The Receptionist: An Education at The New Yorker
In 1957, when a young Midwestern woman landed a job at The New Yorker, she didn’t expect to stay long at the reception desk. But stay she did, and for twenty-one years she had the best seat in the house. In addition to taking messages, she ran interference for jealous wives checking on adulterous...
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In 1957, when a young Midwestern woman landed a job at The New Yorker, she didn’t expect to stay long at the reception desk. But stay she did, and for twenty-one years she had the best seat in the house. In addition to taking messages, she ran interference for jealous wives checking on adulterous husbands, drank with famous writers at famous watering holes throughout bohemian Greenwich Village, and was seduced, two-timed, and proposed to by a few of the magazine’s eccentric luminaries. This memoir of a particular time and place is an enchanting tale of a woman in search of herself.
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Format: hardcover
ISBN:
9781616201319 (1616201312)
Publish date: June 26th 2012
Publisher: Algonquin Books
Pages no: 320
Edition language: English
Category:
Non Fiction,
Autobiography,
Memoir,
Biography,
Literature,
Book Club,
American,
Adult,
Biography Memoir,
New York,
Womens Fiction,
Chick Lit
I was instantly put off by the pretentious tone of The Receptionist, by Janet Groth. The subtle references to John Updike or Tom Wolfe, the various high brow culture events that were part of every story, and French infused dialog were almost enough to give up. But remembering that my own pretense wa...
Although I don't read The New Yorker, I'm aware of its reputation, the careers launched, the personalities housed there, (and I've certainly read pieces that debuted there, anthologized later); so when offered a review copy of Groth's memoir, I pounced.This was a book so good I've lost the ability t...
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