Michelle Blanchard Ardillo

This is a book review of an ARC of Wanted: Toddler’s Personal Assistant by Stephanie Kiser, which I recently read compliments of NetGalley and Sourcebooks. Its subtitle states, “How nannying for the 1% taught me about the myths of equality, motherhood, and upward mobility in America.” I immediately requested a copy because, as you will see below, I find these kinds of behind the scenes stories fascinating. Allow me to digress from the book review for a moment.

From 1984 to 1995 there was an American “reality” show called Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous hosted by British-American Robin Leach. Each episode featured ridiculously wealthy people who had everything they ever wanted and then some.

A New York penthouse apartment larger than many detached mansions, complete with four floors of living space, a wrap-around terrace giving 360 degree views of NYC, and its own private elevator? Absolutely. A mega-mansion situated on a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean, complete with its own private beach, a tennis court, an indoor/outdoor pool, and more bathrooms than bedrooms? Totally. A Texas ranch with its own man-made lazy river and its own private airstrip, complete with a hanger for the Lear jet? Yep.

Confession: I loved that show. I knew I’d never live that lifestyle nor did I really want to. But, it was interesting to see what the Uber-rich can and will buy and/or build. The tag line of the show, which Robin Leach always said in his posh British accent, was “Champagne wishes and caviar dreams!” Indeed.

Fast forward and I watch less reality tv and read much more fiction. Fiction can be filled with the lifestyles of the rich and famous as well. The Nanny Diaries was a novel by former NYC nannies and co-authors Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus, who while watching their young charges also watched their employers very carefully, carefully enough to turn a school writing project into a best-selling novel, which I enjoyed, later to become a motion picture starring Scarlett Johansson, and an audiobook narrated by Julia Roberts.

Author Caroline Angel followed with another nanny-driven novel, her debut novel, All the Time in the World. Full disclosure: years ago she was involved with a theatre program my daughters participated in. That didn’t make me love her book, which I did, but it did make me wonder if I had a book in me. Perhaps not the same level of 1% as The Nanny Diaries or Wanted, but a sensitive look at how nannies can sometimes go too far in becoming “like a member of the family.”

Stephanie Kiser’s debut book isn’t a novel however. It is a memoir, where she finally puts to use her Emerson College degree in Writing for Film & Television. The jacket copy says that Kiser’s book is “alternately poignant and funny.” I didn’t feel it was quite that balanced, being much more poignant than funny, and large chunks of the memoir where Kiser flashes back to her own childhood and relationships with her dysfunctional family contain some very difficult scenes.

I enjoyed this book but I feel it was more of a hybrid than a straight-out memoir. There was a good bit of what felt like research-driven writing where Kiser was documenting things about the working mom/working dad that affects even the 1% as to the division of household and parenting responsibilities. It was an eye-opener as to what these 1% parents spend on their children – barely toddlers – and their activity-filled days.

Where Kiser really shines is the parts of the book where she talks about the two moms she was so close to, Sasha and Devon. She learned quite a bit, albeit very different things, from both women, as well as from the moms whom she didn’t enjoy working for or didn’t even work for that she encountered along the way. When she talked about the children from her first nanny position Ruby and Hunter, and then later Russ, Rei, and baby Tate, and how close she became to those children, it was very rich and real.

The writing of this memoir, only possible after she left nannying for good, must have felt cathartic for Kiser, both in her acceptance of the trials of her own upbringing, a coming of age story in a way, as well as the sheer exhaustion and fatigue she felt caring for newborns when she had so little experience in that area.

I look forward to Kiser’s next work, whatever that may be, whether it will be something for the large or small screen, or a work of fiction in the form of a novel. She is a good story-teller, and she has great life experiences to draw from.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks for the ARC.