Customer Reviews

The Nanny Diaries: A Novel

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My sister-in-law was a nanny for several years, so when I saw this book, I had to get it for both of us. Every story she ever told me has unfolded in this 306 page book.

The authors, former nannies themselves, have a disclaimer at the front of the book stating that the characters written are completely ficticious and not based on any particular past employer. This must be why the main character's name is simply "Nanny", and her employers are "Mr. and Mrs. X". Nanny has just been hired by the wealthy Xes to look after their son Grayer. She is to replace the old nanny, who had the audacity to request a week off to visit her sick sister in Australia. Nanny is just looking to keep her rent money coming in while completing her senior year at NYC, but soon finds that she is drawn to poor little Grayer, who at times can be a pill, but for the most part is just a poor little rich kid who wants his parents to notice him. Mrs. X spends most of her time shopping, planning dinner parties (in the hopes that her absentee/workaholic husband just might spend time with them), and volunteering on several committees. Nanny is used to the explicit demands Mrs. X requests for Grayer, and is not surprised when Mrs. X constantly asks her to do extra chores she wasn't hired for (like picking up Mrs. X's dry cleaning, picking up about 12 different items for a 30 people dinner party, or even escorting Grayer and the Xes to a fancy executive Halloween bash dressed as a giant Teletubby- one of the funniest passages in the book). Or, she'll show up 2 hours past the time she told Nanny she'd be home, leaving Nanny little more than 15 minutes to get to a school to give a speech that will determine whether she passes or fails. Nanny feels it's worth it, though, when the envelope of cash comes at the end of the week ("most nannies are paid under the table", she tells us).

Even so, Nanny gets more than she bargained for when, at the Halloween bash, she and Grayer walk in on Mr. X and his Chicago executive (whom the book simply calls "Ms. Chicago")making out. Mr. X acts as if mothing is amiss, and Nanny is left to question whether or not she should report this infidelity to his wife. Slowly, Mrs. X begins to get her own suspicions, and Grayer begins to fall apart under the obvious cloud of neglect and dread that his father has stirred up. Nanny wants to run, but feels obligated to navigate these treacherous adult waters for Grayer, hoping things will calm down on their own. Meanwhile, she's also fallen for a Harvard student that lives in the Xes building, leaving Mrs. X to treat her badly and hurl rude comments at her because she is jealous of the happiness Nanny is finding with a guy. Hhhmph! How can Nanny tread through these tumultuous waters and still graduate from NYC? You'll have to find out for yourself. I read this book in less than 48 hours because I couldn't wait to find out what outrageous thing Mrs. X would come up with next. After listening to my sis-in-law's horror stories, I found that I wasn't surprised about the Xes shannanigans. All in all, a very interesting look into the frustrating world of raising someone elses children under extreme conditions.

Nanny Knows It All

Although I expected this book to be funny, having heard that it delves deep into the quirks of New York's wealthy elite, I was not prepared for the feelings of indignation, dismay and embarrassment it evoked as well. Beneath the simple story line - a twenty something college student works as a nanny to pay the rent - lays a minefield of human dysfunction. There is the mother who can't stand to touch or be with her child for more than a few minutes, and only then if he is completely clean; the father who routinely fails to show up for preplanned family events such as trips to Aspen, Christmas parties and dinner parties; the father's mistress who tries to enlist Nanny in her secret trysts; and the father's secretary who is always covering for her boss. And that's just the immediate family. Things get even more complicated and uncomfortable as Nanny's duties are expanded to include helping the wife shop, run errands and make restaurant reservations. What saves the novel from becoming just another tawdry soap opera is the skillful development of the relationship between Nanny and her 4-year old charge Grayer, and the healthy reality checks provided by Nan's (Nannny) outspoken and eminently practical family.

Like all young children, Grayer can be a terror. He bites, he kicks, he refuses to play nicely, and at first he can't stand the sight of Nanny who has come to replace his previous and much loved caretaker, Caitlin. However, as time goes on Grayer and Nanny hammer out a relationship and a routine they both can enjoy. However, as the tension builds between Grayer's parents, becomes clear that a meltdown is inevitable. What makes it almost unbearable is Grayer's vulnerability and Nanny's inability to protect him. Be prepared for humor laced with bitterness and sorrow as The Nanny Diaries proves that in the midst of abundance it is possible to starve from lack of love.

I'm familiar with the terrain, the industry, and even some of the types that Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus have so perceptively skewered in THE NANNY DIARIES. The perceptions and morality of their young protagonist strike me as being spot-on, but I wonder how perceptive she'd be if she weren't, both by education and ancestry, very close to being part of that world herself.

Along that line, I thought that the most poignant moments came in her descriptions of other nannies, less-advantaged, and with the exception of one, Sima, less-well-educated, and the terrible suppressed anger they feel.

I don't think this is a funny book. I think this is a superbly concentrated book about love and cruelty. "Nan" is not cruel; she's loving; and she's fortunate to have loving parents and a grandmother who can set her straight -- a gift she tries to pass onto her young charge Grayer, who really is quite charming and funny. His gift to her of a Valentine and his abiding affection for his prior nanny, Caitlin, were beautifully done.

But the Xes...here is social satire at its most ferocious. The authors nail the requisite status symbols and the extravagance of the financial nouveaux (by the way, the lavender linen water really is very nice!). Their dialogue is marvelously nuanced, from the casual effrontery of Mrs. X, appropriating Nanny's life, to her notes, to the jargon-laden tranquilizing speech of the parasitical "problem-solving" professionals who cater to people like her, to the bluntness of Mr. X and his mother. And the writers contrast it with the parents who -are- parents, both in New York and on Nantucket, which remains a place where the old families are readily distinguishable from summer people.

What I noticed as I went through the book (and people might want to be careful here because I'm coming dangerously close to SPOILERS!) is that Mrs. X gradually emerges as one of the "guerrilla wives." She stole her husband from the first Mrs. X and knows that she too can be replaced with a younger, juicier model: her cruelty is that of someone temporarily higher on the food chain, but aware that she is as much of a handi-wipe as the ones that good nannies (and good parents) carry to clean up messes with.

There is some -schadenfreude- here: it's fun, even cathartic, to see these particular rich and careless people as bad and to laugh at their antics. The authors are more subtle than that, however: despite their comments about bunnies and elevators with more and nicer spaces than most of the rest of New York's denizens, they're quite aware of the domestic human tragedies in the world of conspicuous consumption that they chronicle.

And they leave open the question that intrigued me: What would Nanny do, given a financially advantageous marriage, if, suddenly, she found herself standing in their Pradas? For that matter, what would the rest of us do?

With considerably more vim and four-letter words, these writers in their debut novel add new sight lines to the territory of JANE EYRE, THE GREAT GATSBY, and Edith Wharton. The rich are different. They're cruel. They're careless. And their world, while unforgiving to the discards, can be seductive to onlookers.

VERY well-done, VERY well-written, but too painful to be the "romp" its marketing push led me to expect.

I think the worst thing about finding a great book to read, is the frantic search to find another one as great to replace the one just finished. I had been on that lengthy search for a time ... until finding "The Nanny Diaries".

Incredible. Elegantly written, allowing the reader to feel as though they are with "Nan", the heroine of the novel, throughout her "adventures". For those who have critiqued this book on its realism, in a sense accusing the authors of using "sensationalism" to sell a book, simply by stringing together the most extreme predicaments, lighten up. Of course we understand that the authors wish to portray the most outrageous scenarios, which perhaps wouldn't happen all at once, but over the course of many years of employment. What matters is that perhaps not consciously recognized by everyone, that there is a diversity of "cultures" within a culture, and that these predicaments are plausable! It is in essence, the portrayal of a microcosm that represents the "civilized world" as a whole.

Much of how we act and what we do as adults, is shaped by how we are raised and treated as children. On a whole, you're not meant to sympathize with Nan, our narrator and lead character, but with the child she takes care of, Grayer. Nan is our "doorway" into the world that "privledged" children are reared in. You sympathize with the child, possibly even sympathize with the parents on a level where you can UNDERSTAND why the act the way they do, yet not excuse it. To appreciate this novel, you can't evaluate Nan, but simply laugh with her or become exasperated and speechless, as she becomes. Understand the message, not the messanger.

I've never laughed out loud, cried or have been as shocked with any other novel as I have with "The Nanny Diaries". It's very cleverly written, and I look forward to more works that these two authors produce.

I could not put this book down. McLaughlin and Kraus have written a compelling, intelligent page-turner that kept me laughing late into the night. Their satire of the Upper East Side nouveau riche set rings scarily true (I grew up there too, so I've seen a lot of such behavior), and my heart aches for the hundreds of love-deprived childern and sleep-deprived nannies out there.

The Nanny Diaries is a window into a world that few of us will ever see: Park Avenue apartment life. When Nanny takes a job with the X family in Manhattan, her entire life changes. Although Nanny ostensibly becomes a part of their family, this book has very few spoonfuls of sugar.

In a funny and satiric look at the New York high life, the authors of The Nanny Diaries have used their own experiences as nannies to create a wonderfully flawed, but real, main character. Nanny (in a very Bridget Jones kind of way) is trying to get an education, find a boyfriend, pay for her meagre life in Manhattan and keep her sanity in the face of a childcare job that is much more than she bargained for.

By taking fun pokes at the attitudes of the rich toward their precious progeny, The Nanny Diaries roasts high society and takes a swipe at old money snobbery.

Wickedly funny and, at times, quite touching. A tremendous accomplishemnt for these first time authors.

Wow. What a dissapointment. There's no real character development, shoddy writing and the main characters are hard to relate to.

I've been in Nanny's shoes and it amazes me that she'd be so spineless. Why is she even getting a degree at all? It will serve her no good, for she hasn't the sense to even begin to know how to use it or interact with others in a meaningful way.

Terribly sad, because I wanted to enjoy this read. Wish I had gotten it from the library instead of buying it.

The book made for interesting reading and there were parts that were so hilarious, you could read a line and still chuckle about it hours later. For anyone who believes child-rearing is a one-shoe-fits-all process, they ought to read about the trials and tribulations of raising children in New York. In "The Nanny Diaries", readers will meet the wealthy, whizzy-dizzy, Park Avenus mom, Mrs X. She is definitely not your ordinary everyday mom and these are by no means your typical, average nannies. While most readers will find the book highly amusing, if you live or have lived in New York, or any large major city, you are certain to have a better appreciation for the context of the book and a closer affinity to the escapades and experiences mothers, children and these unique nannies encounter. The book is highly entertaining and would make a top-notch movie or television comedy!

I read The Nanny Diaries within 48 hours, not so much because I loved the book and couldn't put it down, but more for the reasons people slow down and gawk at a horrible car wreck. There is a disturbing Schadenfreude in society of wanting to hear horror stories about the personal lives of the elite, and this book fits right in with that trend. "Look, the Xes and their pals are all super wealthy and wear the best clothes but their marriages are all shams and no one is happy, ha ha ha!" It does bring out the plight of the children of these loveless society matches (cue Helen Lovejoy from The Simpsons: "Won't someone think of the Children?!"), as well as providing the perfect explanation for why these horrible adults exist. Can you imagine poor little Grayer Addison X turning into anything other than a maladjusted egotist just like Mommy and Daddy?

While I am not a fan of the happy ending, I did feel a little let down at the end of this book. Yes, Nanny exacting revenge would have been cliche, but dammit, does this woman have no spine at all? She is not a poor immigrant from a dangerous country in danger of losing her visa, she is the loved daughter of a middle class family with a college education - why oh why does she let the Xes treat her like a skivvy? She doesn't need a reference from Mrs X, as there will be no missing 9 months from her resume (she can always say she was working on her senior thesis, duuuh!) There is no reason in the world why Nan should put up with any of this, even if she loves little Grayer.

And yes, as others have mentioned, the whole "boyfriend" side-story doesn't work at all, as he a)doesn't have a name and b)they never really have a real date, aside from pizza chowing on the Met Steps and a quickie after the food fight with the drug mom. In my book, HH is a one night stand at best.

The only thing that could make this book worse were if Julia Roberts read it to you....oh.

I have to say that the only reason I kept reading this book was to get the point where Nanny told the Xes off. And when it never happened, I realized that I hated this book. Sure, some of it was funny, but mostly it was sad. Sad for the kid, sad for the puppy, but mostly sad that anyone would put up with all the crap & never say her piece. The whole bit about grace at the end was a crock. I felt so gypped. And the whole device of no names, that was lame. Yeah, we all know people like this exist & the idea that you have to hide identity, it just didn't work for me. It was an added written device that fell flat. And the love story...what love story? I know it was just a subplot, but really why bother. But all in all, yes, it was well-written & the characters were entertaining, though I guess I'm looking for more than that. I think most readers are. Once you get beyond the shocking way these upper-echelon "parents" treat their children & their help (which I guess is only shocking to people who don't know these people), it's the same old story of someone with no backbone putting up with a job that sucks. Nanny was the main character & she couldn't pull it off.