The Nanny Diaries

Rating:
Summary: unique blend of funny and poignant observations....
Review: On the surface this a very funny story of life as a nanny for the Manhattan elite. When you continue to read you realize it is a sad poignant tale of the life of children who are accessories in the lives of their "parents".
The Nanny Diaries tells the story of the life of Nan who is seeking a flexible opportunity for employment that allows her time to finish her studies at NYU and allows her to pay the bills. She is hired as a nanny after a brief, accidental meeting in a park and from there the story takes off like a sugared toddler in a china shop!! The demands of the "mother" on the nanny not only include the care of the child but numerous personal errands that range from ridiculous to ludicrous. What the nanny sees take place in this family and the families social peers verge on just this side of a voyeuristic peek into their self centered, elitist lives. Unfortunately the children seem to be the fall out victims of this lifestyle.
Hopefully it is written partially as satire, but it gives insight into a child's perception of their world and how what they really want and need is love and affection from a stable source, hopefully the parents! The book is impossible to put down, a unique blend of funny and poignant observations woven into a great story by people who have "been there and done that".

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Summary: Nan, You Deserve a Medal!!!
Review: I just finished reading "The Nanny Diaries" last week, and boy, was I sorry to see it end...this was definetly one of the funniest, saddest, most interesting novels I have read all year. The main character, Nan, was a wonderful heroine-very likable and loving (especially with the young boy she looks after, Grayer). The things that she put up with in her employment of the X family is nothing short of remarkable; I was glad that she was able to have her "revenge" of sorts near the end of the novel, considering with some of the shabby treatment she was continually subjected to. This book has been opted for film rights, and I truly hope that they can do it justice. While many of the secondary players in the story were also good (Nan's family, friends, and her boyfriend, H.H.), the real stars are the nanny and child, who struggle to stay sane in the most chaotic circumstances. I will agree with one reviewer here that I laughed out loud at several parts of the story, particularly the Halloween fiasco (poor Nan)!! While I also read Alice Sebold's "The Lovely Bones", I would still say I liked this book much more. I can only hope that there might be a sequel in the works...both of the ex-nannies who wrote this have also proven themsleves to be talented writers, and I look forward to their next effort. :-)

Rating:
Summary: Great reading, although it made me sad
Review: If you have kids, you'll love the anecdotes, but be prepared to be disturbed by the treatment of poor little Grayer.

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Summary: Reader gets to feel superior to bad mother
Review: The Nanny Diaries: A Novel
Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus

The only funny thing in this book is the author's version of "the list that goes to eleven," a comedic trope in which a list gradually builds up from the ordinary to the unusual and extreme to the completely exaggerated and ridiculous. In this case, the instructions to nannies on how to feed their charges (e.g., from "won't eat blueberries," to "will only eat blueberries-sliced"). The rest is not funny. Nor, does this reader suppose, is it meant to be. The pleasures, such as they are initially of sympathy with our correspondent, the author's voice, reporting back from the front. But this pleasure wanes as the indignities and deprivations she suffers themselves become exaggerated beyond reasonable suspension of disbelief. If one supposes how one would feel, were such things to happen, one can still elicit feelings of empathy. But the improbability of the treatment of the nanny by the mother and family who hires her raises the question: why would a reader want to produce such hypothetical feelings in themselves? This reader for one, doesn't enjoy shared misery and outrage to that extent.

But the real pleasure of this book seems likely to be elsewhere. The reader is quickly drawn in to the nannies view of the relationship. From the beginning, the reader is invited to side with the nanny and the child against the mother (and at moments the father, but he is not present enough to elicit much reaction). The nanny is a hard-working and devoted caregiver. The mother is inattentive and impatient. And so the reader enjoys mild feelings of superiority, in complicity with the nanny, who models in a perfectly loving way the best-practices of the experienced child-rearer (if not child-bearer). This reader, for one, would never treat his children the way the mother (and father) in this book do.

Rating:
Summary: Humorous and poignant
Review: I read about this book in TIME magazine, so when I saw it at [my local retailer], I decided to buy it.

The story is about Nanny, who is babysitting the children of the affluent and useless in New York City to raise money for her NYU tuition fee.
One day, while walking through the park after posting an ad at the Parent's League, Nan bumps into a certain Mrs. X and her son Grayer. Later, at her studio, Nan gets phone calls from a ton of mothers, but she picks Mrs. X, as she seems the most normal. The first few weeks between Nan, and Grayer are pretty rough, since Grayer longs for his old nanny. Things start to clear up afterwards, and the two are soon friends, while all Mrs. X cares about is massages, Prada, and the sorts. Nanny soon runs into a guy who she calls H.H(or Harvard Hottie) that lives in the same building as the Xes. But right when everything seems to be working out, Mrs. X starts to boss Nany around, starting with getting the supplies and food for a corporate party of Mr. X's. Then, Nan discovers Mr.X with another woman while at a party in Mr. X's office building (Grayer calls her the "woman that doesn't wear pants").Nanny later discovers Ms. Chicago(not her real name) in the Xe's apartment, dropping panties. Nanny then tries to hide this from Mrs. X by not telling her anything and hiring her friends to help look for the panties, and you'll have to read the book to find out what happens.

Although not high art, this book is very entertaining and also tragic in a way (though I'm probably the only person who thinks that.) It's worth every penny.

Rating:
Summary: Looking for a good read? Look a little further.
Review: When I was first looking at ordering this book I read the first couple reviews and "The Nanny Diaries" seemed to be a perfect quick read for the summer. But after I got past the first half of the book I had to make myself finish reading it. Basically this book is about a nanny who is hired by a rich couple who have no intrest in raising their kid and are completely self-centered. The plot was good at first, and after Mrs. X gave Nanny a pair of earmuffs for her Christmas bonus, I was just waiting for Nanny to confront Mrs. X and tell her exactly what she thought. Of course this never happened, about the closest the book gets to this is when Nanny yells into a recording for the Xes about what she thinks of their parenting skills. But in a move that I think is supposed to be heartwarming, Nanny lectures the Xes on how they can improve as parents. And to get to this we have to listen to three-hundred some pages of Nanny whining about how much her life stinks. She really needed someone to just say, "Yeah, life stinks, get over it." I was very glad when this book was finished, and if I could I would give it less than one star.

Rating:
Summary: A tragedy for the child
Review: I received this book as a gift and was told by many people that it is "so funny". I have to say that I laughed out loud through the first 100 pages, but then I realized that this poor child, Grayer, is a helpless victim to self-absorbed, cold-as-ice, detestable parents.

Nanny often refers to the "spatula" treatment which is when Grayer tries to hug his mother and is stopped by her before he can make contact and mess her clothes in any way. I can't recall one instance in the book when Grayer actually succeeds in getting that much needed hug. It makes me want to run to NY and give that child the biggest hug he has ever had!! His father is equally cold in a very absent way.

The next 200 pages gripped me simply because I wanted to know how Grayer would fair. Heartbreaking is all I can say.

The escapades of the nanny are entertaining. The writing style is quite witty, but I couldn't get beyond the tragedy of the child's life and the image of what he might become. Its the ultimate use of a child as a pawn for personal manipulation of one's spouse. Deplorable.

I found the book to be quite sad. I find that I can't let it go. I just hope that it is an exaggeratioin to a great degree.

Rating:
Summary: Money can buy unhappiness
Review: I know this story is really just a parody about rich society families and how they too can be just as dysfunctional as the rest of us, but for some reason this novel really bothered me. It's not that I didn't enjoy it, the writing is witty and I had a few good laughs while reading. I can also state that the Mrs X's of the world don't just live in Manhattan, they are everywhere. Perhaps it's that as a Mom I felt such disgust over the treatment of Grayer by his uber rich parents that I could hardly keep reading at times. The Nanny Diaries is a quick and easy read, that while perhaps being a guilty pleasure read for some, made me want to go and give my son a big hug.

Rating:
Summary: Couldn't put it down!
Review: I loved this book! I found myself carrying it with me everywhere I went so I could read what happened next while I pumped gas, waited at a stop light, etc. It was an excellent get away from everyday life- excellent character development, interesting story line. The character of H.H. could have been developed more, but I believe that kind of helped with getting the feel that Nan didnt really have time to develop much of her own personal life. The ending was a little disappointing. But overall, I would definitely recommend this book to all of my girlfriends!

Rating:
Summary: Worse than digging ditches!
Review: If you've ever considered becoming a nanny, a quick look at this book might change your mind! Two former nannies write a thinly-veiled fictional narrative of life as a nanny on Park Avenue. The nanny in the book is a graduate student at NYU who needs a part-time job, but soon her employer, the heartless, self-centered Mrs. X, has Nan working all hours running errands, cooking, cleaning up messes,and generally enabling Mrs. X to get her nails done and do her "charity work". The sad part is that Nanny is very fond of Grayson, her 4-year-old charge, who is desperate for some quality time with his parents. Whenever Grayson approaches his mother, she "spatulas" him off with protests of his messing up her hair or her perfect outfit. Nanny herself is the product of a loving household and is truly appalled at the way that Grayson is shuttled off to French lessons, tennis lessons, swimming lessons, and whatever else Mrs. X can find to occupy him. This book gives us a peek into a life which many envy, but which few would want to be part of if they knew what really goes on.