As the two women navigate between the sparkling underworld of speakeasies by night and their work at the station by day, Rose is drawn fully into Odalie’s high-stakes world. When glamorous Odalie, a new girl, joins the typing pool, despite her best intentions Rose falls under Odalie’s spell. Yet prudish Rose is stuck in the fading light of yesteryear, searching for the nurturing companionship that eluded her childhood. All around her women bob their hair, they smoke, they go to speakeasies. Gone are the Victorian standards of what is acceptable. This is a new era for women, and New York is a confusing place for Rose. It is 1923, and while she may hear every detail about shootings, knifings, and murders, as soon as she leaves the interrogation room she is once again the weaker sex, best suited for filing and making coffee. A typist in a New York City Police Department precinct, Rose is like a high priestess.
With a few strokes of the keys that sit before her, she can send a person away for life in prison. The above thoughts and opinions are mine alone.“ Rose Baker seals men’s fates. * This book was sent to me by Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam for consideration of recommending to a book club. And see what all the fuss is about The Other Typist.
The Other Typist has all the makings of being a highly discussed book of 2013- perhaps even the most discussed book of 2013. And, just in case you are curious- this is a perfect book to introduce a friend to the meaning of “unreliable narrator”.Įnjoyable. With someone who has a fondness for “unreliable narrators”. The Other Typist is a book you should read with friends. By the end of the book, I felt completely drawn into the book, entertained, and ready to go to a speakeasy. By the last half, I was on pins and needles to find out what made Rose the “unreliable narrator”. But, as I began to read and find more details out (although one could never be sure if the details were true), I enjoyed the story more. The first couple of chapters, for me, were a bit hard to get into. The friendship between the girls develops and Rose finds herself part of Odalie’s world- a world that is foreign and yet enticing. As the reader begins to learn more about Odalie, more about Odalie’s and Rose’s friendship- it’s easy to see how someone could get caught up in the sparkle and glamour of Odalie. Odalie, a pretty and vivacious little thing, takes to the fact that women’s roles are changing- perhaps, even a bit too easy. One day, Odalie, walks into the NYPD for a job as a typist- and even though the reader will not understand at that point, Rose’s life will have changed. It’ll be up to the reader to decide if the change was positive or negative. Women’s roles are ever-changing- and for Rose, a person who likes to know rules and procedures- this is hard to understand. Rose is living in New York in the 1920’s- a time that is confusing with women bobbing their hair, Prohibition and speakeasies. Prim and proper- she’s a woman who types men’s confessions at a NYPD office. For those who are unsure exactly what an unreliable narrator is- according to Wikipedia it’s this: An unreliable narrator is a narrator, whether in literature, film, or theatre, whose credibility has been seriously compromised. I’ll freely admit that I’d not heard the term “unreliable narrator” before- but when people speak of a book having “a great unreliable narrator” I was definitely curious.
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