The Nanny Diaries by Emma McLaughlin, Nicola Kraus

[katekintailbc]

The Nanny Diaries
by Emma McLaughlin, Nicola Kraus
(Audio)
http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/7750574

I usually don't like reading abridged books, but in this case I thought it was a great choice. It's not the world's most literary book and I don't feel like I missed a single thing. The pace was great, the story wonderful, and the characters fantastic!

I really didn't expect to like this book as much as I did. I was spellbound and inspired by this exploration of a fictional nanny's life with her charges. At times I SWORE it was a memoir, not fiction, and probably checked the cover no fewer than a dozen times to check and make sure the words "a novel" were still there.

I did my fair share of babysitting in high school and could relate to the main character, Nanny, instantly. I saw a LOT of myself in her. But she was so much more patient and caring than I think I could be, especially when it comes to the family she ended up nannying for. Oh. My. Gosh. What crazy stories and horrible parents! Horrible, mostly, because it felt absolutely realistic. And just when I thought things couldn't get worse and the parents would get a CLUE... it would get worse! I was practically screaming in outrage at one point. I thought there was NO way to save this story, but the ending made me cry with satisfaction. So perfect.

Julia Roberts did a great job reading. I was worried, at first, because she has such a recognizable voice, but she "disappeared" into the character perfectly. The only trip-up came when she said the word "wassailing." I pronounce it as WAH-sul and she pronounced it as wah-SAIL. It took me about 10 minutes to figure out what the heck the word was, as I'd just never heard it said like that before.

Anyway, I absolutely loved this book and I'm so glad I read it! What an engaging, enjoyable, entertaining read!

I just watched the movie last night; what a disappointment :-( It had many similar scenes and elements and the acting was amazingly good. But the changes they made to the story and characters were silly and unnecessary for me. Instead of adding in components (like romance, which apparently no movie in Hollywood can do without these days) to enhance the story, the elements made for shorter scenes and less of an emotional impact, I thought. *shrug*