Rating: 
Summary: Teletubbies and Tortellini
Review: The Nanny Diaries, the recent best-seller by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus, is by turns humerous and heartwrenching. The authors collaborated to tell their side of their experiences working for 30 families as Manhattan Nannies.Nanny is hired by the X's, who met her in the park, to care for their 4-year-old son, Grayer. Nanny realizes that she should run when she realizes that she is replacing Grayer's former nanny, who had the audacity to ask for a week off to visit her dying sister - and her family encourages her to - but she is captivated by Grayer and needs the salary to pay her expensive Manhattan rent. Nanny expects her job to take her to the upper-crust versions of childhood activities, such as karate and Suzuki violin lessons, but it is in the details that this book gains its humor. Nanny is forced to dress as a Teletubby for an office Halloween party, prepare macrobiotic meals for 4-year-old Grayer, and meet with a problem-consultant about starting Latin lessons after Grayer is not accepted to Collegiate, the Harvard of Manhattan kindergardens. Nanny develops a reciproacted crush on H.H., who shares an apartment building with the X's. In the meantime the X's marriage is falling apart, and Nanny and Grayer bear the brunt of the results. This is a wonderful first novel, and is the perfect beach read for the summer!
Rating: 
Summary: Funny, yet very sad
Review: I started out thinking this book was very amusing. However, as the plot thickens, I felt very sickened by Mrs. X's self-centered behavior. What surprised me though were my feelings toward Nanny. I felt on the one hand that she was very loving to the child, but on the other hand I became increasingly frustrated by her doormat behavior. I felt she was a co-dependant in the relationship and I had a hard time reading page after page of this.
Rating:
Summary: My own personal Nanny
Review: My mother has never been much of a reader. I have been trying for years to get her to "mentally stimulate" herself by picking up a book, but she simply never "has the time". My mother is the Nanny of a 3 and a half year old little boy and he constantly keeps her on her toes. After seeing a review of this book in a magazine I knew that this would be the perfect chance to get my mother to read. When I first gave her the book as a birthday present she looked slightly cynical. After telling her what the book was about she agreed to read it. After starting it, she couldn't put it down. She would often be heard laughing out loud and thanked me often for such a wonderful gift. Any book that can get my mother to read is great in "my book".
Rating:
Summary: From a Former Nanny in the 1970s....
Review: The more things change, the more they stay the same. I would have thought that by now young women would not be such total pushovers for creeps like the Xs; I was a naive 19 year old Midwesterner when I was exploited like that. I enjoyed the book immensely, but I found it more heart-breaking than funny.
Rating:
Summary: THE BEST!
Review: I could not put this one down! I stayed up all night reading it trying not to laugh too loudly and wake my husband. I hope these ladys write another!
Rating: 
Summary: Discouraging look at working life
Review: .... I read THE NANNY DIARIES quickly in a couple of evenings. The story of a nanny's year of employment in caring for Grayer X, the four year-old child of the rich yet dysfunctional Mr. and Mrs. X proceeds at a brisk and somewhat entertaining pace. During this year, Nanny and her proletariat companions are subjected to countless humiliations at the hands of the X's and their nouveau riche friends. Throughout this year, Mrs. X underappreciates and underpays Nanny on countless occasions, taking advantage of Nanny's attachment to the charming Grayer to task Nanny with countless poorly defined chores aimed at keeping Mrs. X in good social
graces. As Mrs. X engages in a cold war with her husband's mistress to keep the rich and callous Mr. X, she grows more distant from Grayer and more erratic and tyrannical over the entire household staff. When Nanny finds herself caught in the middle of Mrs. X and the mistress's tug of war and her increasingly demeaning work environment, Nanny must decide whether to continue to nurture Grayer or to abandon the toxic situation and find another job. When reading this book, I got the feeling that the authors Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus truly enjoyed dishing on New York's upper class mothers and their objectifying treatment of their children in the mothers' neverending pursuit of status. And to tell the truth, I enjoyed feeling morally superior to the upper crust as much as it seemed the authors did. However, the book ultimately left me feeling deflated and discouraged. No character in this book grows or changes during the year. Not once did any of the employees confront these situations or try and change it. All of the nannies and
housekeepers in this book were so enslaved to their positions that they silently sacrificed their dignity and the needs of their charges to the egos of their employers. Even Nanny, our protagonist, only dresses down both Mr. and Mrs. X via their nanny-cam. And at the end of this year, the lesson she takes away is that people like Mrs. and Mr. X can't change, so why bother trying. Like it's cousin, BRIDGET JONES'S DIARY, the book will capitalize on its success by providing another Hollywood star vehicle for some Rene Zellweiger clone. I'll probably see it. My only hope is that some smart screenwriter will modify the plot
so that the X's get theirs, Grayer won't be doomed to the terrible childhood that the book leaves him with, and I'll walk out of the theatre feeling a little uplifted as opposed to demoralized. Dav's Rating System:
5 stars - Loved it, and kept it on my bookshelf.
4 stars - Liked it, and gave it to a friend.
3 stars - OK, finished it and gave it to the library.
2 stars - Not good, finished it, but felt guilty and/or cheated by it.
1 star - I want my hour back! Didn't finish the book.
Rating:
Summary: What a delightful book!
Review: This book is a funny must-read. Once you begin, you find yourself flipping the pages, unable to stop! Being a mother of three, I was tickled...I laughed because I could certainly relate to the words I was reading! You'll finish this in two... three days tops, and you'll be glad you took the time! This is a very funny, enlightening experience!
Rating:
Summary: Tres Magnifique! A Must Read!
Review: First of all, I highly recommend this book to all nannies and former nannies on the East Coast. This book was hilarious and it's amazing how much of it I could relate to. A reader from CA reviewed this book and stated that it was "unsympathetic" to employers of nannies in NYC -- which is untrue. As a former tri-state area live-in nanny, alot of this book was right on the money. I know alot of nannies who have so many different stories, but a lot of the basic facts are the same. These parents are so self-involved and so quick to hire someone else to raise their children that they fail to see what is really important - their children! Just like the mother in this book - Mrs. X, who does not work, yet has a nanny that she depends on over 50 hours/week. So, if you are a nanny, former nanny, or even a working parent with a nanny, or just anyone looking for a quick page turner, this book is a must read for you.
Rating:
Summary: Easy, Fun Read.
Review: This was one of those books that's perfect for a beach or airplane. The story really moves along and you care about Nanny and poor little rich boy Grayer, who really only wants him mom and dad to pay attention to him. The Nanny Diaries takes you to a world you might not know about and makes the journey a blast. While I was reading it I was really surprised by one aspect. I live in a very wealthy suburban area in a mid-western city. While many people have nannies, Prada shoes and all the other accoutraments of what is appearently upper class New York, here NO ONE(not even the richest society woman) would ever have the Nanny take or pick up their child from school. That is the domain of the Mom, who want the teachers to think that she is a good and involved mother. Even if the mom takes her little one right home to the Nanny immediately thereafter!...
Rating: 
Summary: Doesn't live up to the hype.
Review: This was OK for a quick beach read when I went on vacation, but I found myself just wanting to get it over with.
I found the writing mediocre and a few annoying things, like:
Most people didn't have real names, they were descriptive names and I felt that to be an insult to the readers intelligence.
Cell phones are ringing like crazy in this book with unwanted calls, so people hide them. Newsflash: cell phones have "off" buttons. My last gripe is that the descriptions of what the 4 year old says is more advanced than a 4 year old. Not worth buying but if someone gives it to you and you're really, really bored...have fun.
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