jennifernorth's Full Review: Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus - The Nanny Diari...
The Nanny Diaries by Emma McLaughlin, Nicola Kraus debuted March 4, 2002 and went immediately out of print. Though it's been a critical darling and a favorite among the Bridget Jones Diary scholars it seems as though every printing press in America (and possibly Canada) are busy churning out new copies of "Stupid White Men: ...and Other Sorry Excuses for the State of the Nation! Which I am looking forward to reading just as soon as everyone else in America is done with it.
The Nanny Diaries goes through a year in the life of a humble NYU student (who is adequately named Nanny) who is supplementing her experience as a Child Development major by taking care of a Park Avenue uber-baby named Grayer X. And by nature of the family, become Mrs. X's hand maiden, errand girl, event planner, personal shopper, accountant, therapist, and seamstress. As well as Mr. X's enabler.
I was once convinced that couples like Mr. and Mrs. X were myths of the Eighties. They are two people so obsessed with maintaining their chi-chi/fu-fu/fa-fa lifestyle that they show no concern for their child or the 'little people' who make their lives run smoothly. I think Eve said it best:
"Some of y'all aint writin well, too concerned with fashion
None of you aint gizell, cat walk and imagine
Alotta y'all Hollywood, drama, passed it
Cut bitc*, camera off, real shi*, blast it"
Thanks, Eve!
And it wouldn't be so bad if their narcissism was used as an evil SuperDuo and somewhat acceptable but they are only running for and on the anxious fumes of self-delusion. Mrs. X emerges as a sort of mid-level management-type as she obsesses over the most inane aspects of the household and wielding absolute control over her employees while holding virtually none of the power in her relationship with her husband. As the plot quickly rolls out we learn that Mr. X is having an affair with a woman from his office thereby taking all his time away from his wife (who virtually has a psychotic breakdown) and his four year old son.
The book touches on some class issues when the writers show how Mrs. X attempts to shield the cracks in her marriage from the white, upper-middle class Nanny while putting that much more stress on the Spanish maid, Connie, who has three kids and resides in the Bronx. In a tyrannical fit of rage Mrs. X fires Connie and she is quickly replaced with Maria, another Spanish woman.
There's even a love story sub-plot to ensure that this story will be appearing at your multiplex starring Julia Roberts and Julia Stiles in a few months. I found these parts to have a whiff of desperation and made Nanny appear so less clever when she's interacting with people her own age (especially cute guys). Though there is a hilarious Lucille Ball/Kafkaesque scene where Nanny attempts to damage the stoner boy hierarchy of computer lab employees just minutes before her dissertation is due.
To appease dear Stef, this book is divided into the four seasons, each being about 50 pages. But there are lots of breathing breaks and luckily, the story is not told in real-time.
Oh, I just checked Amazon.com, it's back in stock and for nearly half of what I paid for it!
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 th...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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