I loved The Nanny Diaries: A Novel when it first came out (I'm guessing from Amazon in the early 2000's). It was equal parts sad, funny and touching. You wanted Nanny to succeed and her little charge Grayer to make it out of his parents' messed up lives in one piece. I was super excited to hear they were writing a sequel to the book, picking up over a decade since Nanny left the X's and little Grayer behind.
Nanny might be older but she is certainly not wiser in this book. She's married the Harvard Hottie (from book one and now referred to as Ryan), she's started her own company, moved back to NY and is trying to renovate her house. When a surprise visit from Grayer thrusts her back into the X's lives. They now have a second son to screw up, Grayer is a surly teen, and the family is just as crazy as before.
I was underwhelmed by the book. Maybe with the onslaught of reality TV digging into the "real housewives" and the fact the first book came out almost a decade ago - it's nothing new this time around. The rich people Nanny deals with are annoying, self-centered and out of touch with any sort of reality. Nanny is still obsessed with making things right with Grayer, launches herself into projects without knowing the full scope and never really seems to learn from her mistakes the first time around.
The book read slow for me and I wasn't that interested in what was going to happen. I guessed one subplot pretty early on. And they never really tidied up the other with Nanny's company, the school she was working for and the teacher that got laid off. It just sort of ended.
Overall the book is no where near as good as the first. The storyline seems tired and far-fetched. Nanny becomes friends with a high-school enemy, practically adopts Grayer and Stilton (his brother), fixes the X's lives again.... all while trying to start her company, balance work, fix her new house and decide if she wants kids with Ryan. Busy month for Nanny.
Two out of five stars.
Haha, good review. I liked your description of it. A lot of those books that were popular in the early 2000s were about NYC society and how either the other half lives, or how the other other half thinks the other half is a joke. Ready for a new genre. Did you get lots of fun books for Christmas? Also, I want to borrow the first Chelsea Handler book! :)
ReplyDeleteIt's so true and with Gossip Girl too its not a shock anymore... it was just ok - not even a little bit below ok.
ReplyDeleteI need to read that I keep getting library books so it gets shoved to the bottom. She's coming out with a third in March. I put it in my Amazon list to remind me.