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The Nanny Diaries: A Novel by Emma McLaughlin, Nicola Kraus front cover

The Nanny Diaries

by Emma McLaughlin, Nicola Kraus

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Best for

Readers who want a funny, class-conscious workplace satire of Park Avenue wealth that also has real feeling for a neglected child, and anyone who has done childcare or service work where you must be everything while staying invisible.

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At a glance

Pages320
First published2002
SettingUpper East Side, Manhattan, early 2000s
Our age bandAdult
ISBN0312291639
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About the Author

Emma McLaughlin, Nicola Kraus

1 book reviewed

The Nanny Diaries

by Emma McLaughlin, Nicola Kraus

LuvemBooks Verdict

Best for: Readers who want a funny, class-conscious workplace satire of Park Avenue wealth that also has real feeling for a neglected child, and anyone who has done childcare or service work where you must be everything while staying invisible.

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The Nanny Diaries is a Manhattan satire told by a college student working for a wealthy Upper East Side family, written by two former nannies. It is diabolically funny about Park Avenue wealth and surprisingly aching about a neglected child, so it suits readers who can take the laughs and the frustration together rather than expecting a breezy comfort read.
Is it worth reading?
For most readers, yes, provided they accept that it is more than a comic romp. Reviewers who engage with the voice praise it: Janet Maslin of The New York Times called it a vastly entertaining narrator and impromptu social critic. The caveat is the frustration of watching Nan manipulated and undervalued, which This Chick Reads found deeply maddening yet treated as proof the book works.
Similar books
The most direct follow-up is the authors' own Nanny Returns, listed as a 2010 sequel. Beyond them, Helen Fielding's Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy offers a similarly wry, self-deprecating female narrator, though in a romantic rather than workplace setting. BookBrowse and the This Chick Reads blogger also place the book beside The Devil Wears Prada and I Don't Know How She Does It by Allison Pearson.
Who should read this?
It suits readers who enjoy customer service or another job that demands being everything to others, as the This Chick Reads blogger put it. It is a poor fit for anyone wanting a consistently light, breezy experience, since two separate reviewers stress the poignancy.
What age is it for?
It is written for adults rather than younger readers. Reviews flag an employer who manipulates and gaslights her nanny, rather than graphic material, so older teens who are comfortable with that could read it, though the book does not set an age guideline.
How much of it is based on real nannying?
It is a novel, not a memoir, but both authors have personal experience as nannies. Wikipedia reports they wrote it as students at New York University's Gallatin School of Individualized Study, drawing on work for about 30 Upper East Side households. Wikipedia adds that Nicola Kraus grew up at 1000 Park Avenue and modeled some characters, especially Mrs. X, on other residents of the building.
Tell me about the adaptation
A 2007 film starred Scarlett Johansson, Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney. One source on Google Books says the film loses the witty tone of the novel, which makes the book the stronger introduction. There is also an audiobook read by Julia Roberts.
What scenes do reviewers single out?
Janet Maslin of The New York Times singled out the lavish Halloween party, where the pattern runs child as Snow White, nanny as a large Dwarf. The opening frames the elevator as a bucket in a well pulling Nan toward potential solvency.
Summarize this book

Summarize this book

Nan takes a job caring for four-year-old Grayer X on Manhattan's Upper East Side. His parents are rich, absent and exacting, and over nine months, as their marriage falls apart, Nan is pulled far beyond her job description and becomes Grayer's surrogate mother. The story turns on protecting the boy, her own integrity and her wry perspective, while she and Mrs. X trade in decorum and power.

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