Never delivers the juicy satisfaction of its precursor.
In this sequel to The Nanny Diaries (2002), Nan Hutchinson moves back to Manhattan and finds herself once more ensnared in the dysfunctional, über-rich world of her former charge.
Ten years older and happily nesting in a Harlem fixer-upper with “Harvard Hottie” hubby Ryan, Nan thinks she’s left behind those surreal days of catering to the offspring of the wealthy. Now she’s occupied with building her fledging management-consulting business and struggling with the idea of starting a family of her own. But late one night, who should arrive at her door but little Grayer X, all grown up into a strapping—and drunk—16-year-old. He’s still smarting over what he saw as her abandonment back when he was only four, he reveals; Nan is stunned and feels a little guilty, even though Grayer is unaware of the extenuating circumstances. Despite being sophisticated beyond his years, the boy is not dealing well with the fact that his long-absent Dad, hedge-fund titan Mr. X, has finally moved out altogether to be with a movie-star mistress. In response, self-absorbed Mrs. X has taken to her bed in a haze of prescription drugs, leaving Grayer responsible for the care of his seven-year-old brother Stilton. Being who she is, Nan cannot help but step in to help the adorable Stilton get into boarding school. This prompts the unnerving gratitude of Mrs. X, who confides that she is suffering from breast cancer. Yikes. In addition to the X family drama, Nan takes a too-good-to-be true gig at a fancy private school full of entitled brats and obsequious staffers somehow involved with the increasingly shady Mr. X’s business. It all winds up with a weekend in the Hamptons, where Nan acts as de facto guardian of both boys, wondering if she really has what it takes to bring kids into the world.
Never delivers the juicy satisfaction of its precursor.Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-1-4165-8567-1
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2009
Heartfelt, yes, but pretty routine.
Life lessons.
Angie Malone, the youngest of a big, warm Italian-American family, returns to her Pacific Northwest hometown to wrestle with various midlife disappointments: her divorce, Papa’s death, a downturn in business at the family restaurant, and, above all, her childlessness. After several miscarriages, she, a successful ad exec, and husband Conlan, a reporter, befriended a pregnant young girl and planned to adopt her baby—and then the birth mother changed her mind. Angie and Conlan drifted apart and soon found they just didn’t love each other anymore. Metaphorically speaking, “her need for a child had been a high tide, an overwhelming force that drowned them. A year ago, she could have kicked to the surface but not now.” Sadder but wiser, Angie goes to work in the struggling family restaurant, bickering with Mama over updating the menu and replacing the ancient waitress. Soon, Angie befriends another young girl, Lauren Ribido, who’s eager to learn and desperately needs a job. Lauren’s family lives on the wrong side of the tracks, and her mother is a promiscuous alcoholic, but Angie knows nothing of this sad story and welcomes Lauren into the DeSaria family circle. The girl listens in, wide-eyed, as the sisters argue and make wisecracks and—gee-whiz—are actually nice to each other. Nothing at all like her relationship with her sluttish mother, who throws Lauren out when boyfriend David, en route to Stanford, gets her pregnant. Will Lauren, who’s just been accepted to USC, let Angie adopt her baby? Well, a bit of a twist at the end keeps things from becoming too predictable.
Heartfelt, yes, but pretty routine.Pub Date: July 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-345-46750-7
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2004
Less bleak than the subject matter might warrant—Hannah’s default outlook is sunny—but still, a wrenching depiction of war’s...
The traumatic homecoming of a wounded warrior.
The daughter of alcoholics who left her orphaned at 17, Jolene “Jo” Zarkades found her first stable family in the military: She’s served over two decades, first in the army, later with the National Guard. A helicopter pilot stationed near Seattle, Jo copes as competently at home, raising two daughters, Betsy and Lulu, while trying to dismiss her husband Michael’s increasing emotional distance. Jo’s mettle is sorely tested when Michael informs her flatly that he no longer loves her. Four-year-old Lulu clamors for attention while preteen Betsy, mean-girl-in-training, dismisses as dweeby her former best friend, Seth, son of Jo’s confidante and fellow pilot, Tami. Amid these challenges comes the ultimate one: Jo and Tami are deployed to Iraq. Michael, with the help of his mother, has to take over the household duties, and he rapidly learns that parenting is much harder than his wife made it look. As Michael prepares to defend a PTSD-afflicted veteran charged with Murder I for killing his wife during a dissociative blackout, he begins to understand what Jolene is facing and to revisit his true feelings for her. When her helicopter is shot down under insurgent fire, Jo rescues Tami from the wreck, but a young crewman is killed. Tami remains in a coma and Jo, whose leg has been amputated, returns home to a difficult rehabilitation on several fronts. Her nightmares in which she relives the crash and other horrors she witnessed, and her pain, have turned Jo into a person her daughters now fear (which in the case of bratty Betsy may not be such a bad thing). Jo can't forgive Michael for his rash words. Worse, she is beginning to remind Michael more and more of his homicide client. Characterization can be cursory: Michael’s earlier callousness, left largely unexplained, undercuts the pathos of his later change of heart.
Less bleak than the subject matter might warrant—Hannah’s default outlook is sunny—but still, a wrenching depiction of war’s aftermath.Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-312-57720-9
Page Count: 400
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Dec. 18, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2012
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