Home :: Books :: Audiocassettes  

Arts & Photography
Audio CDs
Audiocassettes

Biographies & Memoirs
Business & Investing
Children's Books
Christianity
Comics & Graphic Novels
Computers & Internet
Cooking, Food & Wine
Entertainment
Gay & Lesbian
Health, Mind & Body
History
Home & Garden
Horror
Literature & Fiction
Mystery & Thrillers
Nonfiction
Outdoors & Nature
Parenting & Families
Professional & Technical
Reference
Religion & Spirituality
Romance
Science
Science Fiction & Fantasy
Sports
Teens
Travel
Women's Fiction
The Nanny Diaries

The Nanny Diaries

List Price: $25.00
Your Price: $15.75
Product Info Reviews

<< 1 .. 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 .. 114 >>

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A novel full of truths...
Review: This is a light, entertaining and quick "must read" for all those who have ever been a nanny, those who plan to be a nanny or those who have a nanny.

I worked as a nanny in my 20s whilst travelling in Europe and one job I had was not dissimilar to Nan's experiences - fortunately I was sensible enough to leave after three weeks. Nannying was not all bad for me and I had a number of great jobs with wonderful families however, the difficult jobs are real.

Emma and Nicola make one solid point in their novel - that is that nannies and their charges can become close, and nannies are often surrogate parents. Some nannies do go the extra mile for the sake of the child and that might mean staying in a job that is difficult.

These days, I have a child of my own (and a nanny). I am no Mrs. X (I have real job and spend lots of time with my child), but after reading "The Nanny Diaries" I gave my nanny a bonus and sent her home early. This book was a reminder of the special role my nanny plays in my daughter's life and a reminder that we should treat her well because, frankly, she loves our daughter and our daughter loves her!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Go home and hug your kids...
Review: I finished this book in one day- It was THAT engrossing. But, unlike some of the other reviewers, I found this novel to be a heartbreaker. I have been thinking about little Grayer X all day; and while I found Nanny's plight regrettable, it was Grayer who had my sympathy.

I don't know what self-respecting child development student would actually put up with the abuse that Mrs. X dishes out! Maybe a bit over the top at times, and maybe a little predictable (the "other woman"), The Nanny Diaries is definitely well worth the read.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Laugh and weep at the same time.
Review: Oh, the foibles and weak minds of the idle rich. Those pathetic people who have children for all the wrong reasons: to dress them up, photograph them for their Christmas cards, and put them into the competitive, obscenely expensive, private school world so they can brag to their friends. Who could not love Grayer, the poor little rich kid, son of a bimbo and her philandering, shallow, materialistic husband? As for Nanny, she was the best thing that little Grayer ever had in his young life. A breezy, reader-friendly, tragi-comedy. You laugh but want to cry at the same time, especially if you know these ridiculously shallow people more than you care to admit--my daughter's NYC friends, the X's, every last one of them. Finally, you wish Nanny well and pray for Grayer, pray that the next Nanny will be as loving, because that's the only love young Grayer will ever know.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: As a mom and former upper east side babysitter
Review: As a mom with 2 small children, I don't often have the luxury to read. I babysat in NY on the upper east side(different from Nanny, as I acted as a fill-in) during college. I laughed my way through this book, and stayed up to finish it in 1 sitting! One can recognize the parody of types, but people permeated with wealth often treat employees like a lower link on the food chain. I was approached in Central Park by several moms asking me to watch their offspring. I was a complete stranger pushing a stroller in Central Park and they were willing to entrust me with their child. This was an entertaining read and I doubt the truth had to be greatly stretched.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Very sad, touching story
Review: I enjoyed reading this book, even if it wasn't in my usual category of humorous books. It was funny in some parts, but the nightmare of working for such bosses--parents who use nannies as a status symbol or slaves rather than looking out for the welfare of their children--is just overwhelming. You feel bad for Nan (the nanny), but the true tragic figure of the story is poor Grayer, her charge, who just wants to be loved and noticed, but is treated as an object or possession, much like an expensive vase or painting you show off for your guests.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Entertaining but not great literature
Review: I picked up the book for entertainment and that is what I got. I had heard that it was a wonderfully written novel, that it was not. The writing was shallow and not very interesting. So if you want a few hours of fluff, here it is.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: UPTOWN GIRLS AND THEIR UPTOWN AUPAIRS
Review: Uptown girl's have got it just right, and the story's they tell... evilly funny as "Barnfires"... I find it to have the same sensitivity as KESHNER'S "COCKPIT CONFESSIONS OF AN AIRLINE PILOT," which is another fine example of a real man poking his eye into society's finger, and fully in touch with his feminine side.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: well... 3.5, actually.
Review: ...The novel plays on deliciously malicious class antagonisms (very well founded, as it turns out). This makes for a savage read, and I did... stay up until 5 am. to finish it.

That said, while the novel suceeds at telling horrifying anecdotes from the world of the wealthy, it has more of a problem stringing these anecdotes into a cohesive novel. Miss McLaughlin and Miss Kraus are occasionally very funny and often show a way with words or a turn of phrase that is unexpectedly thoughtful and lovely. However, they have a way of introducing characters that start off promising and then go nowhere (like the English nanny, who almost provided an interesting foil to Nan's experiences), or the characters that are introduced and are supposed to be important or interesting are simply one-dimensional (Nan's friends & family have dialogue that could have been scripted out of any teen movie, and the relationship with Harvard Hottie borders on the inexplicable - they talk in the elevator, they miss each other at a bar and suddenly they're in bed? Bully for you, Nan, but whatever). While the non-X aspects of Nan's life are doubtless necessary to string the novel together, they feel less than fully fleshed-out, and readers may find themselves wishing that Nan would stop describing her roomate's hairy boyfriend or dancing along to Madonna and get back to skewering the X's ridiculous life.

Like I said, the main pleasure - and it is a good one - comes from the exasperating excesses of the Xs. Still, the Xs themselves were almost maddeningly one-dimensional. We get snippets of information of a different past for Mrs. X - who wanted to attend Brown but went on scolarship to UConn instead - and Mr. X, who is described laughing at a joke Nan made at his mother's expense, but besides that has little to do besides be the villian. Perhaps the authors thought that making the Xs anything less than caricatures would make the readers reluctant to share in the schaudenfreude of their miserable lives, but for me it just left me wanting to know more about under what circumstances the Xs arrived at their present fate.

Overall, an enjoyable, if flawed, read, from two young authors who show a remarkably observant and critical attitude towards the superrich. Don't let the sometimes immature writing turn you away from a fun story.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Don't believe the fake reviews - the book isn't that good.
Review: It is so obvious the same people are writing the 5 star reviews. The book is not that good, the first four pages are interesting but after that it becomes trite and boring.

On the plus side, good effort by two beginner writers with help from their friends.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Tells Us What We Always Thought Was True
Review: I loved this addictive book because it tells us what we always thought was true: that The Rich are different and that's not a good thing. Poor little Grayer X should be glad he had Nanny in his life because he's sure not getting much in terms of love and affection from Mummy and Daddy X. The book is funny, frustrating and heartstring-tugging. Settle in and read it from cover to cover!


<< 1 .. 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 .. 114 >>

© 2004, ReviewFocus or its affiliates