The Pleasing Hour

Dear Reader-

It's week four of November-Lily King Month. This week, I'm reviewing Ms. King's book, The Pleasing Hour. I hope you get a chance to read and enjoy this one!

Happy Reading!

Abby

Genre: Fiction

This is the story of Rosie, an American living in Paris, working as an au pair to a French family: Nicole, the mother, Marc, the father, Odile, Guillaume and Lola, the Tivot children. Rosie has a hard time connecting with Nicole, who is aloof and distant, but connects (perhaps too closely) with Marc. She travels with the family on vacation to Spain where the nature of her relationship with the family changes. She then moves to the south of France to live with, and care for, Nicole’s family. Many answers about Nicole’s true nature are revealed while she is there. Through well-written storytelling, we learn about Rosie’s past and what brought her to Paris to begin with. We also learn a great deal about the different members of the family. This is a story about the complexities of individuals and how sometimes, in our grief, we are more alike than we are different.

There are so many beautiful moments in this book. I particularly loved reading the story from the kids’ perspectives. King gives the children such rich personalities and complete stories. As usual, King has the amazing ability to describe every day moments in such a profound way. My favorite was the description of Lola riding in the car. It’s the details of what she sees out the window and her perspective from her particular spot in the car that made me really nostalgic for my youth. You get such a unique perspective of the world when riding in the back seat of the family car. Whether you sat behind the driver, in the middle or behind the passenger, you had your very own view of the world, one that no other member of the family shared with you. After I read that part, I drove my kids to soccer and was momentarily jealous of them sitting in the back seat.

This story is very subtly beautiful. This one is similar to King’s, The English Teacher in structure. The first third of the story is about character development. During the second third there is a slight crescendo in the story as we learn what has propelled the characters to make the choices that they have; and the last third gives us more insight. So here again, there’s no great mystery, but a slow unfolding with the kind of story-telling that gives you great insight into the people you’re reading about. Give this one a try if you love stories about families, new beginnings, languages and travel. I really hope you enjoy this one as much as I have.