A review by badseedgirl
The Other Typist by Suzanne Rindell

3.0

The Other Typist by Suzanne Rindell is one of those novels where there is so much ambiguity in the story line that what the reader believes is the "truth" will change how they read the novel. I enjoyed this novel well enough and had formed a pretty firm opinion about the nature of the story and the characters motivations and who had done what to whom right up until the last paragraph of the novel. After that I started questioning if I ever had any idea what the real "truth" was.

Set in and around a prohibition era New York City police station, I found the characters to be in general a tad unrealistic. Rose seemed a bit too naive, Odaile was just too calm and cool headed. Some of this has to be chalked up to Rose being the narrator of the novel. It was an easy read, and had more than a passing homage to "The Great Gatsby", which the Author readily acknowledged in the book.

This is one of those novels that is hard to review without giving away spoilers. I guess I will say that it was worth reading it for the book club because six different people can read it and justifiably come up with six equally valid conclusions. Perfect for a discussion group, not so much is your one of those people who can't deal with a little ambiguity in your life.