Rating: 
Summary: Fun, light, but ...
Review: ... not too light.The story revolves around the ups and (mostly) downs of a young NYC student who accepts to nanny four-year-old Grayer. Although she has worked as a nanny before, she very quickly becomes much more than a nanny to the X family; she is also asked to pick up gifts, dry-cleaning, etc. Her employer, Mrs X, is quite a number. Nanny must make herself available to Mrs X to a much larger degree than what she had accepted when hired, and soon realises that she now has this job because the previous nanny had the nerve to ask for a week off. What I liked the most about this story is the portrayal of a profoundly dysfunctional upper class family in NY who leave the bringing up of their child to "an employee", while whining to all of their friends about how demanding a child can be. Not that they would know, since they're never around! It also is a very human story as we see the impact these behaviours have on poor little Grayer. I strongly recommend this book.
Rating: 
Summary: well written but depressing
Review: Bought the nanny diaries which is reputedly funny but which I find vaguely depressing. The mother, the child, the nanny and even the entirely absent father all feel sad and desperate (the nanny the least so, she is, after all, the heroine. But the mother, made faintly ridiculous, is just so unhappy that it hurts me to read about her, with her huge stress over dinner parties and divorcing friends and her unfaithful husband...) Interestingly, I've read hundred's of books in public, but this was one that people kept walking up to me and asking me what I thought, so it has a huge public awareness.
Rating: 
Summary: despicable drivel
Review: It is hard to believe that the authors are college graduates, or even high school grads for that matter. Their "nanny" is about as sympathetic as the Park Avenue mothers-from-hell they attempt to portray. Just complete [waste of time]. My new copy went directly into the trash can in order to spare others from this insult to the written word.
Rating:
Summary: Simply disgusting
Review: Tried to read this book. Couldn't wade through the filthy and unwarranted language to find anything to like about it. Felt bad for the child, the nanny was a wimp, wasn't even entertaining! Anyway, you can read the other one stars. So glad I only checked it out at the library!
Rating: 
Summary: The Nanny Diaries
Review: The first chapter was brilliantly written, but then it took a giant nose dive. The story became redundant and the lack of descriptives did not help it, i had difficulty really imagining the characters and story's backdrop. The endless use of Mr.& Mrs X, Ms.Chicago and Nanny was just plain annoying. After awhile you just want this book to end. ( However,i did get tearful when Nanny was spending her last moments with Grayer).
Rating: 
Summary: Pleasantly Surprised
Review: I bought this book at an airport in London, and had vowed to throw it away before I arrived home. (so no one would know I had read it) I expected a trashy fun novel and got a well written, witty, heartbreaking and moving story. Congrats to two women with brains.
Rating:
Summary: Flatter than a punctured tyre.........
Review: What a disappointment this novel was! I won't reiterate what others have said about the plot, suffice to say that Nanny's acceptance of all that the X's put her through had me wanting to shake her half-way through the book. There is no way on EARTH that I would let employers treat me this way, especially if I came from an upper-class family like Nanny does (rather unrealistic to think she'd be putting up with the X's in this instance). If she so desperately needed a job, surely she would have endured far less stress working at McDonalds! The flat ending was the final straw - WHY did I buy this novel???? If they ever turn this novel into a movie (and no doubt they will) I certainly hope they make some serious changes to the storyline....particularly the ending. The only thing I WILL say about the novel is that I felt extremely sorry for Grayer (the X's son) who constantly strived for his parents' attention. Any kid growing up the way Grayer does will have some SERIOUS issues as he gets older, and the only people to blame will be the very people who brought him into the world. And to think there are couples out there who actually WANT children (for all the RIGHT reasons) but will never have any.....where is the justice in that?
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing & Depressing
Review: I was very eager to read this book. I had assumed from reviews and the prologue that this book would be witty and perhaps bitingly funny. The advanced praise on the jacket laud's both humor and satire. If that is what you are looking for, this isn't it.
I did not dislike this book because it was different than I expected. I disliked it because it was very very depressing, and redundantly so. It starts of good but then rapidly spirals downward. Every chapter is the same formula, unreasonable and selfish Mrs.X, absent Mr. X, sweet and neglected Grayer, and spineless whining Nanny.I really wanted to like this book, but by 3/4 of the way through, I could barely stand to pick it up, I just dreaded how bad it left me feeling.
As other reviewers have stated, there is no resolution, the ending is very unsatisfying. You can't always have a happy ending, especially if you are going for realism, but the total lack of resolution or any sort of growth of character may leave you wondering what the point was. Really after 300 pages, there just wasn't one.
I would like to add that I think the authors are very talented, and could do good things. But whoever thought, even if it happened to be based on actual events, that this book was entertaining and worthwhile even as caricature or light entertainment was mistaken. It just made me hurt for all the real Grayers out there. And that isn't why I would read a work of fiction.
Rating:
Summary: Started off good, then quickly went downhill
Review: After reading the excerpt of this book, I was looking forward to buying it for weeks. Finally I bought it, which was a mistake. The Nanny Diaries chronicles the life of a girl named Nan (who, for some reason, likes being called Nanny) and the family that she works for, the Xes. Mr. X is almost never present, and is having an affair, and Mrs. X is too busy with her own selfish activities to care about her son, Grayer. Nanny has the backbone of a jellyfish, and complains even more than the 4 year old she babysits. The Nanny Diaries started off really well. The prologue was absolutely hilarious and the first few chapters weren't bad either. However, as the book went on, it turned into a series of events following the same formula: Mrs. X makes an unreasonable demand, Nanny tries to do everything she can to do it (because, of course, she is an absolute saint), then she whines to her friends, family, and basically anybody else who will listen. This goes on for the first 304 pages of the novel (my version of the book was 306 pages total). The reader expects Nanny to stand up for herself at some point, but she keeps telling everyone how much she needs the money and is willing to go through anything to keep her job. This would be valid if Nanny was poor and starving, but she comes from an upper class family (very similar to the Xes in stature) and even states that she has often blown her paycheck on clothes and other frivolous things. This book would have been better if the main character hadn't been so spineless, if the other characters hadn't been so exaggerated, and if they had better names (at first they seem cute and clever, but after Nan is addressed as Nanny for about the millionth time, it gets old. And Mr. and Mrs. X?). As a result, it is hard to see any of the characters as real people and nearly impossible to relate to any of them. I think the authors did this in an attempt to make the book satirical, but it only makes it more tedious and unrealistic than it already is.
Rating:
Summary: Good until halfway through
Review: This book is good and written with much wit and anectodal charm until halfway through the book. I agree with some of the other reviewers here; the end is terrible and gives no resolution. The authors' idea of payback is an angry rant by Nanny into the newly discovered Nannycam. Not only is this action completely gutless, but the authors have overlooked an important detail: Nannycams don't have sound. And what would have been at least a small consolation prize to the reader - a biting truthful diatribe into the nannycam - is erased by nanny! This girl has no integrity or self-esteem. Supporting evidence: she lets her ridiculous roomate kick her out of her apartment when her name is on the lease, she never talked to her roomate about her ridiculously loud intercourse with her boyfriend, she never stands up to either of her employers, never says no to Mrs. X about anything, and never reveals the child's problems to either of the parents. Ms. McLaughlin and Ms. Klaus must obviously have been incredibly passive nannies. No self-respecting woman would let herself be trampled by her employers when she has several other options. It seems like the rich and famous are always looking for a nanny.
All in all, this book was dissatisfying and a waste of good reading time.
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