The Other Typist - review by Arianna

The Other Typist Suzanne Rindell 4 / 5	Published 2013 First Sentence "They said the typewriter would unsex us."
Publisher's Description: New York City, 1924: the height of Prohibition and the whole city swims in bathtub gin. Rose Baker is an orphaned young woman working for her bread as a typist in a police precinct on the lower East Side. Every day Rose transcribes the confessions of the gangsters and murderers that pass through the precinct. While she may disapprove of the details, she prides herself on typing up the goriest of crimes without batting an eyelid. But when the captivating Odalie begins work at the precinct Rose finds herself falling under the new typist's spell. As do her bosses, the buttoned up Lieutenant Detective and the fatherly Sergeant. As the two girls' friendship blossoms and they flit between the sparkling underworld of speakeasies by night, and their work at the precinct by day, it is not long before Rose's fascination for her new colleague turns to obsession. But just who is the real Odalie, and how far will Rose go to find out?
Dear Reader, Wow.  What a fun book!  It took me a little while to get into, but once I started really catching the pace of the story, it was really great reading.  The story revolves around Rose, a fairly reserved and conservative woman who works in a police precinct as a typist in 1929.  While she has no trouble stomaching some of the awful things she hears at work, she is still very proper and believes in the moral right.  So her world is shaken when her new coworker Odalie joins the ranks at the precinct.  Odalie is everything that Rose is not: adventurous, easygoing, unbridled in her passion.  Something in her draws Rose in, and the story unfolds as the friendship between the two develops. The great thing about the book is all the twists and turns that it takes.  While I really enjoyed the period writing (clothing, speakeasies, and attitudes discussed, among many other things), what was the most intriguing was seeing the story between the two girls develop.  As they grew closer, back-stories revealed themselves, and really drew the reader in.  Rose writes the book as a memoir of sorts, reflecting on the time in her past life when she was so charmed by Odalie that she would do anything for her - even things which would otherwise be against her own, much more reserved nature. While it's been years since the sort of thing has happened to me, I also really identified with the idea of having a friend you idolize, who makes you want to be more adventurous, more like her.  I recall having friends like that in high school, who I wanted to be just like.  But I was never bold or pretty enough, in my own eyes.  I could really understand why Rose latched onto Odalie to such an extent, although of course I am glad to say that, ultimately, my obsession or devotion would not have gone quite as far as Rose's (I hope). This book reminded me quite a bit of the musical Chicago, actually - a brassy, brazen woman who epitomizes the flapper ideal of the era, taking a mouse under her wing and transforming her into a much bolder woman, herself.  I'm sure it helps that the time periods of both pieces pretty much coincided. I would definitely recommend this book.  Really just a fun read for all the mind games it plays, if nothing else! Yours, Arianna P.S. Check out what Amber had to say about this book!

Support ShelfNotes! Purchase your copy of The Other Typist here:

Gone with the Wind

Gone with the Wind Margaret Mitchell 4.5/5	Published 1963 First Sentence "Scarlett O'Hara was not beautiful, but men seldom realized it when caught by her charm as the Tarleton twins were."
Publisher's Description: Set against the dramatic backdrop of the American Civil War, Margaret Mitchell's epic love story is an unforgettable tale of love and loss, of a nation mortally divided and its people forever changed. At the heart of all this chaos is the story of beautiful, ruthless Scarlett 'O' Hara and the dashing soldier of fortune, Rhett Butler.
Dear Reader, What an epic story! Even though this took me quite some time to finish due to the incredible length, I still enjoyed every moment of it. This story is so well known, I'm not sure if I have to write a blurb about it, but I'll try to do it justice. The setting of "Gone with the Wind" ranges from a plantation in the countryside of Georgia to the city of Atlanta. Scarlett O'Hara is the main character and the story is told from her perspective, mostly. The Author does a little back and forth to get some of the other views of the different characters but Mitchell mostly sticks with Scarlett. This is a true coming of age story, a little unique since it's set during the Civil War and is told from the eyes of a spoiled girl who grows up on a plantation in Georgia. We follow her from age sixteen to twenty-eight during the time span of 1861 until 1873. For those of you who know your Civil War history, you'll see how those few years would completely change the life of a girl brought up in the privileged South. The story takes you from riches, to war, to freedom, to poor, to struggle, to regained riches, to loss, to death, to love and SO much more. Some would believe that this is a historical romance, even I was mislead by the common knowledge just the title, "Gone with the Wind" carries, however this is far from the full truth. I would put this under historical fiction, mainly because it's so much more than a love story. Yes, Scarlett is shallow and can only think about herself and boys/men, but this wouldn't be a coming of age story without a little hardship. Scarlett lives through the hardest times in the South, the ones that made all the wealthy plantation owners destitute. She struggled and survived, coming out on the other side stronger. Sadly, she doesn't learn enough lessons to change her selfishness until it's too late, making this more of a tragedy. Scarlett is so intolerably selfish, it made me want to slap her silly (satisfyingly, Rhett does this enough to placate me). So what about the love story? It's a good one, mostly because of how tragic it truly is. This is not some warm fuzzy feeling book with a happy ending, be prepared to cry. The one fact that I got out of this tragic love story is that you can't change someone, no matter how hard you try. Scarlett never apologizes for her inadequacy and I believe this is why I started to feel a bit of sympathy for her. In a world where the proper way of being a "lady" is more important than life itself, one can't blame Scarlett for rebelling. Take this for example; back then you couldn't speak of being pregnant, nor go out of the house while with child because it was deemed inappropriate. Can you imagine if this was something that didn't change with the times? Outrageous. The Civil War broke many people down and caused some of these absurd traditions to break free. Nobody cared that much of what was proper, when you have a dying civilization surrounding you. Okay, so maybe it didn't change THAT drastically and Scarlett is a perfect example of a girl who breaks free but gets the cold shoulder from all her "supposed" family friends. Don't get me wrong, she does some dastardly things that warrant the cold shoulder, but she also gives the reader some hope for the female race. I mean we know how it all turns out, and it might not have changed so drastically if it weren't for woman like Scarlett. The Civil War is something that hits home, being an American. It was hard reading about things from a different perspective because you didn't know what the truth truly was. I don't remember hearing much about the hardships the South faced during and after the war, coming from a Northern school system. I wonder if that would have been different if I had grown up in the South. I'm sure the same can be said vice versa. I'm glad to have these different perspectives to ponder on, I might never know the full truth but I can be rest assured that we've come together in the right direction. This is such a hard topic because we know what is "RIGHT" and "WRONG" with slavery, but in order to get America changed to "RIGHT", we had to destroy a civilization, which is what the Southern culture was essentially. I think one of my favorite lines in the book was spoken by the dashing Rhett Butler, "I told you once before that there were two times for making big money, one in the up-building of a country and the other in its destruction. Slow money on the up-building, fast money in the crack-up. Remember my words. Perhaps they may be of use to you some day." This quote really is quite insightful and surprisingly, I couldn't find it anywhere on the internet (not even in the six pages of quotes from this book on Goodreads... until I added it). Thankfully, I highlight when I read so I could look back and find it because I think it's worth sharing and sums up a huge theme of this book, money. I think I've gone rambling on enough and this book elicits some very interesting and numerous topics of conversation. I think it would be a great book club book, actually. I want to leave you with my thoughts on the movie made from this novel. IF you've only seen the movie, I find it imperative for you to pick up this book immediately. I know... the movie was good, but the book is fantastic and gives you so much depth the movie couldn't bring to it. I'll leave you with this, "Fiddle de dee, tomorrow is another day". Happy Reading, AmberBug

Support Shelf Notes! Purchase your copy of Gone with the Wind here:

The Other Typist

The Other Typist Suzanne Rindell 4/5	First Sentence "They said the typewriter would unsex us."
Publisher's Description: New York City, 1924: the height of Prohibition and the whole city swims in bathtub gin. Rose Baker is an orphaned young woman working for her bread as a typist in a police precinct on the lower East Side. Every day Rose transcribes the confessions of the gangsters and murderers that pass through the precinct. While she may disapprove of the details, she prides herself on typing up the goriest of crimes without batting an eyelid. But when the captivating Odalie begins work at the precinct Rose finds herself falling under the new typist's spell. As do her bosses, the buttoned up Lieutenant Detective and the fatherly Sergeant. As the two girls' friendship blossoms and they flit between the sparkling underworld of speakeasies by night, and their work at the precinct by day, it is not long before Rose's fascination for her new colleague turns to obsession. But just who is the real Odalie, and how far will Rose go to find out?
Dear Reader, "The Other Typist" is one of those novels that holds your interest mostly from all the small details the author has included. Rindell does a lovely job of describing things that almost feels like you're watching this as a movie instead of reading it. She brings you to New York during prohibition and does this with a variety of settings. The main character, Rose (a typist for a NYC precinct) befriends a rebellious girl, Odalie (the new typist at the precinct) who enchants Rose so much she finds herself experiencing things she would have never before had she not met Odalie. The story revolves around the prohibition era, right when the Volstead Act was enacted to ban the sale and use of alcohol. This alone brings the level to an exciting and dangerous time, history that is hard to imagine. The main character is a goodie two-shoes that wouldn't even think of picking up a drink or visiting a speakeasy... that is... until she meets Odalie. For whatever reason she becomes enamored with Odalie and can't seem to steer clear of her crazy ways. I still haven't figured out why this is and this might be my biggest gripe with the book and maybe the author wanted you to come to your own conclusion. Without giving away too much of their escapades, we follow these two in the rich underworld of the speakeasies and get to feel what it would be like to disobey the law with a simple cocktail. Prohibition and speakeasies are only the icing on top of this novel though. You may think reading about a precinct typist might sound boring but you'd be very wrong. It made me look at this profession in a totally different way and I now realize how much power they actually held. This was not a profession for men but the typist of a precinct made society think you had to be a woman with a very strong stomach. I never really understood why, back in the day, everyone thought or depicted females as such delicate creatures? What makes a female from that decade so fragile? I believe society had a hand in this with a little push to force girls to act this way, even if they didn't fit that mold. Rindell shows us two very strong female characters that have extremely different personalities but don't seem fragile at all. I love this about the book! Overall I give this a four out of five for the informative imaginings and the extremely descriptive and vivid colors the author gives everything in this book. I would think anyone who likes a little history with a fun plot line would enjoy this. Happy Reading, AmberBug P.S. Check out what Arianna thought of this book!

Support ShelfNotes! Purchase your copy of The Other Typist here:

Rules of Civility

Rules of Civility Amor Towles 4/5	First Sentence "On the night of October 4th, 1966, Val and I, both in late middle age, attended the opening of Many Are Called at the Museum of Modern Art--the first exhibit of the portraits taken by Walker Evans in the late 1930s on the New York City subways with a hidden camera."
Publisher's Description: The New York Times bestselling novel that "enchants on first reading and only improves on the second" (The Philadelphia Inquirer) This sophisticated and entertaining first novel presents the story of a young woman whose life is on the brink of transformation.  On the last night of 1937, twenty-five year-old Katey Kontent is in a second-rate Greenwich Village jazz bar when Tinker Grey, a handsome banker, happens to sit down at the neighboring table.  This chance encounter and its startling consequences propel Katey on a year-long journey into the upper echelons of New York Society--where she will have to rely upon other than a bracing wit and her own brand of cool nerve.  With its sparkling depiction of New York's social strata, its intricate imagery and themes, and its immensely appealing characters, "Rules of Civility" won the hearts of readers and critics alike. (Published 2011)
Dear Reader, I finished this book over a week ago, but haven’t had a chance to sit down to write a review until now. That frustrates me, because I feel like the book has already faded enough from my mind that I am not sure my review will do it justice.  However, I’ll certainly give it a stab!  Because the fact that it’s not still pressingly fresh in my mind does not mean it wasn't good. I really enjoyed this book.  I was intrigued by the framing of the story: the protagonist begins her story in the 1960s, when she stumbles across a photograph which throws her suddenly and full-force back into a life she had long since left - and, until then, forgotten.  From then on, the book follows the story of her adventures during the late 1930s.   And, adventures they were!  Katey is the epitome of the flapper girl, in my mind: young, single, self-sufficient, adventurous, and full of gumption.  She gets into adventures which at first surprised me, because of her somewhat reserved and introverted personality.  However, as the character developed and took shape, I was able to see that Katey really did crave adventure, novelty, and excitement.  Specifically because it was somewhat contrary to her true nature, I think.  The reader could watch her force herself to step outside of her comfort zone (even while she was perhaps unconscious of this not being really her) on a regular basis.  Perhaps this was partly because she was encouraged in this by her close more wild friend, Eve.  Perhaps it was partly because she wanted to be like Eve, daring and (seemingly) carefree. The relationships in this book are complex, and often unexpected the way they work out.  You might think one person is a close friend of Katey’s, when in fact she barely knows them.  Another shows himself to be a better person than you first expected, and someone Katey can truly count on.  The complex characters are probably the heart of the book, and they truly create whatever story seems to flow around them.  The characters are larger than the lives that flow around them.   I loved the setting - New York City in the late 30s - and the truly Golden Age feel of it all; I could see Art Deco abounding in my mind’s eye, and hear F. Scott Fitzgerald’s influence echoing through the city.  A book that will truly stick with me for a while. Happy reading!, Arianna P.S. I really did love the framing of the story within the gorgeous and striking covert subway photographs of Walker Evans; what a brilliant way to develop the story.  I wonder if the author saw the images (and Washington’s notes on civility) and the novel blossomed in his mind from that seed.