The competitive world of New York publishing in the 1950s comes to life in Suzanne Rindell’s second novel, after The Other Typist.  Rindell illustrates the time and place through the stories of three characters:

Cliff, the son of privilege who is convinced he will show The Old Man up by publishing the next great American novel;

Eden, who burns with ambition to be a book editor knowing how hard that will be considering the restricted prospects of women and Jews in the professional workplace;

Miles, a black son of Harlem, a graduate of Columbia, a young man who is compelled to solve the secrets of his late father’s time in the military and to understand himself.

This book is a lot longer than Rindell’s first, which always makes me wonder if it will be a case of second-book bloat.  I do think this could have been tightened up with some judicious editing.  And editing might help get the book off to a better start.  It’s quite a slog at the beginning, I think in part because she starts with Cliff, who is a self-absorbed, minimally talented brat.

But the book does finally draw the reader in, and once it does it’s compelling reading.  The three first-person narratives fit neatly together and the plot in which each plays a part is satisfyingly intricate.  But it’s not just a puzzle to be solved; it’s emotionally affecting.

Thinking about the book after reading it, I realized that it’s about fear and the consequences of acting out of fear; consequences that are visited on more people than Cliff, Eden and Miles, and that these three must live with the rest of their lives.  This fits in well with the larger, fear-based issues of the characters’ time and place as well, including anti-Semitism, homophobia and the Red Scare.

#THREE-MARTINILUNCH AVAILABLE 4/5/16  5 STARS!!  Loved it!! @SuzanneRindell @PutnamBooks  I was so excited to see Suzanne Rindell's second book being offered on Net Galley for review. I LOVED her first book! So I put in a request and literally jumped for joy when I got approved. It's been sitting on my TBR pile for a while since it doesn't come out until April and I was so glad to see that I could move it up the list.

What a GREAT read! I'm sitting here finished with the book looking around and no one, no one, knows what a great story I have just finished. It touched all of my emotions. There were so many characters I loved, so many I felt sorry for and so many that I just wanted to beat the crap out of. The characters just seemed so lifelike that I could imagine sitting in Greenwich Village at the bars and just having a good time. I certainly felt for Eden, a women trying to be a career person in the late 1950's, why that's unheard of. Poor Miles so wronged. And then there were the villains. How can people be so low??

As you can tell, I really did get into this book and am now sorry that it's done. Sometimes I hate that I read so fast and this is one of them. What a beautiful, sad, heartbreaking and full of ups and downs this book has been. This will definitely be on my list for the best of 2016.

Huge, huge thanks to Putnam and Sons for approving my request and to Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest review.

Three Martini Lunch by Suzanne Rindell builds at a very slow burn. At over 500 pages, this story takes a while to develop. The book tells the story of the book industry in 1950s and 1960s New York through three perspectives, highlighting the prejudices of the time. It is a beautiful period piece that makes a good book. It is an engaging story that, more succinctly told, would make a great book.

Read my complete review at: Memories From Books - Three Martini Lunch

Reviewed for the Penguin First to Read program