My Salinger Year
Ratings5
Average rating3.8
15
Ratings5
Average rating3.8
The much-loved, irresistibly funny memoir of literary New York which was an international bestseller and enchanted readers around the world – now a major film starring Sigourney Weaver and Margaret Qualley, My New York Year READ THE BOOK Now a major motion picture, MY NEW YORK YEAR, starring Sigourney Weaver and Margaret Qualley After leaving graduate school to pursue her dream of becoming a poet, Joanna Rakoff takes a job as assistant to the storied literary agent for J. D. Salinger. Precariously balanced between poverty and glamour, she spends her days in a plush, wood-paneled office - where Dictaphones and typewriters still reign and agents doze after three-martini lunches - and then goes home to her threadbare Brooklyn apartment and her socialist boyfriend. Rakoff is tasked with processing Salinger's voluminous fan mail, but as she reads the heart-wrenching letters from around the world, she becomes reluctant to send the agency's form response and impulsively begins writing back. The results are both humorous and moving, as Rakoff, while acting as the great writer's voice, begins to discover her own. 'Gripping and funny' Observer 'Like a literary The Devil Wears Prada ... An irresistible read' Harper's Bazaar 'Irresistible' Sunday Times 'Spellbinding' Guardian
Reviews with the most likes.
Joanna Rakoff's first job out of college is a dream job working for a prestigious literary agency that represents, among others, J. D. Salinger. The Agency is like a place out of time and Joanna loves the subtle lighting, the reserve of the agents, and the care with which they treat their authors. But it's the nineties, not the thirties, and things are changing. This little memoir of a year spent in a job that most avid readers only dream of is a delightful tale of Joanna's coming-of-age, both personally and professionally, amid a cast of quirky, lovely characters. I loved it.
