries clone is a very good thing. I didn’t have any preconceptions on what this book should be like. Instead, I let it stand and breath on its own.And what I found it to be was a wonderfully, dark piece of literature about the human soul and its will to survive. It is difficult for a girl at the age of 16 to travel to a new country, attempt to find work, and manage to survive all on her own. I know this because my own grandmother did the same thing. She travelled from Scotland to Canada at the age of 16. She was lucky enough to find a local TB sanatorium that taught her the nursing skills (back in those days you didn’t go to college to learn to be a nurse). Grace didn’t have that luck. Instead, she found herself working for a family who treated her more like a slave, then as an employee. This story tells us all the things that Grace endured in order to go on with her life.To me, it is a testament of the strength of the human will and I found it inspirational that Grace not only rose above her situation, but was able to go on to college.In conjunction with the Wakela's World Disclosure Statement, I received a product in order to enable my review. No other compensation has been received. My statements are an honest account of my experience with the brand. The opinions stated here are mine alone.
    • 4/5
      i got this book through the early reviewers program. it was a quick read.grace is a 16 year old girl from trinidad who comes to america to live her dreams and instead ends up a nanny/maid to a wealthy new york couple. grace is a sweet girl that you want to succeed and that you always wish would grow a pair. she gets herself walked over nonstop and it becomes frustrating. the couple she works for were just despicable to me. they basically worked her like a slave and their entitlement and smugness was just too much for me.i think i'd recommend this book to someone. it'd be nice to read this summer on vacation.
    • 3/5
      I received this book through the ER contest. I was surprised at how challenging it was to read. The issues the main character deals with ring very true -- class, immigration, race, gender. The main disappointment was how the book ended -- too fast and too easy. The author had a great ear for the language of the Caribbean and it was fun for me to try to understand some of the slang. Not my favorite book, but I enjoyed it.