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clairereviews's review against another edition
4.0
Review: The Other Typist by Suzanne Rindell I'd like to thank Penguin for the copy of The Other Typist that I received in return for a review.
I think this book is a good descriptor of prohibition and all that it entailed. This novel is week written with great attention to detail and likeable characters. It really held my interest, apart from around a hundred pages in the middle where I found my thoughts straying somewhat.
Something I couldn't have predicted was the brilliant and unforseen ending.
I think this book is a good descriptor of prohibition and all that it entailed. This novel is week written with great attention to detail and likeable characters. It really held my interest, apart from around a hundred pages in the middle where I found my thoughts straying somewhat.
Something I couldn't have predicted was the brilliant and unforseen ending.
ari__s's review
2.0
This is a good example of how sometimes Goodreads reviews can tip you off and take the suckerpunch out of a book ending for you.
Or it's not an example of that at all and I just wasn't surprised by how this one unraveled.
As a period piece, I found it interesting at the start - but as it progressed my interested progressively waned. So at the end of it all, instead of having been lulled into a comfortable space only to have my socks blown off - I was lulled and kept my socks on, and uneventfully carried on to the next read feeling a little let down.
So... WARNING TO READERS. IF YOU WANT TO READ THIS ONE, DON'T READ GOODREADS REVIEWS. JUST START READING THE BOOK AND SEE IF YOUR SOCKS STAY ON. then let me know, because again - I don't know if it was a spoiler thing or if I just figured out the ending.
Or it's not an example of that at all and I just wasn't surprised by how this one unraveled.
As a period piece, I found it interesting at the start - but as it progressed my interested progressively waned. So at the end of it all, instead of having been lulled into a comfortable space only to have my socks blown off - I was lulled and kept my socks on, and uneventfully carried on to the next read feeling a little let down.
So... WARNING TO READERS. IF YOU WANT TO READ THIS ONE, DON'T READ GOODREADS REVIEWS. JUST START READING THE BOOK AND SEE IF YOUR SOCKS STAY ON. then let me know, because again - I don't know if it was a spoiler thing or if I just figured out the ending.
colleenvb3's review against another edition
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I don’t mind ambiguous endings but this was too ambiguous. The unreliable narrator was one of the most unreliable narrators I’ve ever encountered!
kandicez's review against another edition
3.0
I really enjoyed the slow, lazy narrative Rindell used. We hear the story of Rose and Odalie's friendship through a series of narrative falshbacks with occasional glimpses into Rose's present that alert us to the fact that this relationship will end badly. For Rose.
My problem with the novel is Rindell's obvious attempt to make it more than it is. This is simply a story of betrayal. The setting, prohibition, speakeasys and flappers, is lovely and the detail Rindell imparts is a big reason I am giving this three stars instead of two.
Rindell writes the last chapters of the book as if it suddenly occurred to her that betrayal was not enough. She saw the need to, at that late date, begin writing in clues to mental illness, split or double personalities and more creative arranging and finagling than I felt was necessary.
Why wasn't it enough that Odalie was setting up Rose as her stool pigeon from the beginning? Why did Rindell feel the need to muddy the waters with more? Had she left the story straight, I feel like I would have been awarding it four stars, but as it is, I cannot.
My problem with the novel is Rindell's obvious attempt to make it more than it is. This is simply a story of betrayal. The setting, prohibition, speakeasys and flappers, is lovely and the detail Rindell imparts is a big reason I am giving this three stars instead of two.
Rindell writes the last chapters of the book as if it suddenly occurred to her that betrayal was not enough. She saw the need to, at that late date, begin writing in clues to mental illness, split or double personalities and more creative arranging and finagling than I felt was necessary.
Why wasn't it enough that Odalie was setting up Rose as her stool pigeon from the beginning? Why did Rindell feel the need to muddy the waters with more? Had she left the story straight, I feel like I would have been awarding it four stars, but as it is, I cannot.
norgrav2's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
milbelmama's review against another edition
Should be interesting, will come back.
sonia_reppe's review against another edition
5.0
I loved how the character of Rose was written. She revealed her heart and mind and yet kept us in suspense, because we know early on that she ends up in a mental institution. This is the story of how she becomes obsessed with co-worker-turned-friend Odalie and what happens when she starts following her into her world of bootleg liquor and speakeasies. Takes place in the 1920's and has some good details of the time, very authentic sense of time/place. I can't wait to discuss this with the book club.
fiberreader's review against another edition
3.0
This was another recommendation from Sara and Chelsey of the Novel Pairings podcast. I didn't love it, mainly because after a while I felt like I was ready for it to be over already, but until that point it was a page turner. The ending? Wow, I'm still trying to figure that out. This book is a bit of a psychological thriller. No spoilers, but trust me that the ending will have you questioning everything you read.
fictionfan's review against another edition
4.0
Champagne and chameleons...
It's Prohibition Era in America and the police in Brooklyn have been tasked with closing down the speakeasies that have sprung up around the district. To help with the extra workload a new typist is hired, the charming and beautiful Odalie. At first, Rose, the narrator, is a little jealous of the attention Odalie receives from all quarters, but when Odalie decides to befriend her, Rose quickly falls under her spell. Even as she realises that Odalie might have some dark secrets, Rose can't resist the new and exciting lifestyle to which Odalie has introduced her.
The movie rights to this début novel have apparently been grabbed by Keira Knightley in conjunction with Fox Searchlight, and I can see why. Knightley would make an excellent Odalie – all Twenties It Girl on the outside, but underneath, chameleon-like, ambiguous, secretive and perhaps wicked. Or perhaps all these attributes are merely inventions of the obsessed Rose, a narrator who is profoundly unreliable. She lets slip quite quickly that she's telling us her story from an institution, where she has ended up as a result of the events she is about to narrate, and it's fairly clear that the doctor whose care she is under is of the psychiatric rather than the medical kind.
The book is not unflawed. In common with so much current crime writing, it is grossly overlong for its content, with huge stretches where nothing happens to move the plot forward at all. After a good start, I really struggled to maintain my interest level through the seemingly endless middle – it could easily have lost 100-150 pages and been a better book as a result. There are frequent digressions and little bits of side stories that never go anywhere, and far too much foreshadowing of the “but that would come later” variety in a not very successful attempt to hold the reader's attention. I suspect the author's intention was to give a fullness and depth to her carefully recreated world of speakeasies and bootleggers, but I felt she had achieved this perhaps more quickly than she realised, leaving all the rest feeling like repetitious filler.
However, this is one where the positives very definitely outweigh the negatives. Rose is an excellent creation. She tells her tale in a rather stilted language, rather like the voice of someone pretending to be a social class higher than she is, or pretending to a level of education she doesn't properly have. It's sustained beautifully throughout the novel, giving her a very definite personality – one that shouldn't be likeable but somehow manages to get the reader onside anyway. I think it was a risky and brave decision to use such a distinctive and stylised voice in a début, since I certainly spent the first few chapters wondering if it was the author's own voice that felt stilted, but once I'd become confident that the voice was Rose's, I greatly admired the skill with which it had been done. (Of course, if her next novel turns out to be in the same voice, I shall delete this... ;) )
Because we only see through Rose's eyes, the other characters are somewhat nebulous, changing depending on Rose's opinion of them at any given point. Rose tells us she was brought up by nuns in an orphanage, so starts with a strict moral code and a prudish, judgemental attitude about the behaviour of all around her. Under Odalie's influence, not to mention the champagne cocktails, her morals might slip a little but her feelings of moral superiority never do. In some ways she's clear-sighted about her own weaknesses, but she's a mistress of the art of self-justification. She's jealous of Odalie in both senses – jealous of her easy charm and sophistication, and also jealous of her showing favour to anyone else. Rose assures us so often that her feelings towards Odalie are not “unnatural” that it seems as if perhaps they must be...
From about the halfway point, it becomes fairly clear where the book is heading, but this isn't a weakness. The fun from there on is that the reader knows something Rose doesn't know and, again, I feel the way Rindell handles this is extremely skilful. There's enough humour in the book to keep it entertaining (except through that middle portion), but the plot at the heart of it has both darkness and depth. Rindell says in her afterword that she had deliberately nodded to Gatsby in places as a kind of homage to her favourite book. Yes, she has, in terms of the parties and lifestyle, but she has wisely made no attempt to cover the same subject matter nor pretend that her book comes from the same mould. This is historical crime, well written, cleverly plotted and with great, original characterisation, and I very much look forward to seeing how Rindell develops in future books. I hope that film gets made...
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
It's Prohibition Era in America and the police in Brooklyn have been tasked with closing down the speakeasies that have sprung up around the district. To help with the extra workload a new typist is hired, the charming and beautiful Odalie. At first, Rose, the narrator, is a little jealous of the attention Odalie receives from all quarters, but when Odalie decides to befriend her, Rose quickly falls under her spell. Even as she realises that Odalie might have some dark secrets, Rose can't resist the new and exciting lifestyle to which Odalie has introduced her.
The movie rights to this début novel have apparently been grabbed by Keira Knightley in conjunction with Fox Searchlight, and I can see why. Knightley would make an excellent Odalie – all Twenties It Girl on the outside, but underneath, chameleon-like, ambiguous, secretive and perhaps wicked. Or perhaps all these attributes are merely inventions of the obsessed Rose, a narrator who is profoundly unreliable. She lets slip quite quickly that she's telling us her story from an institution, where she has ended up as a result of the events she is about to narrate, and it's fairly clear that the doctor whose care she is under is of the psychiatric rather than the medical kind.
The book is not unflawed. In common with so much current crime writing, it is grossly overlong for its content, with huge stretches where nothing happens to move the plot forward at all. After a good start, I really struggled to maintain my interest level through the seemingly endless middle – it could easily have lost 100-150 pages and been a better book as a result. There are frequent digressions and little bits of side stories that never go anywhere, and far too much foreshadowing of the “but that would come later” variety in a not very successful attempt to hold the reader's attention. I suspect the author's intention was to give a fullness and depth to her carefully recreated world of speakeasies and bootleggers, but I felt she had achieved this perhaps more quickly than she realised, leaving all the rest feeling like repetitious filler.
However, this is one where the positives very definitely outweigh the negatives. Rose is an excellent creation. She tells her tale in a rather stilted language, rather like the voice of someone pretending to be a social class higher than she is, or pretending to a level of education she doesn't properly have. It's sustained beautifully throughout the novel, giving her a very definite personality – one that shouldn't be likeable but somehow manages to get the reader onside anyway. I think it was a risky and brave decision to use such a distinctive and stylised voice in a début, since I certainly spent the first few chapters wondering if it was the author's own voice that felt stilted, but once I'd become confident that the voice was Rose's, I greatly admired the skill with which it had been done. (Of course, if her next novel turns out to be in the same voice, I shall delete this... ;) )
Because we only see through Rose's eyes, the other characters are somewhat nebulous, changing depending on Rose's opinion of them at any given point. Rose tells us she was brought up by nuns in an orphanage, so starts with a strict moral code and a prudish, judgemental attitude about the behaviour of all around her. Under Odalie's influence, not to mention the champagne cocktails, her morals might slip a little but her feelings of moral superiority never do. In some ways she's clear-sighted about her own weaknesses, but she's a mistress of the art of self-justification. She's jealous of Odalie in both senses – jealous of her easy charm and sophistication, and also jealous of her showing favour to anyone else. Rose assures us so often that her feelings towards Odalie are not “unnatural” that it seems as if perhaps they must be...
From about the halfway point, it becomes fairly clear where the book is heading, but this isn't a weakness. The fun from there on is that the reader knows something Rose doesn't know and, again, I feel the way Rindell handles this is extremely skilful. There's enough humour in the book to keep it entertaining (except through that middle portion), but the plot at the heart of it has both darkness and depth. Rindell says in her afterword that she had deliberately nodded to Gatsby in places as a kind of homage to her favourite book. Yes, she has, in terms of the parties and lifestyle, but she has wisely made no attempt to cover the same subject matter nor pretend that her book comes from the same mould. This is historical crime, well written, cleverly plotted and with great, original characterisation, and I very much look forward to seeing how Rindell develops in future books. I hope that film gets made...
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
shelby_lee's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5