The Nanny Diaries

Rating:
Summary: Nanny needs her own nanny
Review: Let me just start off with the fact that the first half of the book I read with great pleasure. The second half of the book was almost torture. I wanted to jump in the pages and shake the heck out of Nanny. She needs someone to guide her and inform her on what is right and wrong. I couldn't take the whining, the endless whining. Please Nanny, forget the $800 dollars, pretend you never got it in the mail! Nanny, we have all worked while in school. Prioritize!! Please, can anyone stop all the whining?

Rating:
Summary: Very overrated.
Review: I have 2 small kids and a nanny and babysat myself for years - a sister gave me this book thinking I'd get a few laughs. I couldn't relate to any of it. Where I live, people bend over backwards for nannies who are dedicated and loving because replacements are so hard to find. And the X's fire supernannies in droves because they do things like feed Grayer a muffin in the park? This is simply unbelievable. Nanny's willingness to put up with such dehumanizing treatment is exasperating. I find it hard to believe that this book has garnered such popularity - even the authors' descriptions of 4-year-old Grayer's behavior is totally out-of-sync with reality. Grayer is sometimes 4, sometimes 1, and sometimes 14 in this book. There are much better uses of one's time than reading this.

Rating:
Summary: Not worth it
Review: If you must read it, get it from the library because you won't want to read it again. I kept reading to try to get to the good parts, but they never came. The characters are assigned the fake names Mrs. X and Nanny, which made it annoying to read. I didn't find it funny at all. I thought the main character was a big whiner.

Nanny needed to take more responsibility and be more professional. For example, if she had a career job, she would have asked her boss for the day off for her graduation weeks ahead of time, not at the last minute before the equivalent of a scheduled business trip. Come on, graduation day is set at the beginning of the school year. As miserable as she was, she should have just quit. As a NYU senior, she could have easily gotten a job paying more than $10-$12/hour in Manhattan. But maybe she couldn't because she had such a bad attitude.

I had friends living on the Upper East Side who had nannies, and they were nothing like the family portrayed in the book. Both parents worked, they lived in tiny one bedroom apartments, and they did their own cooking when they had dinner parties.

There are a couple of "insider" secrets that did ring true. I did know investment bankers who cheated on their wives with their assistants. The Christmas-time bonus money was ridiculous - doormen, parking valets, hair dresser, secretaries, maids, etc. all started being extra nice to you after Thanksgiving and expected huge amounts of cash at year end. And Valentine's Day reservations are booked up over a month ahead of time, even the 10pm slot.

Rating:
Summary: Often laugh-out-loud funny, yet often poignant and sad
Review: The Nanny Diaries is a wonderful book. Two former nannies, who collectively have worked for over thirty New York families, have compiled some of their experiences to form a story about Mr. and Mrs. X, and their adorable and often neglected 4-year-old son, Grayer. The demands made on Nan, the aptly named nanny, are ridiculous: for instance, forcing her and Grayer to dress as Teletubbies for a Halloween party. While at this party, Nan catches Mr.X having an affair, and is torn whether or not tell Mrs.X. The suspense of this novel is wondering just what the nanny will be asked to do next. Meanwhile, the nanny is working on her degree at NYU, and pursuing a hottie who lives in the same building as the X's. For a funny, yet poignant, book with an actual plot, I highly recommend The Nanny Diaries.

Rating:
Summary: By turns FUNNY and HORRIFYING!
Review: Oh my God. I am so glad I am not a nanny. To be treated like you're not a person just because you're getting paid (and the pay's not even that great!), that is the pits!

This book is funny. It's something of an eye-opener for those who aren't child care professionals. For me it wasn't exactly the most gripping or powerful book I've ever read--hence the three instead of five stars--but it's still good. I could really feel Nanny's frustration just shortly before the book ended.

If you're looking for a light but still intelligent read, this one's worth a try.

Rating:
Summary: Not as light and funny as I heard....
Review: I picked this one up to see what all the fuss was about! It was an easy read and had great appeal, but I found it tragic and sad. I sure hope the parents in the book are a culmination of all the bad things the nannies ran into during their careers and that no one set of parents was really that bad. Because if not, the parents should be arrested for child neglect. And the nanny should consider therapy for letting Mrs. X treat her sooo badly. I would have quit! Nanny Diaries was a good book, but don't pick it up expecting a "light" read. There are some very funny parts, but overall the theme was how prevelant bad parenting is in this scene.

Rating:
Summary: Depressing, unbelievable, disappointing ending
Review: I have to agree with the assessments that the neglect of the main child character, Grayer, is depressing. Even more disheartening, though, is that Nanny doesn't have enough backbone to stick up for herself OR her charge. I found it completely unbelievable that a educated person like Nanny, with a supportive family and friends, would put up with such shoddy treatment for $10/hr. I kept waiting for her to say something to Mrs. X about how unfairly she was treated and how unloving Mrs. X was to her son. You have to wade through 300 pages of drivel before Nanny finally stands up to the Xes... and then it's not even to them, but to their Nannycam! Sorry, but as a former NYer and NYU student, you have to have a lot more [gumption] than that just to survive in Manhattan. I found the whole thing ridiculous and a waste of time.

Rating:
Summary: not funny
Review: I think the authors have tried to make a funny novel, but I dont really think it was. Moreover the style of writing is not that good.
Well personally, at the end of the book, when I thought about it, I didnt laugh when reading it, and I didn't gain anything from it

Rating:
Summary: Children as posessions of a successful marriage
Review: Well the Marriage was not too successful, the child would bond to the next nanny then loose her. Poor Nanny has a mess, She should have known with the matching teletubby costumes for her and Grayer. The X family treated her like a serf and then resented the factthat she managed to love and care for their little boy. In today's world it seems only appearances matter no feelings. Especialy the feelings of one little boy.
I enjoyed the book. I was fortunate to be able to raise, enjoy my son(and not suffer from all the bitter jealousy), and allow him to be a 4 year old and just be and play and think. Children do very well with a little benign neglect. They are not ours for ever so enjoy them while we can. Don't look at a 4 year old as an accessorie you can put on once in a while to buff up the laquered surface of your marriage. He is a successful student in a nice school and a talented muscian. He also does not whine like some other tots "but I must have it." Nanny is right, the world would have been better if those children were allowed to nap. It was a very funny, wicked book. I thouroughly enjoyed it. I hope Nanny and Harvard got together despite the self centered Mrs. X.

Rating:
Summary: very overrated
Review: I couldn't believe how badly written this book is. It's heavyhanded. The co-authors lack the subtlety and finesse of real writers. The characters are one-dimensional. The "touching" moments are underlined, highlighted, and all but pointed out to the reader lest we should miss them. Maybe the movie will be better.