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What do you do when you are a nanny to an obscenely rich Park Avenue matron named X? Mrs. X refuses to do anything for herself, including cook, clean, or take care of her four-year-old son. You are expected to do everything, including maintaining the mental health of said four-year-old, even while Mrs. X decides that it is time for a divorce. You'll have to bear up under the strain with wit and panache, even as the boundaries between your working life and your so-called private life blur, show more merge, and disappear. The symbiotic relationship between parent and nanny ensures that your life will be spent anticipating and fulfilling the needs of your charge and your employer. Have fun listening!. show lessTags
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lahochstetler Stories about the trials of nannies and the children they care for in the wealthiest corners of Manhattan.
Member Reviews
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 show more Park Avenue wife who doesn't work, cook, clean, or raise her own child has a smooth day. When the X's' 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. Written by two former nannies, The Nanny Diaries deftly punctures the glamour of Manhattan's upper class. show less
This book was unreal. I know that Mrs. X is an amalgam of many women the two authors worked for, but even if each only exhibited one of the awful traits this woman does, she is unfit to breed. Mrs. X does absolutely nothing by herself. At the end of the book she is talking about buying a 2-room studio up a few floors so she can get away for some “me time”. This woman’s life is nothing but “me time”. If she ever had to do a single thing on her own, she would collapse into a gibbering mass of cellulite-free flesh.
I can hardly believe that people like this exist. She and her husband expect the child is something on order. Something they can put away into a box when they grow tired of it. That their son is an it with no thoughts show more or feelings. It would serve them imminently right if he grew up to be a psychopath. They take absolutely no pride in any portion of raising their son. It’s completely sick. I would have told off these people inside 5 minutes of knowing them.
But Nanny is desperate and she really does like the kid. It’s not his fault his parents are heartless monsters and that he’s had twice as many nannies as his age. All in all, though, he’s not portrayed as a bad kid. He’s going to be seriously fucked up though.
I felt no sympathy for Mrs. X when Mr. X was discovered to be cheating on her. What did she expect? Mr. X cheated on his first wife with her and she expects him to change? Not gonna happen. I would have been less protective of the bitch though and let her see it right up close. No hiding the truth from the Mrs. for me. show less
I can hardly believe that people like this exist. She and her husband expect the child is something on order. Something they can put away into a box when they grow tired of it. That their son is an it with no thoughts show more or feelings. It would serve them imminently right if he grew up to be a psychopath. They take absolutely no pride in any portion of raising their son. It’s completely sick. I would have told off these people inside 5 minutes of knowing them.
But Nanny is desperate and she really does like the kid. It’s not his fault his parents are heartless monsters and that he’s had twice as many nannies as his age. All in all, though, he’s not portrayed as a bad kid. He’s going to be seriously fucked up though.
I felt no sympathy for Mrs. X when Mr. X was discovered to be cheating on her. What did she expect? Mr. X cheated on his first wife with her and she expects him to change? Not gonna happen. I would have been less protective of the bitch though and let her see it right up close. No hiding the truth from the Mrs. for me. show less
Chick lit that starts out deceptively "light", snarky, with brand name dropping and New York City settings. Our narrator is a senior at NYU, hardworking college girl amidst the ultra rich, Park Ave set - nanny to Mr./Mrs. X's 4 yr old boy Grayer... as one reviewer puts it: " 'The Bonfire of the Vanities' meets 'Mary Poppins' in this hilarious look at life as a nanny to the rich and fatuous. The authors have perfect pitch, and their every observation rings true. 'The Nanny Diaries' is social satire that's as moving as it is funny" - Jane Heller, back book cover. But oh how sad, sad, sad it is for the little boy - desperate for normalcy, for some loving attention from either parent, for a decent nap for gosh's sake... Nan, our show more protagonist, narrates everything with sly humor, self-deprecating observations, and sometimes careens into panic-stricken narration when crises erupt. I laughed in some parts, shook my head in disbelief at the incredible behavior of both Nan's employers, and couldn't wait to read the next chapter to see what new heights Nanny would be forced to climb to survive this job. show less
The Help Speaks Back, Sort OfThe Nanny Diaries, by Emma McLaughlin & Nicola Kraus, Read by Kathe Mazur, Books on Tape, Inc. 2002With the urge to exposure becoming such an inherent part of our national (and for that matter, global) character, with talk show confessionals all the rage, it is only surprising that it took so long for a book like this to be written. Certainly the employees of the rich and famous have been a step ahead of the average upper class servants, doling out the secrets of Elvis’ late night drug binges, Prince Charles’ trysts, and Michael Jackson’s entire life. For the same guilty pleasure of watching the high and mighty get skewered without the tabloid sensationalism of fame’s dirty laundry being aired, two show more former nannies have teamed up to present us with a delicious behind-the-scenes look into the playdates of the soon to be rich and famous.There is nothing terrifically complicated about the book, no grand theory of life discussed, and no revelations that would shock anyone. The book’s strengths lie not in exposing a hidden world or in illuminating dark secrets, but in the mercilessly humorous way in which the easy targets of wealth and self-indulgence are skivered, one layer at a time, an accumulation of egocentricity pricked repeatedly, devilishly.The Prologue is a charmingly amusing interview that is described as being the same no matter when it's done or who does it. When the narrator mentions the child, the name keeps changing, always one of those pompous upper crust name like Hutchinson, Stanton, Tinford, Jace, or Elspeth. This ends with the observation that to “do [the job:] well is to lose it,” the mother ultimately resenting how close the nanny and the child becomes. This is a bit of foreshadowing and also a bit of a gloss over the myriad motivations and bitter little revenges that lead to the firing of a nanny, but it smacks the main point directly on the snout.The Nanny Diaries is filled with deliciously vicious portraits of upper class wives and their disconnected businessmen-husbands. One woman sneers with real venom that her maid, Consuela has another visit to her doctor regarding her hip transplant. “The third one this month,” the woman angrily declaims. We also meet the ironically named Darwin, a child of most unevolved behavior, a regular monster of pampered, violent intemperance who repeatedly hits his nanny. His favorite game involves karate chopping other kids or trying to smother them with his bulk.The story is that of Nan (or Nanny as she is called while working, her name demonstrating that she is in fact her occupation) who takes a job with Mr. and Mrs. X to care for their four year old son, Grayer. Nan takes this job as a means to pay her bills while she finishes up a degree at NYU in child development/education. The two worlds are set up as to be as starkly divided as possible, the poverty of college for a middle class kid against the Delft riches of her employers, the open-minded world of learning and experience against the rigidity of rules, diets, and the over-scheduled lives of the toddler set.Between the two authors, they demonstrate a perceptive and amusing ability to sketch certain types with deadly precision. And that’s the book’s real strength, not its plotting but its send-up of types. The collective of white boy posses with their PDAs, backward white baseball caps, and their nanny porno fantasies. The various immigrant servants, downtrodden and harried, with advanced degrees but no chance at better jobs. The other nursemaids, British au pairs, and their pretension to the riches they serve. The walking dead of bankers, MBAs, and stock market speculators. The vacuous trophy mistresses who don't grasp that "winning" against the wife means eventually becoming the hated wife. The portrait of FAO Schwartz during the Christmas crush is a Dantean nightmare of whining spoiled children, harried parents, dazed and idiotic part time clerks, and Kansans being Kansans.As social commentary, there are many pointed scenes in which the writers indite with a poison pen. Then there are moments that read as though this were a novelization of a major Hollywood film starring the immoderately perky Kate Hudson or the vacuous Brittany Murphy. One scene involves a business related costume party in which Nanny and her charge have to dress up in Teletubbies costumes for a party while Mr. and Mrs. X decide at the last minute to ditch their costumes. This, of course, ends up involving a cramped elevator scene with Nan’s crush, the dashing Harvard Hottie.As a scenario, this seems to happen in every sitcom and romantic comedy ever written or even dreamed of. Right at this very minute, someone is typing up a screenplay in which a variant of this scene is playing out. Then there is the nanny accidentally stumbling on the husband in flagrante delicto with his mistress at an office party. Another cinematic moment you can simply close your eyes and see all too easily. These are the bit trite scenes, amusingly portrayed, yet cliched nonetheless.The Nanny Diaries is one of those stories in which the protagonist takes shit for so long you begin get angry yourself, wondering just how much this person is going to swallow. I include this lengthy scene with Mrs. X’s “consultant” who comes in to evaluate Nanny’s performance as a fine example (and also as an amusing look into the life so expertly pinned and mounted): “How would you describe your agenda during his scheduled playtime?” “Right…Grayer really likes to play trains. Oh, and dress up. So I try to do activities that he enjoys. I wasn’t aware that he had an agenda for playtime.” “Do you engage him in puzzles?” “He doesn’t like puzzles so much.” “Math problems?” “He’s a little young—” “When was the last time you practiced circles?” “I’m sure sometime in the last week we had the crayons out—” “Do you play the Suzuki tapes?” “Only when he takes a bath.” “Have you been reading to him from the Wall Street Journal?” “Well, actually—” “The Economist?” “Not really—” “The Financial Times?” “Should I be?” She sighs heavily and scribbles furiously on her pad. She begins again. “How many bilingual meals are you serving him a week?” “We speak French on Tuesday night, but I usually serve vegieburgers.” “And you are attending the Guggenheim on what basis?” “We go to the Museum of Natural History—he loves the rocks.” “What methodology are you following to dress him?” “He picks out his clothes or Mrs. X does. As long as he’ll be comfortable—” “You don’t utilize an Apparel Chart, then?” “Not really—” “And I suppose you are not documenting his choices with him on a Closet Diagram.” “Yeah, no.” “Nor are you having him translate his color and sizes into the Latin.”So at the book's end, when Nanny finally does go off, to a Nanny-cam, the effect is a bit underwhelming. You want her to slap Mrs. X's face or shake her, you want Mr. and Mrs. X to grasp the folly of their self-centeredness. Of course, it's probably more realistic that Nanny never does actually go off on her employers, at least to their faces. How many of us have stuck it out in horrible employment circumstances because we had no better options on the horizon, because we needed the money, because we thought circumstances couldn't possibly get any worse — and when they do, we tell ourselves, well it won't get any worse than this?And so the novel is a bit like telling your friends all the good retorts you came up with after the fact. The authors get their bit of revenge, but does that change anything? Venal, self-absorbed utter refuse posing as human beings will continue to reproduce despite having no interest in their children. The author bios on the back of the book inform us that Ms. McLaughlin and Ms. Kraus are no longer nannies. I doubt they could ever return to the profession, and so with this book they were able to burn all the bridges to that life. I certainly hope the parents left on the other side of those bridges saw themselves in these unflattering portraits and blushed with shame and promised to become better people, but I wouldn't hold my breath.Kathe Mazur, the reader, inhabits the book as a nice background sound, never intruding, never overstating her case, while all the while giving us a wonderfully nuanced performance. show less
Abridged Audiobook
Release date: 03-08-02
Publisher: Random House Audio
This insight into self-absorbed Manhattan elites, chasing their own exaggerated identity while foisting off their responsibilities on dehumanized servants is rather unsettling. The generic name "Nanny" imposed feels humiliating, and all is off-putting in this world where a child grows up like a weed.
I would give this four stars, if only for the narration by Julia Roberts, the actress, but the final long rant into a nanny cam seems so contrived and self-serving that I cannot go that far.
Release date: 03-08-02
Publisher: Random House Audio
This insight into self-absorbed Manhattan elites, chasing their own exaggerated identity while foisting off their responsibilities on dehumanized servants is rather unsettling. The generic name "Nanny" imposed feels humiliating, and all is off-putting in this world where a child grows up like a weed.
I would give this four stars, if only for the narration by Julia Roberts, the actress, but the final long rant into a nanny cam seems so contrived and self-serving that I cannot go that far.
I realize that this book is essentially residing in the Doritos section of the book store while everyone mostly wishes to pretend that they only read Globe Artichokes, Organic Free-Range Chickens or Nine-Grain Toasted Wheat Berry Muffins. But you know what? There are days where I really do want Doritos. And I don't mean some sub-standard generic Nacho-Cheese-Flavored Corn Chip - if I'm going to eat junk food, I want a quality junk food (I don't want pretend junk food either - so keep your Guava Choco-Almond Crips to yourself). And that's what you'll get with the Nanny Diaries. A quality, name-brand, worth-the-calories, junk food read.
In terms of your chick lit, summer beach read, something to pass the time reads, The Nanny Diaries is a show more cut above most others. While the staples are all present - young ingenue about to make her way in big city, old guard establishment that will be examined though wide-eyed idealism and a best-friend with rough edges - this story seems to do a much better job of taking us through the familiar dance without it seeming so forced.
Nan is a surprisingly well-formed character for the genre. By this, I mean that she has reason for moving through the plot. Her actions also have consequence and her character suffers from mistakes of her own creation in addition to the expected meanness of others. Nan's story of accepting a job and staying on as Grayer's nanny to a self-involved Manhattan couple works only because she is more than a single-note character. Even Grayer, her charge, gets his turn at character growth. The lessons in the Nanny Diaries are not particularly deep (don't be a self-involved jerk pretty much sums it up), but that's okay. If you want life-changing, go to the Pomegranate Syrup Infused Roasted Rack of Lamb section of the literature isle. show less
In terms of your chick lit, summer beach read, something to pass the time reads, The Nanny Diaries is a show more cut above most others. While the staples are all present - young ingenue about to make her way in big city, old guard establishment that will be examined though wide-eyed idealism and a best-friend with rough edges - this story seems to do a much better job of taking us through the familiar dance without it seeming so forced.
Nan is a surprisingly well-formed character for the genre. By this, I mean that she has reason for moving through the plot. Her actions also have consequence and her character suffers from mistakes of her own creation in addition to the expected meanness of others. Nan's story of accepting a job and staying on as Grayer's nanny to a self-involved Manhattan couple works only because she is more than a single-note character. Even Grayer, her charge, gets his turn at character growth. The lessons in the Nanny Diaries are not particularly deep (don't be a self-involved jerk pretty much sums it up), but that's okay. If you want life-changing, go to the Pomegranate Syrup Infused Roasted Rack of Lamb section of the literature isle. show less
I listened to an abridged audio version with Julia Roberts reading. She did an excellent job of reading. I don't know why but I thought this was supposed to be a funny book. I guess I thought that because I knew it was very popular. But I found the story very sad. This is the story of many children's lives and the lives of their nannys, and the empty lives of their parents. I've had many of these children in my classroom and I have seen the permanent damage to their hearts and souls.
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ThingScore 88
The authors, NYU grads themselves, have filled the novel with humorous events allegedly based on their personal experiences.
added by stephmo
"The Nanny Diaries" is a sharply barbed comedy of manners; the denizens of New York's Upper East Side (and, by extension, their brethren in all other tony, overpriced, deadly dull neighborhoods in cities around the world) are its target.
added by stephmo
With this hilarious, vicious satire of upper-class family life in Manhattan, McLaughlin and Kraus, ex-nannies who know of what they speak, position themselves as contempo Edith Whartons.
added by stephmo
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Author Information
13+ Works 11,271 Members
Emma McLaughlin was born in Elmira, New York on February 7, 1974. She graduated from New York University's Gallatin School of Individualized Study with a concentration in Arts in Education. She worked as a business consultant within the private and public sectors. She met Nicola Kraus while both were attending New York University, and working as show more nannies. They wrote The Nanny Diaries, which was published in 2002 and was adapted into a film starring Scarlett Johansson in 2007. Their other works include Citizen Girl, Dedication, The Real Real, Nanny Returns, and The First Affair. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
12+ Works 11,300 Members
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Awards and Honors
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Series
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Goldmann (45744)
Work Relationships
Has as a student's study guide
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Nanny Diaries
- Original publication date
- 2002-03-13
- People/Characters
- Nanny; Grayer Addison X; Mrs. X; Mr. X
- Important places
- Manhattan, New York, New York, USA; Park Avenue, New York, New York, USA
- Related movies
- The Nanny Diaries (2007 | IMDb)
- Epigraph
- "You should hear mama on the chapter of governesses: Mary and I have had, I should think, a dozen in our day; half of the detestable, and the rest ridiculous, and all incubi - were they not, mama?"
"My dearest, don't menti... (show all)on governesses; the word makes me nervous. I have suffered a martyrdom from their incompentency and caprice; I thank Heaven I have now done with them!"
- Jane Eyre - Dedication
- To our parents, for always reading at least one bedtime story (with voices) no matter how tuckered they were.
And to all the fabulous kids who have danced, giggled and hiccuped their way into our hearts.
We root for you... (show all) still. - First words
- (Prologue) Every season of my nanny career kicked off with a round of interviews so surreally similar that I'd often wonder if the mothers were slipped a secret manual at the Parents League to guide them through.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)"I see. Well, then, Grace, let's go home."
- Original language
- English
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- Reviews
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- (3.20)
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- 16 — Catalan, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Norwegian (Bokmål), Polish, Portuguese, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish
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- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
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- ASINs
- 20