Rating: 
Summary: A valuable read for any parent!
Review: This book was a very interesting read. I would like to believe that everything the two authors describe is just a compilation of everything bad they have every experienced while being nannies for the over 30 families they claimed to have worked for between them, and not just any one particular client. The "disfunctional" family of the "X's" (Mr. X, Mrs.X and their 4 year old son, Grayer)and their hired work "Nanny" are the charecters of this book. With every page I read, the antics of the demanding mother, and workaholic father were disturbing and downright enraged me.
For you socialite New York mothers out there, if you were one of parents these two authors worked for, and you behave anything like "Mrs.X" did in the book, shame on you.For all you nannys out there who are over-worked, underpaid, and just trying to make a difference in children's lives, I applaud you for giving them the attention and love they need. For the other 99.9% of us out there who cannot afford hired help, be glad your lives aren't like these people. This is a perfect example of "Money doesn't buy happiness." Please read this book, have a laugh, and be appalled at the antics of the fictional family. Most of all I hope you come away with the valuable lesson this book is trying to tell us, that "time is running out" to spend time with our children. When they are young, they love their parents "unconditionally" but soon they may not love us at all, so take the time out to to get to know your kids, even if it is for 5 minutes a day to ask them how school went and to tell them you love them. Don't turn out to be "Mrs.X"!!!!!!
Rating: 
Summary: most of us would have exploded after such abuse
Review: I was extremely disappointed with the end of this book. I honestly think there could have been a better way for her to maintain her "grace" & dignity but to really get her point across to the Xs'. However, overall the book was good.. it shows some of the extreme (or perhaps not so extreme?) cases of what people who take care of other people's children go through. (and it certainly will make me think twice of ever taking such a job)
Rating: 
Summary: Nanny, defend yourself!
Review: Nanny Diaries...a collection? Not! It's just one long story about a strong-willed NYU Child Development Major who works part-time as a nanny ... just happens her name is Nan. The paradox is that she cowers to her despicable employers who treat her like dirt. By the middle of the book, you're so sick of the situations, that you want Nan to tell Mrs. X to shove it and move on. That's the only reason for finishing the book...if you want to save time, just go from the middle to the last few pages. Oh, the authors felt the need to make Nan a smoker - this doesn't fit Nan's overall character at all - just Hollywood's uncreative symbol for frustration!
Rating: 
Summary: Poor Grayer
Review: The Nanny Diaries was a very enjoyable book, but that poor little boy that Nanny was taking care of! What a life, having parents and not having them. There must be millions of kids in the world just like him. The Nanny Diaries is not in the classics league, but it told a good story. That story must be true to life, too. That's what's frightening.
Rating:
Summary: Fluffy
Review: If you're in the mood for a breezy, fluffy book that mentions Prada and Hermes and Tiffany's every other page, this is for you. The authors aren't stupid; it's not poorly written, nor boring. Well, okay, it does get boring after 100 pages or so of the same thing. 300 pages = too much. I'm a New Yorker and the references are familiar and were fun at the start. The revenge factor was, in its evil way, fun too. Then I started to feel sorry for the real children whose nannies these were, who will one day read this. Also, just me - I like a book at least to say something about something, even if it is breezy reading. Take this one to the beach, or wherever, and space out - you'll finish in a couple of days and be no different for the experience... just perhaps able to recognize a greater amount of expensive brand names.
Rating:
Summary: Nanny Needs a Brain Transplant
Review: While the position of the "Nanny" in this book is sympathetic, and it is meant to be an expose of the nasty way these women are treated by their shallow and "user" employers, the main character lacks both a brain--at least when it comes to making decisions that make any sense--and a spine. Our heroine is a student at NYU, trying to earn the money to pay for the studio apartment she shares with a stewardess who insists on boinking her hairy boyfriend in the same room. Once she starts the job, she will not quit, no matter how badly she is treated, or how many other jobs she could get, evidenced by lots of interest at the start of the book. References are not a problem, as the snobby employers are only interested in the fact that she is white and speaks French. The rent money motive makes little sense when her parents, with whom she is on affectionate terms, also live in Manhattan, and must still have a room she could re-occupy if things are this bad for her. But no. She wants to suffer, claiming her affection for the child. Even though she knows she will have to leave when she graduates in a few months. She allows Mrs. X, her employer, to fail to pay her for weeks on end, and finally to pay her only $3 a hour for labor above and beyond the call of duty. It's also a mystery who takes care of the four-year-old boy while Nanny is pursuing her full load of classes at NYU, since Mrs. X will not even allow her little boy to touch her--who gives the child breakfast and gets him to pre-school, etc.? Never mentioned. Nanny is also a doormat in her relationship with the Harvard Hottie she meets on the elevator. He never takes her anywhere, doesn't even want to see her for the first time for what amounts to months, and then their relationship consists almost entirely of the odd phone conversation while he toots around the world pursuing his interests. Nanny records a scorching tape on the NannyCam for her employers when the wife fires her abruptly, then erases it, and makes a Goody-Two-Shoes speech on the tape instead. And earlier tries to shield Mrs. X from the fact that Mr. X has his Chicago girlfriend installed in their apartment whenever Mrs. X is out of town. I would have cared about Nanny a lot more if she hadn't been such a dishrag.
Rating:
Summary: Simply Fun
Review: A well-written, fast read. The characters are well developed, that you actually feel sorry for the little tykes- of the socialites. These authors did a great job in giving us a peak at the upper east side housewife syndrome!
Rating:
Summary: True to Life
Review: Its difficult to put down this book with the humorously real stories and depiction of neurotic upper east side snobery, scandals, and blatant disregard for anyone different from them.
Rating:
Summary: Hilarious! can put it down read
Review: This was a fabulous book it was funny and at total blast to read. It revolved around a nanny who gets stuck with a bratty kid and his super rich super snobby parents the novel is so good you won't be able to put it down.
Rating:
Summary: No Life For Nanny
Review: This story of a young nanny working for a rich Park Avenue family seems true to life on many levels. Nanny grows to really care for Grayer, the 4-year-old whose mother has no time and no inclination for him. I found the bond between child and nanny realistic and believable. She gives him the love and attention no one in the family will, but at the same time, they are his family and he would like to be noticed by them. There were things in this novel I can relate to, mainly the long hours nanny works as Grayer's surrogate mother and what she gets in return: no life (practically) of her own, a small salary and an aching heart when it's all over. The subplot involving his parents' marriage is interesting and well done.
|
