At first Zora sounded a little like me (or at least she had similar opportunities I have had and want to have, such as living in Europe or at least another country for awhile. We lost our connection whenever cooking was mentioned, haha) "she loved cooking, she loved traveling, and she liked kids. She liked feeling useful, and she liked being in beautiful spaces. She loved music and dancing and the taste of a foreign language rolling off her tongue. She loved reading literary fiction with multicultural characters and watching spoken-word poetry performances in intimate theaters. All of these things made her happy, but none of them fell under any job description she'd ever seen" (pg. 18). I could relate to that statement until I took a Comparative Government&Politics class and discovered I LOVE international politics so now I have a idea for a major (but of course that could change). So I was already fond of the book since I thought Zora was the embodiment of who I wanted to be. After reading the entire book I'm not so sure I would want her whole life but she gained some noteworthy experiences and while the route to her somewhat happy ending was rough, it wasn't depressing or anything. I wasn't enamored with the writing style, it didn't make me wince by being overly dramatic/too flowery but it didn't wow me with its beauty either. I was surprised at how long it took for the Brad&Zora storyline to take off and I didn't see it as a cliche since it's the first book I've ever read with a nanny/husband affair. while I was surprised by Kate and her friends, Brad was less surprising because I've met many liberal white people who can still be racially insensitive (unconsciously). He had a nice quote about love "[l]ove is such a crazy thing. Sometimes you can convince yourself it's not even real, that's just this elusive concept, yet when you fall in love, it can shake your world in ways you never dreamed possible" (pg. 319). It was bizarre to me as to why Kate disapproved so much about one of the career secrets Brad kept from her. I thought it was cute and nice that he got the chance to really follow his dreams.

I'm fairly naive when it comes to issues concerning working mothers and race relations. My mouth dropped open several times when conversations between Kate and Fiona (one of her white friends) were shared because they were so...not outrageously racist but very subtly prejudiced. I couldn't believe educated, so called 'modern' women still talked in a particular way. BUT I don't think the older generation would be that surprised. I also didn't realize mothers had such dilemmas about leaving their children with nannies. My mother has been working since I was born and I've never known anything else and I don't mind one bit. I felt a twang of sympathy for her if she agonized so much over her decision to leave my siblings and I with a babysitter. Working moms as a kid whose mom has always worked (still does), your kids will turn out fine and no they won't hold it against you (honestly I wouldn't like it if my mom was super-involved in my life, ugh). Anyway I digress, this book seems like an obvious bookclub pick because it addresses very accessible, universal issues. I really appreciated (and chuckled) over how often Zora bemoans how cliche her story is and she reiterates over and over that she wants to be more than just "Mammy". It sort of reminded me of all The Help controversy about Black women once again being regulated to "Mammy" roles/characterizations. To me she seemed to hint at the fact that there's nothing wrong with being nanny if you love being one and are treated with respect.