Rating: 
Summary: A must-read for all college students babysitters!
Review: An engaging tale of an NYU senior's perils childminding the child of a rich and distracted Upper East side couple. I kept wishing Nanny would listen to her mother and leave the X's and find a better situation. I could empathize with her devotion to Grayer. Sorry to say, but Nanny's plight is similar to that of many college students who need to make some cash. Kudos for keeping their portrayal of Mr. and Mrs. X superficial throughout the story!
Rating: 
Summary: It never got better
Review: I read this entire book hoping that something interesting was about to happen. Like Ms. Chicago was going to shoot Mrs. X and Nanny was going to flee cross-country with Grayer. Or Mr. X was going to lose his fortune and we'd see them forced to live like normal people for a while. Or Nanny was going to call child protective services on them. Or anything else meaningful, funny, or interesting.It doesn't happen. Nanny spends the entire time suffering and whining, the X's spend the entire book being pretentious and ignoring their son, Ms. Chicago never does anything, and no one in the entire book except the little boy has a personality or even a name. This book is not a best seller because it's well written. It is a best seller because the parents are so over-the-top godawful that people who neglect their children or exploit their hired help can read about these fictional characters and feel smugly relieved that they're better than THAT, and then go on neglecting and exploiting with a slightly shined up conscience. Middle-class people can read it and feel superior to rich people. Nannies can read it and pat themselves on the back for loving their charges more than their own parents do, whether it's true in their case or not. It's a feel-good book if you need that kind of validation, in other words. If you don't, the characters are flat and unlikeable, there is no plot, and child abuse is NOT as funny as these authors think it is!
Rating:
Summary: Overall, a good read
Review: Though perhaps not the best written book, it was entertaining and really held my interest. My biggest criticism is that it is a bit hard to follow in places. The speaker is not always identified. Our heroine does possess some less-than-ideal habits: smoking, drinking, swearing, etc on the job (Oh I know, it couldn't possibly be a bestseller without being "real"). The luxury brand name dropping, while amusing at first, becomes tired and contrived as the book progresses. Still, a very good read. Enjoyed the wit and irony.
Rating: 
Summary: Enchanting and Alarming
Review: This book is wonderful. I started reading it on a friday evening and was finished by saturday afternoon. It is a relaxed easy reading that is very well written. Having grown up with loving parents, it's hard to believe that this story has an element of truth. I couldn't put it down. If you like reality with a little bit of humor tossed in then this is the book for you!
Rating: 
Summary: Light, easy read
Review: I found this book to be a fast, light read. While it's not classic literature, it was entertaining in the type of way that a "People" magazine is entertaining. It held my attention and I finished it in a couple of days' worth of train rides. I wouldn't mind seeing a sequel to see how the Nanny's life unfolds.
Rating:
Summary: A let down
Review: I enjoyed reading the book, but felt overall it was disappointing. I won't spoil the ending but I'll just say it didn't satisfy. It's like they just quickly had to finish the book and then all of a sudden it's over without a satisfactory resolution.
Rating:
Summary: Very Truthful
Review: I really liked this book, it's the kind where you just don't want to put it down. I read the whole book in only a few days. It's a great book and I'd recommend it to anyone who understood what it felt to be "downsized".
Rating:
Summary: Hilariously horrifying
Review: Co-written by former nannies Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus, "The Nanny Diaries" is a highly satirical (and only slightly exaggerated) look at the bizarre world of child-raising in New York's upper crust. Our heroine, Nan (what else would she be named?), takes a job raising Grayer, the four-year-old son of the rich and disgusting X family. (For some sadistic reason, all the upper-crust children in the novel have names which would get other kids beaten up at school on a daily basis. Grayer's friends have names like Darwin, Cristabelle, Carter, and so on.) The book is both hilarious and horrifying at the same time, and it makes one appreciate the job of raising kids all the more. Nan is given the unenviable task of guiding Grayer through a maze of activities, including music lessons, piano lessons, French lessons, karate lessons, and so on. "Non-structured" activities are restricted to art museums, libraries and the Swedish Consulate. Fun stuff like playing on the swings and in the sandbox is apparently not allowed. With an environment so nurturing and caring, it's no wonder so many of these kids feel the need to blow their minds inside out on drugs. This is largely because Grayer's parents are truly horrible people, making one feel the need to reach through the pages, throttle them, and take away their child to be raised by anyone with an ounce of sense. Wolves, perhaps. The horrifically self-centered Mrs. X, in between asking Nan to go out and buy lavender water for an intimate party of fifty and other non-nanny tasks, occupies her day with manicures, charity events, abusing the domestic staff, and pretty much everything else except actually working and having anything to do with her son. Mr. X is seen only briefly and intermittently as he juggles mergers and mistresses in his job on Wall Street. And his girlfriend, known only as Ms. Chicago, also has a whack at Nan, asking her to cover up her activities and buy foie gras for an intimate encounter with Mr. X. For her part, all Mrs. X cares about is getting Grayer, at the ripe old age of four, into the right school. When he gets into another school instead, it is a major catastrophe, and a "long-term development consultant" is called in to berate Nan for not taking him to the Guggenheim, reading to him from the "Wall Street Journal," or having him translate his clothes sizes and colors into Latin. One flips the pages with breathless anticipation, wondering what new outrage Mrs. X will think up to heap on Nan next. McLaughlin and Kraus clearly draw on their experiences in writing the novel. "The Nanny Diaries" is a delightfully nasty take on the attitude that too many parents have, that their kids are mere accessories instead of people who need love and attention. Grayer sure isn't getting any, at least not from his parents.
Rating:
Summary: Not bad, not great
Review: I was told this book is a "laugh riot." It was okay.. not as funny as I thought it would be. However, it was worth the read, just don't expect too much.
Rating:
Summary: Light and Funny - A quick read
Review: Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus provide a light and funny quick read in their novel "The Nanny Diaries." In this book Nan, an appropriately named nanny, recounts her time taking care of Grayer, the 4-year-old son of a wealthy and spoiled couple, the Xes. Mrs. X seems to be oddly allergic to her own son while Mr. X appears to have similar symptoms when in comes to his family. This leaves Nan not only in charge of Grayer, but essentially everything concerning the family's life. "The Nanny Diaries" is entertaining and charming as well as being somewhat addictive (I finished it in less than 24 hours). The things that the X's demand of Nanny are unbelievable! However, it left me somewhat unsatisfied, as I still felt the need to get revenge on Mrs. X for all that she did to Nan. But I guess that makes it a good book, right? At any rate, "The Nanny Diaries" is a book definitely worth reading - the lives that these stuck-up wealthy families lead are outrageous! It's a great glimpse into the frustrating life of a New-York nanny. Although not one of my all-time favorites, this was an enjoyable book - great for a little relaxation!
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