Character Analysis
(Avoiding Spoilers)
Grew Up... with her mom who is so supportive of her. Her mom didn’t have much money, but she ended up paying for her education at NYU where she graduated with honors with a B.A. in finance with a minor in anthropology. Annie didn’t have the heart to tell her mom that she can’t find a job now that she graduated. So she lied to her that she is working on Wall Street.
Living... with a wealthy family on the Upper East Side. Annie is the nanny for their five-year-old son, Grayer. Annie met Grayer when she saved his life at the park after his mom wandered off. When Annie met his mom, his mom misheard her speak her name as Annie and thought she said “Nanny.” She got the job on the spot.
Profession... nanny, which means she is an errand runner, house cleaner, and servant to Grayer. She has come to care for Grayer, but Annie can't stand her bosses. The mother is “too busy with her hair appointments, and her watsu massages and her attempts to stay young so her husband won't leave her.” And the father is “a bald, steak-eating, cigar-smoking, type-A pig who gets more turned on by the Bloomberg Wire than he does by his wife.”
Interests... hanging out with her best friend Lynette and swapping horror stories about their bosses.
Relationship Status... unrequited. Annie has a bad crush on a guy who lives in her building who wears a Harvard t-shirt all the time. She calls him her Harvard Hottie, but he doesn't know she exists.
Challenge... dealing with the last straw of her job. Her bosses have installed a Nannycam. As she says, "What's next? Periodic drug tests? Strip searches? A metal detector in their front hall? Who are these people?"
Personality... bright and caring but somewhat naïve. After graduating, Annie had high hopes. But as she is discovering from her work, the world is deeply divided between the 1% and the 99%. Although she may be at heart an optimist, Annie is becoming quite cynical.
Get to Know her in...
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A college graduate goes to work as a nanny for a rich New York family. Ensconced in their home, she has to juggle their dysfunction, a new romance, and the spoiled brat in her charge.
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Wanted: One young woman to take care of four-year-old boy. Must be cheerful, enthusiastic and selfless--bordering on masochistic. Must relish sixteen-hour shifts with a deliberately nap-deprived preschooler. Must love getting thrown up on, literally and figuratively, by everyone in his family. Must enjoy the delicious anticipation of ridiculously erratic pay. Mostly, must love being treated like fungus found growing out of employers Hermès bag. Those who take it personally need not apply. Who wouldn't want this job? Struggling to graduate from NYU and afford her microscopic studio apartment, Nanny takes a position caring for the only son of the wealthy X family. She rapidly learns the insane amount of juggling involved to ensure that a Park Avenue wife who doesn't work, cook, clean, or raise her own child has a smooth day. When the Xs' marriage begins to disintegrate, Nanny ends up involved way beyond the bounds of human decency or good taste. Her tenure with the X family becomes a nearly impossible mission to maintain the mental health of their four-year-old, her own integrity and, most importantly, her sense of humor. Over nine tense months, Mrs. X and Nanny perform the age-old dance of decorum and power as they test the limits of modern-day servitude. Written by two former nannies, The Nanny Diaries deftly punctures the glamour of Manhattan's upper class.
