It seems to me when this book came out, there was a great deal of talk about how 'real' the characters were. As in, is Mrs. X standing in for Someone Famous?The characters in this book are pretty broadly drawn caricatures, but that's part of the fun. Is it possible to be this clueless, this mean, this crazy? On the other hand, they are not quite over-the-top; if you've ever dealt with parents as customers, it's easy to recognize the mentality of people like the Xes. Nanny, of course, is a completely codependent enabler, unwilling to really stand up for herself, but also easily replaceable if she did by someone truly unable to stand up to the bullying.
Julia Roberts read this, and I have to say that I didn't even recognize her voice. She does a marvelous job of inhabiting each character, individualizing them not just by vocal tone, but with subtle shifts of tenor and speech pattern.
A fun, funny book. I'm left with the memory of Nanny's voice saying "OK, yeah...NO" to the kids for whom she is caring, and a sad little picture of a sad little boy crying for attention and love.
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