Caroline Angell

All the Time in the World/Caroline Angell Charlotte, a gifted and superbly trained young musician, has been blindsided by a shocking betrayal in her promising career when she takes a babysitting job with the McLeans, a glamorous Upper East Side Manhattan family. At first, the nanny gig is just a way of tiding herself over until she has licked her wounds and figured out her next move as a composer in New York. But, as it turns out, Charlotte is naturally good with children and becomes as deeply fond of the two little boys as they are of her. When an unthinkable tragedy leaves the McLeans bereft, Charlotte is not the only one who realizes that she's the key to holding little George and Matty's world together. Suddenly, in addition to life's usual puzzles, such as sorting out which suitor is her best match, she finds herself with an impossible choice between her life-long dreams and the torn-apart family she's come to love. By turns hilarious, sexy, and wise, Caroline Angell's remarkable and generous debut is the story of a young woman's discovery of the things that matter most.
 
This book poignantly spoke to the importance of motherhood and showed the importance of being a positive impact on even a small amount of people.
 
I was confident that I was going to hate the timing of this book as it jumped around within time periods; however, this ended up working immensely well, though I definitely recommend reading this book chapter by chapter instead of picking it up and putting it down as life dictates like I did. There ended up being a lot of subtle parallels that I wouldn't have otherwise noticed which really added to the story.
 
Charlotte was a really fantastic babysitter. There were so many moments where she spoke by the golden handbook and was so incredibly patient to the kids, Georgie and Mattie, and I couldn't help but admire her skill. At the same time, she was a believable character, and hearing her inner dialogue made me love her instead of being furiously jealous of her skills.
 
The kids led to some really hilarious scenes that led to comic relief and interesting scenarios. One scene in particular involving the boys' aunt and some chicken was endearing and comedic. I love seeing the world through children's eyes and Angell did a great job of showing us how they felt and how they reacted to various events.
 
I really enjoyed the musical subplot that came along, and I related to Charlotte so much in how hard she was finding it to follow her dreams. At points it felt like she was making excuses for not doing what she had spent years studying, and that she was afraid to succeed or fail, which in a way she was.
 
Characters were really well developed--people such as Ellerie, an overzealous mother, really stood out and though she and her daughter had a very minor role, I felt like I really got to know them. The boys' family felt extremely real, and the dynamic after the event was really intriguing.
 
This ultimately made me think most about motherhoood and the roles that caregivers play in children's lives. There's a lot at the end that deals with our impact on the world, and I found this to be thought-provoking and touching.
 
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.… (mehr)

Caroline Angell’s debut, All the Time in the World, doesn’t seem like the work of a first time author. The narrative, dialogue, tricky time shifts, and characters are all extremely well done. I found myself getting lost in this story of family drama, and rooting for the characters.

Charlotte is a twenty-something gifted music composer, who for reasons not at first apparent, finds herself employed as a babysitter for a wealthy couple in New York, Scott and Gretchen McClean. Her two charges, Georgie and Matt, play a large role in the story, and the author does a good job of capturing the temperament and dialogue of these two young boys. (My own sons had the same issues with the letter “L” and hard “C’s” so I was nostalgic when I read some of their conversations- though some readers might be critical of this type of dialogue).

Very shortly after the novel begins, Gretchen McLean is killed in an accident, and Charlotte finds herself stepping into a much more demanding role in the family than she expected. The novel shifts back and forth in time, before and after the accident, to give us perspective on Charlotte’s life and the reason she hasn’t written any music in several years. The most poignant scenes in the book are between Charlotte and the family as they try to navigate their new reality without Gretchen, who held the family together.

This is a story that delves deeply into the emotional lives of very real characters that the reader will come to care about. Yet it doesn’t fall into maudlin territory: we are shown love, wisdom, even humor in the midst of their suffering – just like we experience in real life. Ms. Angell handles her debut with a deft hand, and I am hoping we will see more from this author.

Only one criticism: the author includes a couple of fairly explicit sex scenes that don't seem to match the tone of the rest of this family drama. It doesn't add anything to the narrative, and seems to be not thoughtfully considered in her construction of the plot. Other than that, though, it was a satisfying read.… (mehr)