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Nicola Kraus: The Nanny Diaries

Kookamoor

Kookamoor

New Member
Normally I don't admit to reading chick lit, but I enjoyed the escapism of this one. One of the things that often annoys me about this genre is that the central female character is very weak in some areas to the point of being irrational. I want to screw up my fists and shout at them sometimes. A particular case in point might be the Shopaholic series, because that woman was just so screwed up in her priorities. She needed psychiatric help for her addiction, and here was the author making a buck of what is essentially a legitimate problem for many women.

But I did enjoy this book. It didn't have the typical 'cringe' factor that made me want to yoink the female protagonist out of the novel and shake some sense into her. It was also a little eye-opening into the way in which some New Yorkers really live. I don't doubt it was rather closely based on many of the experiences the two authors (ex-nannies) had themselves.

I'd recommend this book if you're looking for a relaxing, light read.
 
I'm not into Chick Lit either and I also enjoyed this book. I couldn't believe what a miserable bitch the mother was in this book. Then, I thought about it and realized there are probably thousands of mothers like that just in New York.
 
mehastings said:
I thought about it and realized there are probably thousands of mothers like that just in New York.
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But they all come from somewhere else with the dream of acting out their NY powerbitch fantasies. . . :)
 
novella said:
But they all come from somewhere else with the dream of acting out their NY powerbitch fantasies. . . :)
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That's the really scary part. Becoming that person by accident doesn't make you a good person, but doing it on purpose. Yikes.
 
Kookamoor said:
It didn't have the typical 'cringe' factor . . .
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See that's my trouble with chick lit. I can't even get beyond the cringe factor of the covers, let alone buying and reading it.
 
My wife loves Janet Evanovich's (sp?) Stephanie Plum series, and her older romance books recently re-released. Do you think she'd like The Nanny Diaries?
 
sirmyk said:
My wife loves Janet Evanovich's (sp?) Stephanie Plum series, and her older romance books recently re-released. Do you think she'd like The Nanny Diaries?
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They are totally unrelated. I've read the Plum books too. That doesn't mean she wouldn't like this book. My first suggestion would be Jennifer Crusie though.
 
I borrowed this from my Sister in Law one day when I was bored, and I actually really enjoyed it. It really let me lose myself in it, and it was funny, and suprisingly well written. Not my usual kind of book, though I did love the Devil Wears Prada too!
I agree, I wanted to pull her out and shake her a few times, and I think the ending could have been done better. I didn't feel satisfied enough with it.
 
I usually don't read chick lit very much either but I picked up this one because I was formerly a Nanny for years. Though I never had a family that bad, but there are definitely elements of the book that are ring very true :rolleyes: (and not just with the upper crust). I found I enjoyed it so much because I related to it. Certain situations made me remember certain families I had taken care of when I was younger. I still have this one of my shelf.

Duff
 
Maybe I'm missing the boat here, but I do remember that a couple of ex-nannies wrote a "tell-all" kind of book that made a lot of rich people who employed them wince. It was very controversial as the parents came off as indifferent, cold, and somewhat neglectful of their children and abusive towards the nannies. Is that that book or is it something else?
 
Not sure if it's this one. This is supposedly entirely ficticious, although the two authors are ex-nannies. I didn't hear about an uproar.

Anyone else hear this?
 
I think the book SFG is talking about is another book.

The Nanny Diaries wound up depressing me no end. Why do people like that have children at all if they aren't going to take any responsibility for them? Are children simply a "must-have" accessory for the rich and powerful? Or a meal ticket for the wife, to ensure her financial comfort in the event of a divorce? I was torn between disbelief that the nanny in this book would take that amount of crap from the "mother" and aching sympathy for the little boy. I wonder if the kid will grow up to be a serial killer.
 
Miss Shelf said:
The Nanny Diaries wound up depressing me no end.
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Valid points. I join you in disbelief that a nanny would put up with such s*it from the mother. But at the same time I think she was just so concerned about the welfare of the child. And who could blame her! While this story is ficticious, I'm sure it's a reflection of what some children in that sort of society go through growing up. :(
 
Kookamoor said:
Not sure if it's this one. This is supposedly entirely ficticious, although the two authors are ex-nannies. I didn't hear about an uproar.

Anyone else hear this?
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Yes, The Nanny Diaries is the book SFG is referring to. The two authors apparently didn't fictionalize things quite enough for the comfort of their former employers. When the book was published there was a lot of gossip about who was who in the book.
 
Miss Shelf said:
I think the book SFG is talking about is another book.

The Nanny Diaries wound up depressing me no end. Why do people like that have children at all if they aren't going to take any responsibility for them? Are children simply a "must-have" accessory for the rich and powerful? Or a meal ticket for the wife, to ensure her financial comfort in the event of a divorce? I was torn between disbelief that the nanny in this book would take that amount of crap from the "mother" and aching sympathy for the little boy. I wonder if the kid will grow up to be a serial killer.
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As far as WHY some very wealthy people have kids if they aren't going to care for them. It is another bragging point to add to their perfect lives. you have a rich husband, a big house, plenty of money, and little johnny who is 'smarter than your kid'. When the kid is pushed to accomplish many things and be perfect, it reflects back on the parents and makes them appear good as well. That would be my theory. (I run this theory of of my husbands mother who did this :rolleyes: )

Some Nannies are willing to put up with a lot of crap if the pay is good. Plus, most of the families have some sort of qiurk about them. In my days in childcare I had some really *weird* and *out there* families. I had one where I hated the parents and took a lot of crap, but I loved the girls. Over time things with them improved though. The Nanny in the book did not want to quit because in spite of what the parents did to her, she was attached to the kid. Why hurt the kid because their parents are rotten?

I would guess the kid in the book would grow up to be (if he were real) an emotionally detached person whom ends up exactly like his parents. Career centered and materialistic with little capacity for actual relationships, basing self-worth on accomplishments and opinions of others.
 
Yes, I understand that the nanny in the book grew attached to the kid, I don't blame her for that, but she knew the job was getting increasingly intolerable. I think she had guts to stick it out as long as she could. I don't doubt for a second that some nannies stay in crappy situations because they're fond of the children. That's why I found it so depressing-if the parents who feel they can't do without nannies would treat the nanny well, they wouldn't have such a turnover-but on the other hand, at some level the parents (let's say the mother) is/are jealous because the kid seems to like the nanny more than Mom, so Mom makes the nanny miserable till she quits, then gets another one. That is child abuse on some level, not allowing the child to form an attachment to anyone, including Mom, especially if Dad doesn't give a rip about the kid.
 
novella said:
Yes, The Nanny Diaries is the book SFG is referring to. The two authors apparently didn't fictionalize things quite enough for the comfort of their former employers. When the book was published there was a lot of gossip about who was who in the book.
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Ooo! Really!! I can imagine that raised a number of hackles in the well-to-do society.

MonkeyCatcher - the authors are Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus.
 
i own a copy of that book.. i read a big chunk of it when my power was out for a week in early Jan.. but i haven't been able to bring myself to finish it. shame, it was hilerious at some points. i suppose it almost got to boring and redundant for me
 
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