The Nanny Diaries: A Novel - Softcover

Mclaughlin, Emma; Kraus, Nicola

3.46

382,441 ratings by Goodreads

9780312983079: The Nanny Diaries: A Novel

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0312983077 ISBN 13: 9780312983079

Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks, 2005

View all copies of this ISBN edition:

WANTED:
One young woman to take care of a four-year-old boy.
Must be bordering on masochistic.
Must relish sixteen-hour shifts with a nap-deprived pre-schooler.
Must love getting thrown up on, literally and figuratively, by everyone in his family
Mostly, must love being treated like fungus found growing out of employers Herm�s bag.
Those who take it personally need not apply.

Who wouldn't want this job?

Nanny is a struggling grad student with no visible piercings. Mrs. X, of Park Avenue, doesn't work, clean, cook, or raise her own child. She makes appointments and lists. Nanny needs a job. Mrs. X needs someone accommodating. Nanny and Mrs. X need each other. In return, Nanny is subjected to erratic shifts, irregular paychecks, and the sullen moods of her four-year-old charge. Sentenced to every play date known to Central Park, and every gourmet-snack run she can handle, Nanny needs a diversion that an afternoon martini can't fulfill. Then she discovers a secret about Mr. X. Navigating a marriage on the rocks and the increasingly paranoid, impossibly demanding attitude of her employer, Nanny is redefining servitude. Because now, Nanny has something worth more than Mrs. X's ill-fitting Prada castoffs as a thankless bonus.
Nanny's acquiring the power of revenge...

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

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

From the Inside Flap:

Three Cassettes, 5 hrs. 15 min.
Read by Julia Roberts

Based on the real-life experiences, the inside story on the real lives of the rich and privileged from the women who know all the secrets - the nannies.

THE NANNY DIARIES deftly skewers the manner in which America's over-privileged raises les petites - as if grooming them for a Best of Show competition. A poignant satire, it punctures the glamor of Manhattan's upper class to tackle head-on the truer state of backstairs Park Avenue.

Struggling to graduate from NYU and afford her microscopic apartment, Nanny takes a job caring for the only son of the wealthy X family. She rapidly learns the insane amount of juggling involved in ensuring that a 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's nearly impossible mission becomes maintaining 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.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.