Customer Reviews

The Manny

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(17)

 

 

I'm poor and live on the Upper WEST Side, so my review probably doesn't count but ...

There have been a lot of jokes, a lot of criticism about Peterson and her $1m deal for two books, of the poor writing, the flat characterizations, the video. C'mon, it can't be that bad, can it? After the publicity blitz, how could I NOT check this book out? I sat in a Barnes and Noble and pored through most of the book in an hour.

Yeah, it really is that bad.

I suppose the book is supposed to be cutting and satirical, like the scene when a bunch of somber mothers comfort one who has lost her legal nanny, but well, it's not that funny. The dialogue is flat, and come on, was anybody expecting anything different than what ultimately transpires? Peterson's prose (if you can call it that) is laughable, full of cliches, repetition and unimaginative similes but what can we expect from such an unimaginative tale? It's like "Diary of a Mad Housewife" (or Working Mom)squeezed through a pastry tube.

And a Manny who calls you "Girl!" um ...

And Peterson has also ruined Belvedere Castle for me.

By the time the "climax", limp as it is does happen, I was ready to call Bradbury's fireman over to do his job. As for the promotional video for the book, it's just wrong and offensive in so many ways.

Save your money people, there many, many better books out there. This one will be in the bargain bin by the time a year has passed anyhow.

First, Plum Sykes gave us the insufferably vapid and shallow "Bergdorf Blondes" and made it a bestseller, solely based on the fact that she's a Vogue writer (and I use the word "writer" with a great deal of generosity, since she has about as much talent as a rock). Now, she writes a review of "The Manny," and she dares to compare it to the work of genius that is "Lady Chatterley's Lover"--and to add insult to injury, she misspells it "Chatterly." Shame on Sykes.

I read "The Manny" mainly because although I'm not rich, I do have a young son, and my husband and I have talked about hiring a male nanny who can play sports with him. I want my money back. The characters are wooden, the writing is atrocious, and if you don't know how the book ends by page thirty, then I have a bridge I'd like to sell you. Say whatever you want about Holly Peterson --she's probably well connected, to garner so much attention for her first novel-- but D.H. Lawrence she's not.

Jamie Whitfield is a working Park Avenue mother who has to contend with her part-time job as a producer at NBS, her three children under the age of 10, and her workaholic lawyer husband who is so concerned with keeping up with the Joneses that he is hardly ever around for his family. When her oldest child, a 9-year-old named Dylan, begins having problems with his social interactions at school and refuses to confide in her at the same time that her husband isn't around for him to talk to, Jamie decides to hire a man to serve as a positive male role model for Dylan and perhaps provide the outlet he needs to come out of his introverted shell.

Enter Peter Bailey. A college-educated computer science major who is working part-time on a computer program to help children with their homework. Peter comes in and serves as Jamie's knight in shining armor, helping her to run her household more efficiently, helping Dylan with his self-confidence, and making Jamie feel like a woman again for the first time in years. At the same time he's picking up the pieces of Jamie's scattered home life, her work life is beginning to go up in shambles. On the verge of breaking one of the biggest political news scandals in the country, Jamie is so focused on the story that she doesn't see the potential pitfalls in the witness's story. Though Peter tries to help her with this as well, he's only one man and Jamie has to figure out for herself what's going to be best for her career...

The Manny is, at times, a laugh riot and, at others, a bleak portrait of the state of marriage in the rich and privileged. Jamie comes from a small Minnesota town and has a problem fitting in with the other Park Avenue wives who have such a sense of entitlement. She spends a lot of time lamenting her place in society--time that could be better spent either doing something about it or accepting it. Her husband, an insufferable lout who cares more what others think about him than what's going on in his own household, is an absolute nightmare and as Jamie laments the fact that she's been with him for so long when he's so obviously racist, spoiled, and insensitive did more to make me dislike her than to make me hope she'd get herself out of a bad situation. And the fact that she strung her handsome, successful, down-to-earth manny along while she figured out what she wanted was unacceptable to me and not the makings of a good romance/chick lit book. In case that doesn't sum it up, I didn't like this book, wouldn't recommend it to a friend, and will be donating my copy to the nearest Goodwill.

As Truman Capote once said, "That's not writing; that's typing." This perfectly describes this total waste of time. Couldn't go past 70 pages when I threw it in the waste.....

This is one of the few books I've had to force myself to read cover to cover. Peterson's writing is dull and confusing, and the book's plot is anticlimactic at best. The Manny reads like regurgitated chick lit garbage complete with a heroine I found all too familiar to those gracing the pages of my other reads in the genre. This book is far from original or captivating by any stretch of the imagination.

If you're looking for a poorly written and painfully taxing read, by all means, buy The Manny.

Despite the positive hype this book was truly awful. The attempts at humor fall very far short. The only thing more wooden than the dialogue is the characters themselves. There is Jamie--the wife/mother who complains about her materialistic, racist, narcissistic husband but does not do anything to change her situation. She has little respect for other women in her social set but still desperately longs to fit in. Then there is the manny, Peter. He has no children of his own and no connection to Jamie's lifestyle or background, yet he he is constantly critical and condescending to not only Jamie's parenting skills, but pretty much everything about Jamie, right down to the throw pillows on her couch. It stretches the imagination that there could be any long-term attraction between these two.

This book was disappointing. It had a lot of potential but came up short. Don't waste money on this one.

I bought this book because the US Today raved about it or People Magazine or maybe it was EW. I forget. The bottom line was that it was all lies. From now on, I know those reviews are all fake and are probably purchased by the publishing company. This was the dumbest book I have ever read and a poor substitute for the Nanny Diaries.

I just finished this book and had to get online and see what fellow readers to review this book. I thought that this was the most pretentious material that was to be satrical that I have read in a long time. I had no sympathy for the heroine or her love interest. The husband, was looking to do better for his family and she still was not happy. Then this guy comes along and she automatically falls for him, then when he gets financing for his software, she was in love with him. This guy might have had a college degree, but he had the mentality of a nine year old and that is why he and the oldest child got along. She knew what she was getting into when she married Phillip, money, status and a guy that was flaky, felt he had entitlement and genuinely loved his wife and kids. From the way that she was treating him, it is not surprising he did what he did and she was surprised about it. Then the ending and the confrontation, the heroine and her husband belong together because she is just a flaky, selfish and ventictive. I was so glad when I finally ended this book.

I thought it would be a great beach read. I was very wrong. The writing was poor and the story was slow to start. I only read about the first 50 pages if that. It was way too indulgent. I am going to send it back.

I am surprised my previous review disappeared. This is a real sad excuse for a book. I think it seems to be written by a teenager.