Type of bind: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN num: 9780312278588
ISBN number: 0312278586
Label: St. Martin's Press
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Press
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 306
Printing Date: March 13, 2002
Publishing house: St. Martin's Press
Sale Popularity Level: 353876
Studio: St. Martin's Press
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Editor's Notes and Comments:
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 pre-schooler
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 Hermes 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 quickly 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.
The Nanny Diaries deftly skewers the manner in which America's over-privileged raise les petites over-privileged-as if grooming them for a Best in Show competition. Written by two former nannies, this alternately comic and poignant satire punctures the glamour of Manhattan's upper class.
Amazon.com Review:
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
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers 
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I found this book to be funny.
It is a story about Nanny who meets Mrs. X and becomes the Nanny to Mrs. X's son Greer Addison whom Nanny soon calls Grover. Over the subsequent couple of months Nanny must juggle the responsibilities of school, Greer, and her personal life leading to some funny moments in the book.
There is only one this that I did not like about the book-the names. It was weird that the main character went by a profession and that while the boy she babysat for had a very first a middle name, his parents were Mr and Mrs. X. I don't feel that it would have taken away from the book to have the main character call herself something else or give the X's last names (and maybe say that the name is not their real last name)
Over all though this is a very good entertaining book with some really great characters.
Rated by buyers 
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The story in this book has tremendous value in a world that has become obsessed with money, celebraties, the corporate ladder. It highlights (in a gentle, humorous manner - that helps to keep the reader interested) that money cannot buy happiness,love,personal fulfillment.It is an xcellent book for teenagers to read - one that can stimulate discusion about modern day value systems,family disintegration and the all-too-often-negative ripple effects of so called corporate "success". Well done to the two authors. An enjoyable and educational read.
Rated by buyers -
A great book. A page turner. When it ends, I would love to know what happen to the X's and Grayer.
Rated by buyers 
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I purchased the Nanny Diaries because of such high recommendations from Amazon.com readers. The book is recommended (along with other representatives of the chick-lit genre) in books and blogs about writing for that market. Other novels recommended this highly both for entertainment and study have all met the standards I expected, with characters I readily embraced and a quick-moving and witty story line.
Where did The Nanny Diaries go wrong?
In my estimation, it was a veritable leper-colony of a book filled with characters so morally bankrupt and unfeeling that I had to force myself to finish it. They were not cold in the cardboard manner of a cartoonish and laughable character. They were real enough to be outrageously disgusting, and were made so by the presence of Grayer, a total innocent and pawn of these polymorphous perverse narcissists.
The book's "payoff" of a scene where Nanny delivers a rant into the nanny-cam in the family's empty apartment is funny and well-written. However, the entire time I was reading it -- and I went through it twice to give it an honest evaluation -- I could only think of that innocent boy screaming for his Nanny as she was driven away from the house by his indifferent father.
If you're looking for a novel that will leave you depressed for days afterward, The Nanny Diaries is for you. If you are looking for a novel to examine as a model of literary skill, look elsewhere. Just stay away!
Rated by buyers -
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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