Reviewed by Renée Bosman, Government Information Librarian
The Nanny Diaries is a smart and hilarious send-up of New York's Park Avenue families as told by the hired help. Written by two former nannies, this work of fiction has the feel of a tell-all exposé, with a healthy dash of wry social commentary thrown in for good measure. It tells the story of Nanny, an NYU college student who cares for the young son of Mr. & Mrs. X, a workaholic investment banker and his cold wife, "a woman who neither works nor mothers. And her day remains a mystery to us all." During her time with Grayer, Nan encounters a colorful cast of characters, including a demonic child named Darwin and a former Vegas showgirl with a cocaine habit and a 4-year-old. While the characters tend toward two-dimensional and underdeveloped, this seems to heighten the novel's role as satire. And however unreal this world may appear, the authors have insisted that all the situations in the book were actually experienced by themselves or their peers. This is why the novel's debut caused quite a stir among New York socialites who attempted to deduce the real people behind these infuriating, yet pity-inducing, characters.
January 2006 Archives
Reviewed by Mark Elliott, Library Specialist
This Australian satire is set in a near future where the culture of big business has overtaken every aspect of life. Aggressive marketing entails murder, corporate raids are executed by armed mercenaries, and if you want a crime investigated by the police, you have to pay them up front. In Max Barry's alternative reality, employees are surnamed after the company for which they work (a pair of frightening villains are both named John Nike), which is just one of many telling details illustrating how dominant corporate life has become. But the effect in the story is far from a dense, Orwellian exposition. The particulars of life in the Australian States of America are easily grasped and never slow the pace of the adventures of plucky government agent Jennifer, a former marketing genius and single mother who finds herself trying to shut down the ultimate campaign. Despite its chilling subject matter, Jennifer Government is lively, readable and very funny.
