Rating: 
Summary: Good
Review: I enjoyed Nanny Diaries very much, but the person I felt the most sorry for was Grayer! Watching people come and go in his life, his parents ignore him, no one to really bond to. You could see how he blossomed with Nanny taking care of him, and the mother is so cruel! Yes, the book was very funny, but the downside really brings you down. I also didn't like the ending. Nothing is really resolved. It ends exactly the way it begins.
Rating: 
Summary: Right on the money!!!
Review: I too was a nanny on Park Ave. and have experienced sooo much of this book firsthand. From my experience this is the way that people in New York City raise their children- SAD but true! These children are routinely ignored and neglected (not materially but emotionally). I couldn't wait to read this book to see how the author's experiences compared to mine. I know that it is only a work of fiction, but it rings very true with the "real" Upper East Side families.
Rating: 
Summary: SO TRUE!
Review: As a nanny, this book speaks volumes as to our role. If you aren't a nanny and are reading this great book, thinking it's overly dramatic, I can vouch that it is not. Every crazy thing that happens in the book has happened to me, and I'm a nanny in boring Ohio. It happens everywhere, not just glamorous New York. I just can't believe she stays with the family as long as she does. I did it for eight weeks before I gave up and found a GREAT family. This is a great read for nannies but others who read it may not enjoy it as well.
Rating:
Summary: FUNNY, INSIGHTFUL & COMPASSIONATE
Review: I loved this book. The authors take you on a journey that is hilarious . At the end you will be torn between smiles and tears at the reality of Nanny's "fictional" Diaries.
Rating:
Summary: Cutting-Edge Satire
Review: I'm familiar with the terrain, the industry, and even some of the types that Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus have so perceptively skewered in THE NANNY DIARIES. The perceptions and morality of their young protagonist strike me as being spot-on, but I wonder how perceptive she'd be if she weren't, both by education and ancestry, very close to being part of that world herself. Along that line, I thought that the most poignant moments came in her descriptions of other nannies, less-advantaged, and with the exception of one, Sima, less-well-educated, and the terrible suppressed anger they feel. I don't think this is a funny book. I think this is a superbly concentrated book about love and cruelty. "Nan" is not cruel; she's loving; and she's fortunate to have loving parents and a grandmother who can set her straight -- a gift she tries to pass onto her young charge Grayer, who really is quite charming and funny. His gift to her of a Valentine and his abiding affection for his prior nanny, Caitlin, were beautifully done. But the Xes...here is social satire at its most ferocious. The authors nail the requisite status symbols and the extravagance of the financial nouveaux (by the way, the lavender linen water really is very nice!). Their dialogue is marvelously nuanced, from the casual effrontery of Mrs. X, appropriating Nanny's life, to her notes, to the jargon-laden tranquilizing speech of the parasitical "problem-solving" professionals who cater to people like her, to the bluntness of Mr. X and his mother. And the writers contrast it with the parents who -are- parents, both in New York and on Nantucket, which remains a place where the old families are readily distinguishable from summer people. What I noticed as I went through the book (and people might want to be careful here because I'm coming dangerously close to SPOILERS!) is that Mrs. X gradually emerges as one of the "guerrilla wives." She stole her husband from the first Mrs. X and knows that she too can be replaced with a younger, juicier model: her cruelty is that of someone temporarily higher on the food chain, but aware that she is as much of a handi-wipe as the ones that good nannies (and good parents) carry to clean up messes with. There is some -schadenfreude- here: it's fun, even cathartic, to see these particular rich and careless people as bad and to laugh at their antics. The authors are more subtle than that, however: despite their comments about bunnies and elevators with more and nicer spaces than most of the rest of New York's denizens, they're quite aware of the domestic human tragedies in the world of conspicuous consumption that they chronicle. And they leave open the question that intrigued me: What would Nanny do, given a financially advantageous marriage, if, suddenly, she found herself standing in their Pradas? For that matter, what would the rest of us do? With considerably more vim and four-letter words, these writers in their debut novel add new sight lines to the territory of JANE EYRE, THE GREAT GATSBY, and Edith Wharton. The rich are different. They're cruel. They're careless. And their world, while unforgiving to the discards, can be seductive to onlookers. VERY well-done, VERY well-written, but too painful to be the "romp" its marketing push led me to expect.
Rating:
Summary: Super Satire
Review: This was a shocker for me. Social satire is tough to write, but this first novel is a direct hit. It exposes the social problem for all to see, and it tells a tale that will resonate not just on Park Ave. but in places like Palm Beach, Palm Springs, Grosse Point, Beacon Hill, and the Golden Mile in Chicago. The biggest surprise, though, is the comic touch of these new writers. The dialogue, the notes from "X", and the asides are side-splitting. One final note- if they ever make a movie from this great tale, I can't wait to see who plays Mrs. "X"!!
Rating:
Summary: Julia Roberts Outstanding Performance!
Review: I read a wonderful review of the book but when I saw that Julia Roberts was reading this production, I decided to listen to the audio instead. And boy was I impressed! Julia made this already funny book even more hilarious. I would highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: When is the Sequel?
Review: This is a frightening story about how the new rich treat their children as acquisitions and objects, just like their houses in the Hamptons and Aspen, to be taken out and shown off when appropriate and otherwise hidden away. It is a fast easy read filled with details of NY life that are unimaginable, but real. I've met these moms and seen their nannies and only one is qualified to take care of a child (and it isn't the mom). Unhappily, there is a lot of truth to this story. I cannot wait for the sequel or the movie.
Rating:
Summary: A Pure Delight
Review: I found this book refreshing and insightful- a glimpse into the world of children born to alternative parents! I laughed as I turned every page.
Rating:
Summary: Former nannies everywhere will love this book!
Review: This book is hilarious. I couldn't put it down. At the same time, though, it packs a wallop. As a former nanny, I can attest that they are telling the truth about parents who believe that their nanny does not deserve to have a personal life, to make a living wage, or to even be treated with courtesy. These parents spend as little time as possible with their own children. At the same time, they demand a standard of care that they themselves could never deliver. There also is the very real phenomenon of the nanny's quickly becoming expendable when the parents realize that their child is more bonded to the nanny than the child is to them. As another reviewer has noted, we're already beginning to see what happens to children who are virtually ignored by their parents, and raised by a succession of strangers. Again, the book's terrific. I can only hope that the former employers of the authors are quaking in their Blahniks at being publicly unmasked.
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