The Other Typist

The backstory: The Other Typist is one of my book club's March picks (we meet every other month and read two books.)

The basics: Rose Baker is an orphan who works as a typist at a Lower East Side police precinct in the 1920's. When Odalie joins the precinct as the titular other typist, she and Rose develop a friendship, but their lives seem fraught with peril and obsession.

Warning: this review contains some vague spoilers.

My thoughts: Rose narrates from the future, and it's clear from the beginning that she isn't always telling the reader everything. Her narration is concerned with what to tell and when. I don't think it's a stretch to say there are many clues she is not the most reliable narrator. I'm a huge fan of unreliable narrators, show more and as I read I savored the clues Rose doles out. I wouldn't go so far as to say the novel reads like a thriller, but I expected a big reveal of some sort for the reader to finally piece together the validity of Rose's story. Instead, the end of the novel raises many more questions than it answers.

As a reader, I don't need every element of a story tied up in a neat little package for me at the end of the novel. After all, life is rarely so neat, and I like some ambiguity. The Other Typist reminds me that there is definitely such a thing as too much ambiguity. I was enchanted with this book as I read. I thoroughly enjoyed my suspicions of Rose throughout the novel. I'm drawn to characters who are interesting, regardless of whether or not they're likeable (and Rose is definitely not always likeable.) She is, however, interesting and usually understandable.

When I turned the last page, I had one of those moments where I had to ask "that's it?" Initially, I hoped that although the ending wasn't what I expected, I could come to understand it. I didn't. I'm of two minds about this novel. I had a delightful reading experience with this novel, but I really disliked the ending. Does the ending taint my enjoyment of the novel? No. It does, however, tinge the reading experience with some sadness for the unfulfilled promise of this novel. I'm very much looking forward to our discussion of this novel tonight!

Favorite passage: "The typewriter is indeed my passport into a world otherwise barred to me and my kind."

The verdict: While I loved the experience of reading The Other Typist and trying to figure out Rose and her story, the ending was too ambiguous to be satisfying. show less

This story of an unassuming young woman in Jazz Age New York City started off well enough. It's a time period and setting I love to read about, and Rose's life as a working woman (a typist at a police precinct) was interesting. When a new woman joins the typing pool, Rose quickly falls under her spell, desperate for friendship and connection. The relationship upends Rose's carefully constructed, quiet life.

Ultimately, this novel didn't hang together well for me. It got a bit more ludicrous with every chapter and the denouement beggared belief. My experience was not helped by a very pedestrian narration of the audio book by the actress Gretchen Mol.

3 stars

The Other Typist by Suzanne Rindell is set in the mid-1920s in New York during Prohibition. The story is narrated by Rose, who becomes obsessed with another typist at their workplace, the local police precinct. The other typist is Odalie who is beautiful, charming, alluring and mysterious. In a sense this story acts as Rose’s confession, yet I couldn’t help but wonder if Rose was being truthful about everything as during the course of the tale, there were a number of discrepancies that led me to realize that Rose is an unreliable narrator.

An orphan, raised by nuns, Rose is a play-it-safe and follow the rules type of girl and at first she is unsure about Odalie, but at the same time she watches her closely and takes notes on her show more behavior. When Odalie drops a valuable broach, Rose calmly picks it up and keeps it. Eventually the two women become friendly and before too long Rose moves into Odalie’s apartment and adjusts her lifestyle to fit in with her world of speakeasys, jazz and bathtub gin. Men are never far away from Odalie and soon one comes to Rose with a story of murder and betrayal.

The Other Typist is a twisty, riveting story about two unreliable women that keeps the reader involved and questioning what exactly is going on. One starts the book thinking they are in for a read about young women entering the workplace in the 1920s, but instead find yourself reading a page turner that is eerie, compelling and confusing. It’s a fun read but the bizarre and confusing end has kept me from rating it higher. show less

A good little psychothriller that kept me reading straight through, but I found the writing to be a bit clunky -- much portentous foreshadowing, some dialogue that felt manufactured solely to move the plot along. But mostly all that "if I had only known…" -- I think the setup was perfectly ominous in its own right and really didn't need devices like that to assure the reader that something was going to happen down the line.

About the ending [spoilers ahead!] -- I had thought (and kind of hoped) that it was going to end up as some kind of Fight Club scenario, where Odalie turned out to be some pathological side of Rose that she invented because she was so very repressed. But I think Odalie did it, and that if Rose ended up psychotic in show more the end it was because she had been so thoroughly gaslighted. The bit about Odalie having lunch with each of the women she worked with before she settled on Rose was something of a giveaway -- she was looking for someone she could "groom" to do whatever she might need (I don't think she'd exactly anticipated running into Teddy but she must have known it could happen, and in general a minion is a handy thing to have). I think the insistence of everyone, especially the convenient shrink, that she WAS Ginevra is what drove her over the edge. She was wrapped pretty tight to begin with -- Odalie chose well. The Lt. Detective wanted to save her in the end but was just a bit too late. And speaking of which, all the little incidences that were supposed to hint that he had feelings for Rose were a bit heavy-handed… yeah, I got it the first time he perched on her desk. I think it would have been a better book all around if Rindell had trusted the reader more. Still, fun. show less

Rose Baker has not had the easiest life. Orphaned, she feels strongly the lack of emotional connection typically fostered among families. Raised among nuns, her sense of propriety is especially fervent. However, her demand for proper etiquette does not extend to her career as one of the leading typists within the police department. While there, she can relish the appalling behavior of others while remaining proud of her own stellar deportment. This all changes upon the arrival of Odalie, a new typist within the precinct and one with decidedly modern ideals. Soon, Odalie takes Rose under her wing, something which Rose will never forget. Suzanne Rindell’s The Other Typist explores the confusing boundaries from when the Victorian era show more morphed into the Jazz Age. As tradition meets progress and old standards quickly become ridiculous, Rose must navigate her way through this tumultuous time, following Odalie’s lead in what may prove to be her saving grace – or her downfall.
Nothing about The Other Typist is as it seems. Rose reveals herself early on as an unreliable narrator with references to her doctor and his opinions. Then there is the ease with which the characters shed one persona for another. Everyone with whom Rose comes into contact is either hiding a secret or becomes a different person at night with its lure of hidden speakeasies and illicit booze. This holds true for the story as well, as the plot takes some completely unexpected twists that leave a reader wondering what happened, using more than a few curse words in shock and frustration, and filled with awe at the masterful way in which Ms. Rindel manipulates her characters and a reader.

Gretchen Mol has the ideal voice for Rose. There is a properness to it that meshes perfectly with Rose’s prudishness and insistence on correct etiquette while allowing the hints of darkness pervade her performance as necessary. As a result, it is very easy for a listener to envision Rose’s indignation at some of Odalie’s escapades, Rose’s growing comfort with Odalie’s progressiveness, and her own transformation into a modern woman. More importantly, Ms. Mol gives nothing away regarding Rose’s ultimate fate. Her remoteness not only plays perfectly into Rose’s insistence upon propriety, it also allows Rose to tell her own story and readers to draw their own conclusions about what really happened between the girls. It is a strong performance for a difficult novel to narrate.

The Other Typist is the type of novel that begs to be hotly debated. With the prevailing ambiguity and its heavy use of psychology, the story leaves plenty of room for interpretation, while the shock-and-awe aspects of the story will both thrill and frustrate readers. In a year where every other novel has been declared as the next Gone Girl, Ms. Rindel has managed to provide just that. The Other Typist is every bit as twisted and misleading as Gillian Flynn’s smash hit but may even be more enjoyable given the brilliance of the ending. This is one novel that deserves to be on everyone’s must-read list. show less

Sometimes I draw while listening to an audiobook and the only image I attempted this time is a very crude rendering of two diamond bracelets. This turned out to be something that could be a cover image, if it was done competently.
I really enjoyed this, the period detail, the gradually revealed secrets and almost hallucinatory alternate realities experienced by the protagonist and even the cattiness she reveals.
If the writer has other books, I’m going to read them.

Can watching a train wreck be a good thing? The author skillfully lets you know that something is badly amiss early in the novel, but the fun is in watching the way Rindell selectively parcels out the information a tidbit at a time. The historical details of Prohibition provide a great setting for this spiral into crime, and I haven't enjoyed an "unreliable narrator" novel this much since I read The Lace Reader!