Customer Reviews

Nanny Returns: A Novel

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(26)
2 star:		(36)
1 star:		(30)

 

 

I bought "Nanny Returns" for some light and fun holiday reading. It was definitely light, but not so much fun. The story begins 10 years after the time period of the Nanny Diaries, when our hero, Nan, has returned to New York after years of globe-trotting with her husband. The story has several parallel threads: the purchase and the subsequent foibles related to the fixer-upper house Nan and her husband purchased, the fact that Nan's husband wants to have a baby immediately, the launch of Nan's consulting business, and the return of some characters (including the "Xes") from the prior book.

The authors did a fairly good job of re-introducing old characters for those of us who didn't read or only vaguely recall the first book (I fall into the latter category). I do remember enough of it to recall that back then I thought Nan was immature and spineless, which was perhaps understandable given her age at the time. And therein lies the fundamental problem with the current book. Nan, after marrying, living all over the world, and having aged 10 years, has not changed. I found the character to be completely unsympathetic and unlikeable. This is a woman who shakes in her boots when she has to return to the building of her old nemesis, Mrs. X, but yet she opts to take employment with a private school dealing with precisely the same type of people that we thought she was "over". This is a woman who expresses her liberation from the evil "Xes" by dressing dumpily when she goes to their house. This is a woman who hangs her colleagues out to dry in order to please the very people she is "over". Has she learned nothing from her experience with the "Xes", having lived in different cultures all over the world, and having aged ten years? Apparently the answer is no. Once the table was set with that realization, it was reinforced over and over again by Nan's actions.

In addition to my obvious dislike of the main character, I found the book to be fairly dull and at the same time, over-written. While some of the subject matter in the book is incredibly current, in many cases the dialogue about these issues seemed forced. Also, since we already know how awful the parents of New York are from the first book, the "wow" factor is gone from the second.

Nonetheless, the authors again tried again to shock with the horror of NYC parents. It's a re-hash of the same old stuff. In the years since Nanny Diaries was printed, the world has changed. Shows like the "Real Housewives" franchise have made anything the authors have to add completely redundant. Is anyone surprised by this type of behavior anymore? Finally, the major plot twist is very obvious right from the get-go. The combination of all these factors means that I would not recommend this book to even my sister, who will read cereal boxes for fun.

The Nanny Returns picks up around 10 years after The Nanny Diaries ended. Nan is now married to the Harvard Hottie (Ryan) and after some time living overseas, has moved to Brooklyn. One day her former charge Grayer (now aged 16) turns up on her doorstep and she gets sucked back into the lives of the X family, which now also includes a 7 year old son called Stilton. The X's marriage is still unhappy and when Mr X hooks up with a Hollywood star, Nan gets caught up in the middle trying to protect the children.

I really enjoyed The Nanny Diaries but I'm sorry to say this book is nowhere near as good. It's a convoluted mess with a massive number of sub-plots, all of which are confusing and none of which are interesting. While there are some amusing snippets about how the Manhattan elite live, they are few and far between, and the froth is tempered this time around with drunken binges and drug overdoses which feel out of place. The writing also gets bogged down with elaborate descriptions, to the point where I wondered if the authors were paid by the adjective. Nan is also such a passive and indecisive character, which seemed appropriate in the first book but far less so in this one, now that she's married and ten years older.

The book starts slowly and you wonder where it's going. While it does pick up, it was a struggle to stay the distance. I don't recommend it.

Twelve years ago, Nan left her charge Grayer X in the questionable care of his rich and selfish parents, and has been feeling guilty about it ever since. Now Nan has returned from living abroad with her husband Ryan and they have bought a fixer-upper in New York City and Nan is ready to start her career when she encounters Grayer, now sixteen. Driven by her guilt, she finds herself involved with the ridiculously rich X family once more as she tries to help Grayer's little brother, Stilton and once again finds herself colliding with the absurd and weird customs of the Upper East Side's wealthiest residents.

Nicola Kraus and Emma McLaughlin's sequel to The Nanny Diaries is smart and laugh-out-loud hilarious as Nan attempts to do right by Grayer and Stilton X, despite the bizarre customs of their parents and peers that fight against her every step of the way. The glittering and powerful world that the X's live in is rather disturbing at times, but quite believable, and tNan is a grounded, sensible narrator, routinely providing comic relief with her wry and witty comments and observations. Thankfully, Nanny Returns isn't a conventional rich people novel only highlighting the glamour of a wealthy lifestyle, but also revealing the darker motivations and the insane notion that rules don't affect you if you have money that many of the characters possess.

Nanny Returns may be a little lengthy, but it moves at a brisk pace with enough problems and drama to keep the book moving, but not so much as to overwhelm the reader. The only complaint might be that the ending wraps up rather quickly, not really devoting much time to falling action, but other than that, Nanny Returns is a wonderfully entertaining and realistic novel that probes into the privileged world of New York City's wealthiest without losing sight of what's really important in life.

I liked the first book a lot. I am a mom of two little kids, who always likes to read light things, that is when i can FINALLY squeeze in a book, and I also worked as a sitter in NYC, so i could really relate to that whole upper east side culture that was mentioned on the first book. And, as someone's review stated, Nanny has NOT changed after her 10 year "return" even after traveling the world. There's nothing inspirational, fun or empowering about her or this story. Not to mention, the side stories that NEVER got an ending! AND the surreal way in which she comes to take care of the X's boys, without EVER standing up for herself... I'm extremely disappointed, annoyed and somewhat confused by this book and, can only think that, by the way some of the side stories never got finished or mentioned, they would try and stretch this into yet another book! Ugh, I hope not. Take the success of the first one and let's leave it at that. Sorry if I seemed harsh, but I only finished this book to prove to myself it would NOT get better towards the end. :|

I enjoyed the social commentary of The Nanny Diaries, which I gave 4 stars. I expected more of the same in the sequel, except from an older and wiser Nanny, but I was very disappointed.

I fell in love with Greyer in the Nanny Diaries, not Nanny, whose purpose in my opinion was to narrate Greyer's story. So while I enjoyed reading in this sequel that Nanny has been married to her Diaries' boyfriend for the past 12 years, that she now has her own consulting business and that the couple has just returned home to New York after work has taken them all over the world -- enough about Nanny. My primary reason for reading the book is that I wanted to know what's happening with Greyer now that he's 16.

The book begins with promising me a story about Greyer when he shows up on Nanny's doorstep in the wee hours, drunk and angry. He's been angry with Nanny for the past 12 years because he thinks she abandoned him as a child; he doesn't know his parents fired her. Even so, he asks Nanny to help him protect his little brother Stilton, age 7, who is as adorable as little Greyer was. Unfortunately the novel then quickly loses focus and barely acknowledges Greyer and Stilton for the middle third or more of the book. Instead, the reader is treated to a profanity-laced and non-sensical plot involving Nanny's new job as a human resources consultant for an expensive private prep school.

I'm sure it's not the author's intention, but Nanny's actions on the job do nothing to make her a likable character that I want to read more about. She may have aged by 12 years chronologically, but as impossible as it sounds, she's otherwise even less mature than she was in her Diaries and still lacks a backbone. Nanny's lack of a backbone in Diaries is understandable. She loves Greyer and is willing to put up with a lot to keep her job as his caretaker, where she can offer him some protection from his negligent parents. There is no clear explanation for her motives in her current employment, where her position as a yes woman could make her implicit in making scapegoats of good people and in ruining promising careers. The reader can only surmise that Nanny's awe of her new office and concern with earning money for home renovations trumps doing the right thing.

In addition to the unsatisfying plot elements involving Nanny's work for the school and her home repairs, she becomes friends with a former classmate from her own prep school days and finds herself in the same social circles as Mr. and Mrs. X. Throughout it all, she ignores her husband's wish to start a family and questions her ability to be a good mother, a rather unbelievable twist given her background.

I almost gave up on this book several times, and it was well on its way to earning a one or two star rating, but it finally regained focus on Greyer and Stilton near the end and brought some resolution for them. Even so, I feel I'm being very generous with three stars and would give 2.5 if fractions were allowed. And if the Nanny saga should become a trilogy, I'll pass.

I really LOVED the first book and was so looking forward to reading this one. After reading almost 100 pages, I wondered when the story was actually going to start. I didn't care about the teachers at the school she worked for, I wanted to see interaction with Grayer. Although some other reviewers think Nanny was the same young girl after 12 years had passed, I felt differently. Nanny has traveled all over the world and seemed to have changed completely. She no longer had the inner dialogue making fun of or screaming at the ridiculous Park Avenue mothers, but instead was talking their language. The book is also incredibly wordy and may have one sentence of dialogue for every two paragraphs of over-descriptive sentences. I started to just skip over those parts. I couldn't keep straight what was happening.

The story really goes nowhere, and what does happen is ridiculous. There's hardly any happiness in this one. Not a single good relationship, not even Nanny and Ryan's (H.H.) after awhile. The only uplifting person in the entire book is Grayer's 7 year old brother, Stilton. Had it not been for him I might have put the book down. I loved him like I loved the 4 year old Grayer in Nanny Diaries. I just wish a tiny glimpse of the old Grayer returned in this one, but it might as well have been a different kid altogether.

For those of you who are Nanny fans, you may have to read this just to see for yourselves. Just don't be surprised like I was when you realize that it's nothing like the first, and really isn't very good.

I enjoyed the first book, so I was excited to see a sequel, but my excitement was short lived. Nanny Returns is poorly written, confusing, convoluted and messy. Way too many unnecessary story lines and unlikeable characters. Situations bordering on the ridiculous. Don't waste your money. If you like the first book, pretend this sequel never came out.

I loved Nanny Diaries and was extremely excited when I found out Nanny Returns was being released, but I have to say I was disappointed in Nanny Returns. There were times in the book I didn't even want to keep reading for how miserable Nan's life was becoming especially with her marriage on the rocks. I held on to the end for the hopes from the humor and pages that made you smile or feel good from the first book, but they never showed up.

I was very eager to read this sequel, as I have read the original "Nanny Diaries" several times. I ended up being very disappointed in the sequel, and the only thing that kept me reading til the end was my desire to see what happens to all of the characters that I knew so well from the original book.

The sequel begins approximately 10 years after Nan is fired from her position at the Xs. We quickly learn that she is now married to Harvard Hottie (whose name is revealed as "Ryan"), that they have been traveling the world for Ryan's job, and that they recently bought a house in NYC that needs massive renovations. One night, a drunk Grayer (now a teenager) shows up at her door, still angry at Nan for "abandoning" him. We see that Nan is overwhelemed with guilt and this leads her right back into the Xs lives, which are even more messed up than before, now that they have a new 7-year old son, Stilton, Mr. X has left his wife for a movie star, and Mrs. X (supposedly) has cancer. Meanwhile, Nan is also working as a consultant at a elite prep school that always takes the sides of the students over the teachers, even when the students have horrendous behavior problems. She is being pressured by Ryan to start a family and has also reestablished a relationship with an old classmate from Chapin. When the X parents disappear, Nan is once again solely responsible for their children. The book ends with a brief confrontation between Grayer and his mother, where we see Grayer take charge of their lives.

An earlier reviewer mentioned that the prose is overwritten, and this was my biggest problem in getting through the book. The original book had this wonderful crisp, clear writing style with quick-moving dialogue that made for an easy read. In the sequel, the authors appear unable to have dialogue that isn't immediately followed by overly descriptive sentences of what the character does next. For example, instead of writing "I walked across the room," it's now "I lifted a black-toed stocking clad in a silver-and-black Manolo with a bow hanging off the front toe and placed it down on the gray and white fluff of a floor covering, soon followed by its twin." When a lot of the book reads like that, it gets annoying fast. Also, there are definitely melodramatic spots, and I never bought why Nan felt so guilty over what happened with Grayer (when he was just one of many kids she looked after) or why she didn't immediately tell him that his mother fired her and that's why she left, instead of taking all this blame. Characters tend to pop in and out of the story without much development and you forget about them in the meantime.

On the plus side, there are definitely funny parts and some of Nan's original wit is still there. The school sub-plot is interesting. Overall though, I think Nan is a one-trick pony and probably needs to be put to rest after this book.

i was a huge fan of the first book and also the movie that came out later... but i'm not a fan of nanny returns. i was beyond super excited to hear that the nanny was returning and couldn't wait to find out how grayer was after all these years but there was really not much to this book. nothing of value really happened in my opinion. and another thing i really didn't like was how foul mouthed nan is now. its so not how i envision nan. this is all just my opinions but really just wait for the book in paperback or from the library.