This book was not what I expected -- I went in thinking that it was a suspense/thriller but instead it was a story of art, sex, and some seriously messed-up people.

Lady hires a live-in nanny for her little boy, Devin, and the nanny turns out to be a young woman named S who is doing a personal art project -- doing a sort of impersonation of her mom -- everything from how she dresses to how she drinks. It's a weird, weird story as we flashback to Lady's past and to S's past and how S's present intertwines with that of Lady's older son, Seth.

In the end it all turns out for the best (I guess) but this doesn't seem to be an author who I would read again.

Intriguing is the best word for this book, I think. Characters are driven and compelling. Narrated by two of the characters, "Lady" Daniels, the mother of 2 children, one who does not speak; and 'S' the nanny hired by Lady to care for her children. Both of these women are complex, with mother issues and relationship problems. A stimulating book, and weird enough to engage you.

Read halfway through it, and discovered the only character I really cared about was Seth, the teenaged boy who doesn't speak....so I quit.

3.5 stars

When I first came across this book it was the cover that caught my eye. I really liked it. And after reading the description, I was very intrigued.

Lady Daniels lives in the Hollywood Hill. Recently separated, she's looking for a nanny to take care of her three-year old son, Devin. Lady is writing her memoir. Having a nanny will give her uninterrupted time to write. A woman who calls herself "S" comes for an interview. Lady likes "S" and hires her on the spot without even checking her references. What could go wrong? Along with taking care of Devin, S will also keep an eye on Lady's eighteen-year old son, Seth. Seth is nonverbal. He is not deaf or autistic, he just never spoken.

We learn a lot about Lady's early years with Seth and Seth's father, as well as her tumultuous relationship with her own mother. She alludes to mistakes she made when Seth was young. It seems like she tries to make up for it now by being over-involved. Seth has always wanted to know about his father. Lady thinks she's protecting him by not telling him about the past.

But secrets always seem to have a way of coming out....

Esther Shapiro now wants to be known as "S" Fowler. Her reasons for becoming a nanny are bizarre to say the least. After some recent personal issues, she decides a change is in order. So along with a new name and a new job, she's trying on a new personality, well actually an old one.....

New bonds are formed and old ones are tested. While Lady opens up with some of her secrets, others she holds close to her chest.

She's not the only one with secrets.

The book alternates between Lady and Esther's (S's) point of view. Events in the present, mixed with flashbacks. It took me a little while to get into the story. It started to get interesting, but it also started to get a bit...strange. Some of the plot was confusing and I found it hard to relate to a few characters. I liked Seth and of course little Devin. The fact that Seth didn't communicate verbally made how he did communicate that much more interesting. But when things started going in so many different directions, I found I was getting distracted. All that said, I didn't want to stop reading. I was very interested in how this would all turn out.

This was a bit of an odd read for me. Overall I think this was a story that many will love, but it just wasn't what I was expecting.

Thank you NetGalley, Edan Lepucki, and Crown Publishing - Hogarth for providing an advanced readers copy of this book for me to read in exchange for my honest review.

Some books are just not meant for me and this is one. The main character, all of the characters actually, are really unlikeable and the world they inhabit is simply uninteresting and vile. From the moment Lady describes poached egg sliding down her chin as being desirable I knew that my own disgust with mediocrity and cruelty would lead me to hate this book enough to read it but not enough to like it.

Here is a review by Jennifer: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1978621709

Interesting characters? Check. Original ideas? Check. Funny moments, startling moments, heartbreaking moments? Check. Good writing? Check. So, overall, did I enjoy Woman No. 17? Yes. But...I never really got the point. It read like a quirky, slightly meandering character study with glimmers of mystery and conflict, but no real central plot to move the story along. I guess the apex of the drama was *spoiler* when they all clash at Marco's house, but it ended with such a thud ("bye and sorry") and we never find out what came of *spoiler* Seth meeting his father (did they ever talk again?) that it seemed, well, anti-climactic.

As a big fan of her previous novel, California, I had high hopes for Woman No. 17. I was not disappointed - the story of Lady and S was very engaging and often I didn't want to put the book down. It is a fantastic, and very honest, story about women, motherhood and friendships, as well as finding your place in the world.

3.5 Stars

WOMAN #17 is a story filled with unusual and complex relationships and two characters in particular that are recklessly irresponsible thus unlikeable (for me) but......I still could not stop reading.

Edan Lepucki brings something different to this novel, communication through expression and expression through various forms of art, and while Lady and "S" are the main protagonists, it is Seth's character and story that kept me reading to find out more.

Combined with a super high weird factor, you will find....sex....secrets....lies....and an abundance of alcohol consumption that unfortunately leads to an unnecessary mishap of animal abuse.

Overall, thought the writing was good, and the storyline unique. Look forward to reading California.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Crown Publishing for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Woman No. 17 is the upcoming novel from author Edan Lepucki, described as “noir,” although I don’t see the connection. I loved this novel, I just wouldn’t put it in the category of noir. Lady is separated from her sweet, loving husband Karl, so decides to hire a nanny for her toddler-age son, Devin, to allow more time for writing a novel/memoir about life with her 18-year-old son Seth, a selective mute. Here is where we meet S, the new nanny. Actually named Esther Shapiro, S has reinvented herself several times for the sake of art projects or experiments, this time going by S and mimicking her mother regarding clothing, hair, lack of make-up, etc.

The protagonist or main character was equally both Lady and S but in different ways. Lady is dealing with separating from Karl (her choice), raising young Devin, writing a book, and nurturing her relationship with Seth. Much more drama comes into her life, but no spoilers here. S is a complex and complicated character, taking on the persona of her mother, yet still allowing real versions of her shine through from time to time. Despite Seth’s refusal and/or inability to speak, S takes a “liking” to him and finds herself consumed in thoughts about him. She also obsesses about Lady and her sister-in-law Kit (a famous photographer), including a potentially awkward masturbation scene to a picture of Lady, taken by Kit.

There are so many themes and subplots to this novel I’m not sure where to begin. Honestly, I think I need to do bullet points….

parenting
spousal and ex-spousal relationships
art – limitations and boundaries
friendship
mother-daughter issues
drinking
art
drinking
art
Yes, I repeated a few and did so on purpose. Throughout S’s project/experiment trying to become her mother, there is a lot of drinking and a lot of art or attempts at art. But don’t be put-off by that comment because there is so much more to this novel. When is a mother too clingy or pushy? How does not having the natural father in their life affect a child? What kind of guilt is carried with long-term arguments?

Woman No. 17 takes the reader on a journey about obsessions, secrets, and how revelations about those can cause a family to explode. The complexity of Lady and S’s relationship with one another is amazing, as well as, the relationships that develop throughout the novel. There isn’t one huge, climactic event in this novel, but rather, a continuous string of surprises and actions that build wonderful tension and suspense about what will happen next. This is definitely a novel that will inspire a lot of thinking and reflection about the characters, their relationships, and boundaries. I highly, highly recommend grabbing this one and be prepared to be rendered useless to the outside world once you start reading, because you will not put it down.

*Thanks to NetGalley for providing a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Woman No. 17 by Edan Lepucki is a story of art, motherhood and female friendships. The characters are quirky and off-center.

Esther or S (depending on her mood) is a young artist reenacting her mother's youth; which includes lots of alcohol and erratic behavior. She becomes a nanny for a very complicated woman, Lady who has two sons, one not much younger than the nanny and the other a toddler. Lady is taking a sabbatical from her husband and needs help raising her youngest son.

Mayhem ensues, there are parallels in Lady's and Esther's life, the book is weirdly complicated and very readable.

The Sins of the Mothers: on Edan Lepucki’s ‘Woman No. 17’

Moms can only protect their children for a short while, and never completely. Aside from socio-economic-cultural-paternal pressures, there are invisible dangers, everywhere. Cycles of addiction, neglect, or “maternal bad choices” tend to revolve through generations. Relationships between mothers and their children fuel WOMAN NO. 17. There are complex dynamics between the mom (Lady), The Sitter (S), and her charges (Devin, 3, and Seth, 18). Seth is selectively mute, and expresses himself in various innovative ways. In fact, he's probably my favorite character in the novel. In a world where disability is often shunned, or at best, accommodated, Seth displays heroic qualities and carries the keystone weight in essential narrative arcs of the book.

Featuring characters with a disability (for lack of a better term) in key roles is something the world needs much more of, and the author is to be applauded. Chirrut Imwe (the blind seer in the film ‘Rogue One’) or Flynn White (Skyler and Walter’s clever teenaged son living with CP in ‘Breaking Bad’) come to mind as starring examples. In each of these, the character’s power is enhanced by their “disability”, rather than limited or detracted by it.

Details of contemporary Los Angeles rivet Lepucki’s narrative, including sparkling swimming pool scenes and memorable driving-down-the-road adventures.

"Here it was, the moment I'd been dreading, the inevitable walk to the gallows. I just didn't think it would come when she and I were alone in my Camry, going 75 on the 170, the heat like a weight we had to wear, like a heavy X-ray apron. Any second now she might reach over and grab the wheel, kill us both, take out a few other drivers too. I hadn't answered yet, and I realized she was nervous, her hand cranking her window open and closed. Noises--engines, a helicopter, the wind--flew into the space between us, then were shut out, then returned."

It is the space between Lady and S that absolutely hums with intensity and surprises, like a thousand miniature, unpredictable earthquakes throughout the novel.

Los Angeles, where people freely reinvent themselves and their dreams, is a perfect setting. Neither Lady (nee Pearl) nor S (nee Esther) go by their given names. Photography as artifice as well as evidence is a potent theme. 'Woman No. 17' refers to an image of Lady taken after the birth of Seth, before the birth of Devin, by an uber-famous photographer who eventually becomes Lady's sister-in-law. The ways people choose to communicate (or not) provide powerful connective tissue: Twitter, texts, film, photography, phone, silence, ASL, secret hand signs, lies, aliases.

Lady muses: “This is the first special sign, born out of twin desires to communicate with my child and to express my guilt for hurting him. Language has two functions: to harm and to repair harm.”

Readers of contemporary literary women's fiction in the vein of Maria Semple's WHERE"D YOU GO, BERNADETTE or Kaui Hart Hemmings' HOW TO PARTY WITH AN INFANT will adore WOMAN NO. 17.

When I saw this book offered on Net Galley, I immediately requested it. I enjoyed her book "California" and was anxious to read this one. This book, however, was nothing like her previous one. I will say that it had the quirkiest and strangest characters in one book that I have come upon in a long time.

I won't go into them, because this is a book you will have to read for yourself. It is a very good read and everyone, I mean EVERYONE in this book has their faults. And, the author has put them front and center. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and am glad that I got the chance.

Huge thanks to Crown Publishing and Net Galley for giving me that chance to read and review this most unusual story with it's cast of quirky characters. I loved it!!

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read and review this book!

I'm not quite sure how to review this book - it was such a different read. However, the writing was compelling and I wanted to see where it all would lead. The ending probably redeemed the book and moved it into 4 stars for me.

Lucy Daniels is the mother of toddler, Devin, and 18-year-old, Seth, who has selective mutism and has never spoken. She's under contract to write a book about her experience of mothering Seth and hires S (Esther) as a nanny for Devin so that she can focus on writing. S is trying to reinvent herself by playacting at being her mother with her art - which involves lots of drinking.

At its heart, this is a story of the complicated mother-daughter-friend relationships as well as relationships with men that each of these characters chose. The characters themselves aren't real likeable - Karl was about the only one that always seemed to chose the right path! Not always an easy read but an interesting take on mothering.

Woman No. 17 has a lot going on. Fortunately, the main storyline doesn't get lost in all the personalities of the main character(s).
Esther (S) and Lady are an interesting pair of narrators. Each has her share of demons that emerge as the story develops along with their friendship. There were times when I couldn't stand either one of them and in the next chapter was hoping only the best for each of them. While their friendship was toxic to both of them, I think it also helped each of them realize the truth about their individual situations.
As I process, the end of this novel, I am most concerned about the future for Devin, the toddler son of Lady and Karl. Does this child have a chance for a normal childhood/life? I'm afraid not.
The art in this novel was really fascinating. I just wish when a novel has art as a main element of the plot that there were also pictures to go along with it.
Thank you NetGalley for the advanced reader copy of Edan Lepucki's Woman No. 17.

If you like novels that are more character study than plot, you'll find a lot to enjoy about this one. Or if not enjoy, a lot to discuss. I'm sure more than a few themes and some symbolization went over my head, although that might have been because I found the two main characters to be so perplexing. They self-sabotaged time and again without ever really moving toward growth or self-awareness. If I'm going to read something with unlikable protagonists, I need to either see them become redeemed or at least understand their motivations. In this case, however, it was more like "poor rich white girls" and that isn't interesting to me. I did find Lady's son Seth to be the most compelling because of his mutism and their codependent relationship and how it factors into Lady's sense of worth and identity. A book club would have a lot to pick apart with this one.

I received an ARC of Woman No. 17 through NetGalley for an honest review. Thank you to Crown Publishing for the opportunity.

Set near the Hollywood Hills, Edan Lepucki’s dark comedy begins with Lady Daniels, an early forties reluctant writer and mother of two, and Esther Shapiro or “S”, a twentysomething college graduate looking for steady work and a chance to express herself through art. Lady ends up hiring S to be a nanny to her toddler son Devin. The people in Lady and S’s lives begin in separate circles but eventually these relationships turn into a Venn diagram where their lives intersect and some unexpectedly become closely entwined both physically and emotionally.

I became attached to each character as the book progressed even though no character was completely likeable because of their flaws and behaving badly. Lepucki fleshes her characters out in great detail and exposes their vulnerability, faults, and shows their human side. Each person has secrets, estranged relationships, and every character has a dysfunctional relationship with their mother who shaped and molded them into who they are today.

This diverse group came to life for me through the author’s vivid descriptions of the characters’ backgrounds and gave me insight into worlds that I normally don’t encounter – art, the digital age, alcoholism, complicated relationships, binge drinking, and life in Los Angeles.

“Noir” is the perfect description for this book. You will laugh out loud at the dialogue, and Lady and S’s inner monologue. You will get to know each character and become involved with them. You will wince and shake your head when they make bad decisions (and they make a lot of them), but most of all, you will enjoy this book. Well done. Highly recommend.

A fun and exciting novel about love and relationships!! Such a great novel. Loved it to bits!!

I tend to love books about female friendships and this one did not disappoint as it was so much more than that! When Lady hires Esther--known as S--she is impressed by the girl's open easy demeanor as she cares for Lady's toddler son. But S's relationship with Lady's elder mute son is far from the what Lady hopes for or expects. We discover that both young women have had issues with their own parents as well as relationships with men. So as their tenuous friendship becomes closer, we witness each woman's past pain and present collide. Told with compassion and lovely prose, this is a novel that will stay with me for a long time.

Hard to put down simply because the writing was so good- has that postmodern stevia aftertaste common to the genre-deep
themes cloaked in light humor which makes for a deliberate? If fun disconnect. the flawed, very LA characters skirt believability and are both compelling and odious all at once .. Should
draw totally mixed reviews-