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The Nanny Diaries: A Novel
by Emma Mclaughlin, Nicola Kraus
Product Group: Book
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin (2003-03)
ISBN: 0312291639
EAN: 9780312291631
Dewy Decimal #: 813.6
Paperback: 320 pages
Release Date: 2003-03-18
SKU: BX015-23
Condition: Used: Very Good
Comments: Clean and shiny. Light wear. Spine uncreased, pgs crisp, clean, tight, unmarked. No remainder mark.
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Editorial Reviews
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Amazon.com
The Nanny Diaries is an absolutely addictive peek into the utterly weird world of child rearing in the upper reaches of Manhattan's social strata. Cowritten by two former nannies, Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus, the novel follows the adventures of the aptly named Nan as she negotiates the Byzantine byways of working for Mrs. X, a Park Avenue mommy. Nan's 4-year-old charge, the hilariously named Grayer (his pals include Josephina, Christabelle, Brandford, and Darwin) is a genuinely good sort. He can't help it if his mom has scheduled him for every activity known to the Upper East Side, including ice skating, French lessons, and a Mommy and Me group largely attended by nannies. What makes the book so impossible to put down is the suspense of finding out what the unbelievably inconsiderate Mrs. X will demand of Nan next. One pictures the two authors having the last hearty laugh on their former employers. --Claire Dederer
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Product Description
Wanted:
One young woman to take care of four-year-old boy. Must be cheerful, enthusiastic and selfless—bordering on masochistic. Must relish sixteen-hour shifts with a deliberately nap-deprived preschooler. Must love getting thrown up on, literally and figuratively, by everyone in his family. Must enjoy the delicious anticipation of ridiculously erratic pay. Mostly, must love being treated like fungus found growing out of employers Hermès bag. Those who take it personally need not apply.
Who wouldn’t want this job? Struggling to graduate from NYU and afford her microscopic studio apartment, Nanny takes a position caring for the only son of the wealthy X family. She rapidly learns the insane amount of juggling involved to ensure that a Park Avenue wife who doesn’t work, cook, clean, or raise her own child has a smooth day.
When the Xs marriage begins to disintegrate, Nanny ends up involved way beyond the bounds of human decency or good taste. Her tenure with the X family becomes a nearly impossible mission to maintain the mental health of their four-year-old, her own integrity and, most importantly, her sense of humor. Over nine tense months, Mrs. X and Nanny perform the age-old dance of decorum and power as they test the limits of modern-day servitude.
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Customer Reviews
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Touche'!
Rating  (5)
Date: 2008-07-12
0 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
Unfortunately I saw the movie first, prior to reading this hilarious book. Too bad the movie doesn't do the book justice.
It was funny, contemporary, light, shedding outrageously hysterical insight into the world of the elite.
Fun, easy read. Slight tear-jerker ending...
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Amusing book that left me feeling sad...
Rating  (3)
Date: 2008-07-05
0 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
I found this book to be very engaging and a real page-turner. However, when I got to the end I was disappointed and sad.
There is a feeling of impending doom after the first 1/3 of the book. The first third is amusing, written spiritedly and although I found things *not* to like about the protagonist, "Nan," overall I liked her and could find things about her with which I could identify.
The last two thirds of the book are gripping and make you want to keep reading - sort of like watching a film and knowing the driver of that car will be t-boned at the next intersection. You know the major act is coming, but you hope that somehow it will turn out for the good. As it is left (and I was somewhat unsatisfied by the close), I felt sad for the parties involved and perplexed at the behavior exhibited by more than one.
It definitely reminded me of my younger days working in a day care - it is just so emotional to work with and grow to love these children (and to know that they love you) and then to leave that job. I definitely felt echoes of the mixed blessing of that situation in this book.
Good book, worth the read, but more of a moral tale than a humorous one.
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Not worth the time
Rating  (1)
Date: 2008-06-07
2 out of 3 customers found this reveiw helpful
I read this book with low expectations yet...even then I was disappointed.
The main character "Nan" has a series of tasks (which her high-strung employer "Mrs. X" commands her to do), which makes her ideal 15-20 hour weekly job a 60 hour a week struggle.
Nan has one-dimensional friends (Sarah and Josh) and a relationship with a man whom she never reveal the name of but only refers to him as Harvard Hottie or H.H.
Its confusing how her relationship with H.H. even came about or how her friendships really are as they are only backdrop to the her more important relationship with an expressive 4 year old named Grayer.
This book is definitely hard to put down but not because it is well written (which it is not) but because the reader hopes that at one point the protagonist would gain likability and depth.
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Over-hyped Nonsense
Rating (1)
Date: 2008-06-01
2 out of 4 customers found this reveiw helpful
I'm sure that there is a good idea buried in this book, I just feel that it wasn't excuted well. A Nanny named Nanny and employers named Mr. and Mrs. X-like this was some attempt to protect real people. My problem is that in the 2 YEARS that it's taken me to read this book, is that the humor (if one wants to call it that) is at first in the begining too over the top and then the rest of the book severely lacking. Maybe this was to be a modern version of Agnes Grey-another book that sets out to complain about the previlege of the rich while the help CHOOSES to be of their employ. It's a book without a cohensive plot but has milked a lot of mileage off it's commerical title. Skip this one.
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'Nanny Diaries'...Nicely Done! (3.5 stars)
Rating (3)
Date: 2008-05-31
0 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
A good mix of satire and social commentary, with a poignant ending!
Most of the critics seemed to miss the point that this was a novel, and that the experiences are not taken directly from the lives of the two nannies. Presumably, they swapped enough stories among themselves and other caregivers, and found a (somewhat) believable framework to include everything here.
There are some nitpicks, already mentioned in great detail, about the characters' names. The main character actually being named 'Nanny' doesn't ruin the story, although the 'X' references wear thin pretty fast!
A touching scene between Nanny and a colleague from Central America is cheapened a bit by a throwaway line later in the story, explaining away that character's job status. Some of the attention given to the on-again, off-again romance of Nanny and 'H.H.', and the rest of her personal life seems somewhat wasted, considering the direction the story takes. And some sections, particularly those set during winter, seem like one long sequence of Nanny taking off one jacket and putting on another!
But the main conflict, between Nanny's devotion to her job vs. her pride, is well-developed here. It's obvious that she's staying not for her sake, or her employers', but for 'Grover'. The end of Nanny's association with the X's may not satisfy readers who wanted more 'closure' and a tidy farewell between Nanny and the little guy. Those who wish she'd just stood up to her employers sooner have a point, but this book requires quite a bit of suspension of disbelief in spite of its attempt to be 'realistic'.
The personality quirks of most characters are a bit too 'stereotypically New York' at times, with Nanny's family coming off as flaky yet still somewhat likeable, while Nanny herself seems shallow and superficial when the story focuses on her life away from her job. That said, there were some very funny moments, especially in the opening chapter, riffing on all the micro-managed, pre-arranged 'activities' and 'play dates', and the silly names that certain parents love to give their kids.
The criticism of the X's and their selfish materialsim is valid, but, like their 'hidden' real names, the idea is overdone.
Nanny's final 'telling off' of her bosses didn't satisy many reviewers, but I enjoyed it...though I also thought that her 'revised' farewell message showed that she was finally growing up a bit. While the ultimate fate of both Grover and Nanny is left up in the air, readers should just be able to enjoy what there is of this story.
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