Plenty of relevant societal messages in this dark tale – racism, women manipulated as stereotypes and a sexual predator/psychopath roaming and killing at will. Multiple threads conjoin in this (surreal) story set in 1970s Detroit, where a bored housewife initially seeks solace in alcohol, then the thrill of an extramarital affair. The question is, who is her beau and who else does he manipulate?

An intriguing tale. It’s only my fourth JCO novel to date; thus, as someone who cannot be labelled an earnest disciple, I feel I can be critical of the format (a little peculiar - it feels like a diary or notebook) as well as the stream-of-consciousness narration. I had to read it twice, which ultimately helped me appreciate its worth a little more. However, this will likely be a ‘love it or hate it’ book. I take umbrage at some critics who unquestionably label it as ‘thrilling’ and ‘engrossing’. Sorry, but that is bordering on over-hype.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for granting this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Babysitter was my first dive into a book by Joyce Carol Oates, and I think that that fact probably was a detriment to my reading experience. Because I wasn’t familiar with her writing style, I found it very difficult to get into the story and get a hang of the flow and the style of the story. I found that I couldn’t even really start to enjoy the book until I was over halfway through.

I also understand that Hannah is supposed to be the slightly ignorant affluent white woman, but I really only needed to be told that once. It felt very monotonous to continue to be beat over the head with her whining about being a rich white woman and how hard her life was because of it. To me, I felt as though her ignorance and position in society was told to me rather than shown, and it was told to me over and over and over and over again.

The story itself seemed interesting enough, but there wasn’t as much of a connection between Hannah and her affair and the Babysitter for me. Sometimes they would be mentioned, but the two ideas of the story felt so disjointed to me that I had some trouble trying to decide why I should care.

The ending of this story was also incredibly abrupt to me. Now, I normally don’t mind a slightly abrupt ending if done correctly, but I didn’t feel like this one was. There was so much build up and then the story just ended.

Overall, a very long book that I did not feel was entirely worth the long time it took me to read it.

Babysitter by Joyce Carol Oates is a thriller set in the 70s. It took me a little while to get into this story, but once I did—I couldn't put it down. Hannah is something of an unlikeable narrator, but that didn't keep me from racing through the pages.

Joyce Carol Oates has a great writing style that pulls you into the story. This is a complex story about child abduction and adultery. While the subject is hard to read about the writing was great. There was twists and turns that keep you guessing as to who the Babysitter was and how did the Babysitter tie in with the other characters.

The hardest part about Babysitter for me as a reader was the languid pace of the story. I think it would benefit from a little bit, not too much, but a little bit more speed in the plot. I appreciate character-driven novels as much as the next person, but I got a little *too* much of the same build up...and then fizzle.

I'm a long-time fan of Joyce Carol Oates and enjoyed many of her short stories in college but this one just didn't hit right for me. I really wanted to love it! But by the end of the story, I was just kind of irritated.

The setting immediately grabbed me and the "bad girl" side persona of the main character, Hannah, was intriguing....but it just didn't really go anywhere, and certainly not with any forward momentum.

I won't forget this story, though. So if that was the goal, awesome job, JCO! I couldn't give this more or less than 3 stars, so it's a 3-star read for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher, Knopf, for an advanced digital copy to review!!

1/5. I am a huge fan of mystery/thrillers and was really excited for this book based on the author’s previous works, but I just couldn’t get into it. I found the writing choppy and the story hard to follow.

I didn’t really like the format of this book. Unfortunately it kept me from really getting into it. I did not finish

Good read. As crimes occur, the victims families come together in an attempt to seek answers and justice. This was fast paced and was a quick read for me! Highly recommend!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me the opportunity to read and review this novel. I am rating this book based the stars due to lack of time to leave a full review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf for an early review copy of this novel.

I was very excited to read it as Joyce Carol Oates is one of my favorite writers and I've loved her last few books. This novel, however, left me disappointed because of its repetitiveness and low expressed emotion.

The novel takes place in 1970's Detroit and the protagonist is a wealthy suburban woman named Hannah Garrett. While attending a fund raiser, of which she is one of the chairs, her wrist is taken by a strange man who whispers to her, "Which one are you"? She interprets this as meaning 'which husband do you belong to'? This man is a stranger to Hannah and tells her his name is YK. Knowing only his initials, she meets him in an upscale hotel in Detroit to initiate an affair.

Hannah believes that a woman's worth is equal to their desirability by men. Lately, her husband appear to have minimal desire for her and she suspects he is having an affair or has had multiple affairs. She sees her currency rise as she undertakes this secret activity with YK.

Running parallel to Hannah's affair is news of a serial killer who hunts children who appear to come from poverty. Hannah's children are always under care and she doesn't believe that such harm could come to the, but 'what if?

The book moves very slowly and goes over Hannah's self-loathing and misogynistic thoughts repeatedly. I understand that this is a different era and place but I think that Ms. Oates could have edited the repetitions and upped the story line to a higher level of emotion.

It's always fascinating to see how Joyce Carol Oates' fertile imagination seizes an episode or occasion and spins a compelling tale--warts and all--of it. BABYSITTER is not always comfortable reading--it's hard to like or sympathize with the protagonist--but Oates paints her portrait with a masterly eye. A slow-building but ultimately compelling-as-a-car-crash read from one of the country's most interesting and ambitious novels.

My thanks to Knopf and to Netgalley for the opportunity and pleasure of the early read.

This is my first Joyce Carol Oates book, so I went in totally blind in regards to the author’s writing style, tone, etc.

Babysitter is set in Detroit in the 1970s and follows Hannah, the rich wife of a businessman, who is having an affair. How it intersects with the unsolved murders of the “Babysitter,” I do not know, as I did not finish this book.

I read to 20% and I gave up. I can’t pinpoint exactly what I didn’t like about Babysitter, but I will try. I really didn’t like the many parentheses; they threw off the flow of my reading. It felt like riding in a car with a new driver that doesn’t know how to use the brakes, so it’s a lot of jolting. Also, I thought this book was about unsolved murders, but it started with Hannah on her way to a clandestine meeting. I couldn’t even begin to guess how those two things intersected. I’m sure this is an interesting book because the writer has written many, many books, so they definitely found a creative way to bring the two together, but I just didn’t get there.

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf for the opportunity to read and review Babysitter by Joyce Carol Oates. Although it wasn’t for me (for now), I will try it out once more at a later date.

This book was an absolute trip for me.

I started out hating it. Like 1-star-if-you’re-lucky hating it. I ended up really liking it.

Hannah spends sooooo much time whining about the unfairness of life and being mommy and hey I’m white what do brown people think of me and gee if my kid’s get killed by a serial killer that’s my punishment for having an affair. There were multiple pages where Hannah just…thinks about how she’s white and wonders if her brown housekeeper is judging her. And for a while it seemed like the entire affair was her walking to the elevator, walking to the room, thinking about being white, oh he touched my wrist, ooh I’ll have a lover with nothing (absolutely nothing) actually happening.

However…

At some point, all the stuff about her being white actually ends up relevant. The affair very wrongly happens. The serial killer aspect comes into play more and more and it’s heartbreaking and horrible. And, though I never really liked Hannah, I understood her a bit more, hated her husband, and was just waiting for our characters to pay for their specific stupidity and privilege.

Shockingly, I went from 1-star-if-you’re-lucky to absolutely enjoying the read completely caught up in the dangerous suspense of it all. Also, I kind of dug how relevant much of it is to today’s world.

I can’t give it a five star (the hatred I felt in the beginning and I didn’t completely love the way it ended), but it surprised me, angered me, and made me feel.

*ARC via Publisher

5- An immersive, eloquent nightmare of a fever dream exploring class, white privilege, child abuse, church scandal and the meaninglessness of an empty existence. Quintessential Joyce Carol Oates.

This dark and compelling story of an unfulfilled suburban wife and mother is set parallel with the horror of a serial killer of young children in a wealthy suburb of Detroit MI. I didn't like or understand Hannah and I grimaced throughout, but I kept reading because of the fast pace of the story. After every chapter, I asked myself, "How in the world will this end? Do I really want to know?" Be assured that the narrative will propel you to the end in the taunt thriller.

My first book by Joyce Carol Oates and I really enjoyed it! It's a different writing style and the plot was twisty enough to keep me interested. The storyline moves and flows and kept me turning the page after page. Joyce Carol Oates will be an author I now look for older books she’s written!
Thank you to Netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

The Babysitter, by Joyce Carol Oates, is a difficult novel to pin down. It has a seemingly straight forward plot - Hannah, a repressed suburban housewife begins an affair with an enigmatic stranger - except this action is buried in a feverish prose style and numerous plot digressions. The novel also features a child serial killer (the titular babysitter), a mysterious crime ring, a series of interludes told in the first person by dead victims of the killer and sundry other digressions from the main plot. There are worthwhile moments in this novel but it's far too long and cluttered to build any momentum.

Thanks to Penguin Randomhouse for the Advanced Copy.

When I saw this ARC was not only available, but available as a Read Now, I was shocked. Why would Joyce Carol Oates, literary phenomenon and hugely prolific writer, need to give out ARCs?

Then I started reading the book.

I will admit, I am not a fangirl when it comes to her novels; I have liked the ones I have finished, but it has only been about three. Mostly, I adore her short fiction and think she writes incredible stories. Her novels always felt a bit too meandering to me. Like they just couldn't get to a point. This one is worse and was a DNF. It felt overwritten and a bit self indulgent, like she was writing to try to be literary and not to write a novel. It was just too much.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC!

I’ve been sitting on my thoughts of this book for a few days, unsure exactly what my final rating would be or what I’d say in a review. This book, in a word, is infuriating. It isn’t for the impatient reader. Joyce Carol Oates is my favorite author, and that’s the only reason I pushed on. She’s in capital-L Literary form here, and I think a reread is in order. The things that irritated me made sense by the story’s end, so . . .

JCO isn’t known for crafting exactly likable characters, but ones that feel REAL. For good or bad. Hannah, our main character, is almost frustratingly naive at times, but I guess I will chalk it up to love (and lust) making us blind. Still, sometimes I wanted to shake her by the shoulders and say “Lady! Don’t you see all these red flags?”

Also, this book is set in Detroit 1977 but really, it could’ve been set anywhere and anytime. This story could have taken place today. There weren’t many attempts at making the setting “feel” real, and some character thoughts and actions feel more like 2022 than 1977. Not necessarily a complaint, just something that amused me. Also, cordless phones were around in the 1970s? I had no idea.

Sinister, involving, frustrating, thrilling . . . this novel is all those things, and more. I wouldn’t recommend this for a newcomer to JCO. Maybe start with some of her short fiction. But for her established fans—go for it!

Any Joyce Carol Oates book is a great book in my opinion.! She is a VERY prolific author and writes in several styles and I have read about 80 % of all of them :)

The majority of her most recent books are based on a historical event that has been fictionalized. This novel is about a serial killer from the 70's, you can check her twitter to learn more.

The setting is Detroit in the 70's where the daily news features stories on a serial killer preying upon children. Much of the novel, however, is dedicated to Hannah, a socialite who has entangled herself in an affair. She is a very typical JCO female character in that her inner voice is illustrated over many chapters, and that inner voice lacks confidence and even can veer to paranoia. JCO females will articulate contemporary feminist issues. Additional chapters depict Mikey, a street hustler who interacts with all of the characters, including the Babysitter himself.

I love the fast chapters, the quick changing POV and of course the inner monologue of the characters. If you have an interest in serial killers, love a JCO book or just want to try a new style of thriller, the Babysitter is for you!
#Knopf #Netgalley #Babysitter