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lian_tanner's review against another edition
3.0
Three and a half stars. The first three-quarters of the book is fascinating - Erdal very effectively inter-weaves stories of her childhood in Scotland with the tale of how she came to work for the eccentric and egocentric publisher she calls 'Tiger'. The book is funny and moving, and the author creates a splendid portrait of the man at the centre of it all, and the odd dislocation by which they both pretend HE is writing the books that she produces. It held my attention until close to the end - when HER attention starts to fail, and she wants to get out of the job but can't quite do it. At that point I began to lose interest - not sure why. Perhaps Tiger's forcefulness was waning, and that was such a central part of the earlier book. Nevertheless, it's a terrific read.
slferg's review against another edition
3.0
An interesting book with a discussion of languages, translation, publishing and writing.
Jennie Erdal started out as an editor for a small publishing company. She called her boss "Tiger" because of a huge tiger skin he had on the wall in his office and he called all the women who worked for him "Beloved". She was an anomaly to Tiger's usual staff. Most were thin, young, single, society girls. Jennie was older, married with children and worked from home in Scotland, only going to London once a month for a meeting. Jennie had studied languages in college and knows quite a few - German, Russian, French, etc. She scored a coup for her publisher in reading a Russian book for another publisher who turned it down. The book was "Red Square". She recommended it to the other publisher in an independent reader's report, they didn't take it so she suggested it to her boss. They bought the book right before the death of Brezhnev. The book was a thriller - fiction mixed with facts concerning the death of an important official in Soviet Russia. The book was an enormous hit. She supervised the translation by dealing out portions of the book to various translators and then reviewed the whole to make sure it merged seamlessly. It was praised as a "nearly invisible translation".
Jennie talks about how she thinks she became interested in language - because growing up in Scotland there was the local dialect and the "proper" language she learned (from being sent to an elocutionist). She became obsessed with words.
She discusses the difficulties of translation. Also the difficulties of ghost writing. Tiger decided he wanted to publish a book of interviews of women in society and of renown. He sent tapes of all the interviews to Jennie who organized and edited the interviews into the book. Which was published under Tiger's name. He decided he would do another book as well. Then he wanted to write a novel. He had a few specific ideas about what he wanted in a book - and was insistent that it be included. Even if she didn't like it. It was a difficult job writing it. Then he decided he wanted to write another, so she did. But she grew in awareness that she didn't like writing like this. She did not enjoy it and it was extremely stressful to herself. But, it took her four more years before she could finally break the connection and quit.
Jennie Erdal started out as an editor for a small publishing company. She called her boss "Tiger" because of a huge tiger skin he had on the wall in his office and he called all the women who worked for him "Beloved". She was an anomaly to Tiger's usual staff. Most were thin, young, single, society girls. Jennie was older, married with children and worked from home in Scotland, only going to London once a month for a meeting. Jennie had studied languages in college and knows quite a few - German, Russian, French, etc. She scored a coup for her publisher in reading a Russian book for another publisher who turned it down. The book was "Red Square". She recommended it to the other publisher in an independent reader's report, they didn't take it so she suggested it to her boss. They bought the book right before the death of Brezhnev. The book was a thriller - fiction mixed with facts concerning the death of an important official in Soviet Russia. The book was an enormous hit. She supervised the translation by dealing out portions of the book to various translators and then reviewed the whole to make sure it merged seamlessly. It was praised as a "nearly invisible translation".
Jennie talks about how she thinks she became interested in language - because growing up in Scotland there was the local dialect and the "proper" language she learned (from being sent to an elocutionist). She became obsessed with words.
She discusses the difficulties of translation. Also the difficulties of ghost writing. Tiger decided he wanted to publish a book of interviews of women in society and of renown. He sent tapes of all the interviews to Jennie who organized and edited the interviews into the book. Which was published under Tiger's name. He decided he would do another book as well. Then he wanted to write a novel. He had a few specific ideas about what he wanted in a book - and was insistent that it be included. Even if she didn't like it. It was a difficult job writing it. Then he decided he wanted to write another, so she did. But she grew in awareness that she didn't like writing like this. She did not enjoy it and it was extremely stressful to herself. But, it took her four more years before she could finally break the connection and quit.
sapphire525's review against another edition
emotional
funny
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
4.0
breanamichele's review against another edition
5.0
poetic. lol inside joke with author lol. but honestly when i started it i wasn't sure i would care about the subject matter but it was ENTHRALLING. thank you, jennie, for this story.
georgiaonyrmnd's review against another edition
3.0
So...I feel quite justified in my book cover prejudice because this book has a mediocre cover and complementary content. Ghosting is the 20 year memoir of a ghostwriter and the flamboyant publishing playboy she wrote for. During the course of their relationship they developed a somewhat odd symbiosis. Erdal learned to cope with Tiger (as she calls her employer) and his outlandish personality and persnickety habits. She wrote at least 3 books under his name along with letters, reviews, and columns.
The concept of ghostwriting is definitely interesting and controversial and Erdal gives a great peak into the process of writing as someone else, as well as, the writing process in general. Where the book (which is fairly short) failed was in 1. structure--going back and forth between the psychology of her upbringing and her personal relationships, a character studies of Tiger and her writing process. It felt very disjointed. 2. High falutin' writing. While her writing style was mostly accessible she kept throwing in latin phrases and other references which were further made the story disjointed. One or two sine qua non would have been enough I think. 3.Sometimes I just didn't believe or understand Tiger as she explained him.
Anyway...here's a lesson for all of you: judge books by their cover
The concept of ghostwriting is definitely interesting and controversial and Erdal gives a great peak into the process of writing as someone else, as well as, the writing process in general. Where the book (which is fairly short) failed was in 1. structure--going back and forth between the psychology of her upbringing and her personal relationships, a character studies of Tiger and her writing process. It felt very disjointed. 2. High falutin' writing. While her writing style was mostly accessible she kept throwing in latin phrases and other references which were further made the story disjointed. One or two sine qua non would have been enough I think. 3.Sometimes I just didn't believe or understand Tiger as she explained him.
Anyway...here's a lesson for all of you: judge books by their cover
voraciousreader's review
2.0
Interesting, but I found it a bit hard going, and unable to put my finger on why.
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