Rating: 
Summary: Good not Great
Review: Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed the book. However, I thought by the end it lost a little steam. I am not sure if I should go into the plot of the book. It seems many reviews covered this. In the beginning of the book I was laughing outloud because it was funny. By the end I wasn't laughing as much. This book takes a good look at work relationships. In this particular case it is funny and sad since a child is involved. As the book reaches its climax there is more drama and less wit. I can understand this but at the same time this book sets itself up to be witty while at the same time telling a poignant story and I think it would have packed a better punch if the authors could've maintained more humor throughout the book, kind of like laughing in the face of tragedy. As for the characters I found them to be believable. I know there may be some mothers out there who are rolling their eyes but I used to take care of children while in college. Some parents were really cool and understood my job was to take care of the child and that was it and others thought I was child care provider, maid, personal assistant. Like Nan I too had a hard time speaking up for myself because the type of women who violate the nanny agreement have very strong personalities and know how to manipulate and basically force others to bend at their will. This seemed to ring true in this story. Mrs. X has to deal w/ the hole she dug herself in by being the other woman in Mr. X's life before becoming his wife and having a child to keep him. Now she has lost control of her husband due to his roving eye. The way she deals w/ this is by lashing out at the help, the only people in her life she can control. Nan is the unsuspecting person who like the housekeeper and probably many others are the brunt of Mrs. X's nastiness. As for Mr. X, in my experience, it is sad but true, even the nicest fathers can end up falling short of fatherhood and rely too much on the nanny and wife to take care of the child. As for those fathers who were tricked into fatherhood, well no surprise there that those men like Mr. X have little or no interest in their children. I've witnessed situation like this first hand. So, 3 stars for beginning wittiness and believable characters. Not quite 5 because the wit loses its steam near the end.
Rating: 
Summary: what a great read
Review: McLaughlin and Kraus really deserve kudos for this book. All their nannying experiences, good and bad, have paid off for them. Maybe a few folks will even see themselves in the story and learn from it. Mrs X, after all, does seem like the type who would read the latest NY Times bestseller that everyone's reading. I took this book on vacation with me and wasn't surprised to see it on just about every lounge chair by the pool. A friend of mine is reading it for a book club. It has lots of buzz, and I see why. It's funny. It's engaging. It's addictive. It's a really great story. The authors nailed Mr. X (I know him), Mrs. X (I know her too), Harvard Hottie's friends (I know those guys, especially the one with the SC Gamecocks ballcap). The only part that's not entirely true to life is that Nan's a little too perfect, and she always manages to say exactly what everyone wishes they were quick-witted enough to say at the right time. Would that the underappreciated nannies of the world had that ability. I highly recommend this book, but be prepared, you're probably not going to want to do much else after you've gotten started.
Rating: 
Summary: Fluffy hype.
Review: The Nanny Diaries is a lot of hype. Borrow it from a friend for a silly read at the beach. Save your cash for an other book (suggest Lucky Man - Michael J Fox, loving that book at the moment).
Rating: 
Summary: Amazing insight into raising a child today
Review: I find it amazing to find a book, that so accurately depicts raising a child in Manhattan. The x's are superficial couple, who are more concerned with their own lives than raising their child Greyer. They hire Nanny, she becomes a mother to Greyer (she nicknames him Grover). She soon see that taking care of Grover is not even half of what her job description adds up to be. Not more than a week after Mrs. X offers Nanny the job of taking care of her child, Mrs. X has Nanny start planning an upcoming dinner party she is throwing for her husband's business in addition to her duties for Grover. It is amazing how from their, Nanny's relationship with Mrs. X goes down hill. Mrs. X even installs a nanny cam, because it is the hip thing to do, no because she cares about her son. This is illustrated when her son gets quite ill, Mrs. X is at a Spa, she does not even come home, the only one who is their for this poor child is Nanny. To find out what happens from their read the book, you will not be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: A good read!
Review: The Nanny diaries is a comical portrayal of the wealthy X family in Manhattan told through the eyes of a NYU student, Nanny, who is a nanny to their son Grayer. The Xes are very wealthy, however, very dysfunctional. Mr. X is a cheating husband who never spends time with his family. When he does, he barely acknowledges them. Mrs. X is an uptight wife and mother (if she could be called that), who is obsessed with their family's image in their 'upper' society. Neither of them are aware of the world that surrounds them. They are stuck in their tiny universe in which they are the sun. Nanny has to juggle her school work, the 4year old Grayer and various errands she has to run for Mrs. X. Life working for Mrs. X is quite hellish for Nanny. Her trial and tribulations of running errands for Mrs. X (getting lavender water for a party? what IS lavender water????) and the extreme extravagance of the family is told with a lot of wit. As I was reading the book, I had to roll my eyes at the Xes behavior while greatly sympathizing with Nanny. But she is able to build a rapport with Grayer and through her eyes we see how Grayer struggles to capture his parents' attention, which he never obtains. The book, while making me chuckle at the absurdity of the Xes' also made me ponder at the emotional toll placed on little Grayer's shoulders. Their family life (or lack there of) of the Xes is a stark contrast to Nanny's loving family and as Nanny seeks refuge in her families arms, you are forced to realize that no matter how rich you are, you can't buy family happiness...just look at the Xes. The book is very easy to read, written with a light comical touch and I enjoyed it tremendously. I first took up the book because of it's immense popularity and wanted to see what it was all about and I think it was worth it.
Rating:
Summary: emotional impact
Review: I LOVED THIS BOOK ALL THE WAY THROUGH, I COULDNT PUT IT DOWN, HOWEVER, THE ENDING WAS SO TROUBLING & SAD FOR ME , I ACTUALLY CRIED FOE A HALF HOUR AFTER I FINISHED. I COULDNT WAIT FOR MRS. X TO GET HERS.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Delicious!! Eat it with a spoon!!
Review: I loved this book! It was entertaining and substantive. It provoked discussion among my friends and I as to why some people even have kids.
Rating:
Summary: A Fantastic Read!!!!!!!!
Review: This book rings true to anyone who has ever been a babysitter, nanny or childcare provider of any kind. I can't stress enough how much you will relate to this book!! Sometimes you feel as if they were writing about YOU! It's a page-turner complete with suspense, irony, sarcasm and humor. This book should not be missed!! (by ANYONE) :)
Rating: 
Summary: Big Disappointment
Review: I picked up "The Nanny Diaries" expecting a good summer read: light, amusing and quick. Instead, I found the book to be unfunny, poorly written, predictable and unsatisfying. With the exception of the Nanny's Grandmother, her boyfriend (known as "H.H." for Harvard Hottie), and a few other nannies the narrator comes in contact with, the characters are venal, selfish and mean, which does not make the book humorous or enjoyable. And ith the exception of Grayer, the boy Nanny takes care of, the characters are all one-dimensional. That includes the Nanny, which is the narrator's name - and demonstrates a laziness or a lack of creativity that appears throughout the book (from the names given to characters such as her bosses, Mr. & Mrs. X, H.H., etc. to the authors' descriptions of a Nantucket that's really a poorly disguised Martha's Vineyard, complete with a Black Dog-like restaurant). Given her Manhattan born-and-bred background, which includes a grandmother who is on a first-name basis with the maitre d' of Lutece, a father who works at an exclusive all-boys prep school and her own education at an exclusive all-girls prep school, the narrator is unusually and unrealistically clueless, not to mention spineless. In fact, Nanny is a classic unreliable narrator: she's fixated on every fault of her boss while being blissfully unaware of her own - even as she describes them - some of which she shares with Mrs X. Nanny drinks more than anyone else in the book, even while looking after Grayer; she gets drunk a couple times throughout the book. And Nanny is just as interested in status as Mrs. X: would she have been interested in her Havard Hottie if, instead, he had been an NYU Hottie? Would she have been so interested in H.H. if he lived in a 5th floor Brooklyn walkup instead of a huge apartment (with his parents) in the same Park Avenue building as Mr. & Mrs. X? Finally, for someone who is an NYU senior major in child development and who wrote a thesis in order to graduate, Nanny does not seem to have put any of her education to work with Grayer; as much as she claims to love him, she does not provide any ongoing educational impact. At one point in the book, she claims she wants to give Grayer time to de-stress from the pressures of his parent's marriage, but at no point in the book does she seem to give him anything more than attention. Grayer certainly needs attention, which is the depressing part of the book, since no one else gives him any, except Nanny. As the parent of two young boys who employs a full-time nanny, that conclusion is both predictable and unfair.
Rating:
Summary: More sad and frightening than funny!
Review: I agree with the reader Nora Speer who criticized the use of the word "hilarious" to describe this tale of abuse. Yes, there are some funny moments--due to the deliberate effort of "Nanny" to see things humorously in order to lighten up the overall misery. "Grayer" is a doll and it breaks my heart that he isn't given the love he deserves. I am not quite done with the book and now dread reading the end where the poor child screams out for "Nanny." I wish he could go with her. I sense the reality of the characterization and feel profoundly depressed over the treatment of these children. I have known and worked with children at the other end of the economic spectrum and seen neglect and abuse. Mistreatment of children is repellent to me. All the little cruelties visited upon "Grayer" make me cringe--the horrible food (steamed kale!) and not being allowed to take a nap. This is surely child abuse! And don't get me started over the abyssmal treatment of the women who work for the nearly psychopathic "Mrs. X." I would have run out of there in tears in the first few weeks. Imagine suggesting the nanny forego her own college graduation and party! What the authors did was try to exorcise the real horror in their experiences by attempting to give it a humor it doesn't deserve. I think they should have written a genuine expose, undiluted by humor--without naming names, of course. God help them if they attempted to thwart the "Xes" and selfish monsters like them! People like that are scary and there is absolutely no stopping them unless you are bigger and richer and more powerful than they are.
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