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The Transcriptionist
This powerful debut follows a woman who sets out to challenge the absurdity of the world around her. Lena, the transcriptionist, sits alone in a room far away from the hum of the newsroom that is the heart of the Record, the New York City newspaper for which she works. For years, she has been the ever-present link for reporters calling in stories from around the world. Turning spoken words to print, Lena is the vein that connects the organs of the paper. She is loyal, she is unquestioning, yet technology is dictating that her days there are numbered. When she reads a shocking piece in the paper about a Jane Doe mauled to death by a lion, she recognizes the woman in the picture. They had met on a bus just a few days before. Obsessed with understanding what caused the woman to deliberately climb into the lion's den, Lena begins a campaign for truth that will destroy the Record's complacency and shake the venerable institution to its very foundation. An exquisite novel that asks probing questions about journalism and ethics, about the decline of the newspaper and the failure of language, it is also the story of a woman's effort to establish her place in an increasingly alien and alienating world.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published May 13, 2014
60 people are currently reading
2137 people want to read
About the author
Amy Rowland
3 books82 followersAmy Rowland's writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Christian Science Monitor, and other publications. She lives in Brooklyn and is a staff editor at The New York Times Book Review. The Transcriptionist is her first novel, and she does not know why she hasn't written others by now.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 405 reviews
August 25, 2018
Holy smokes this book. I’m so moved. Thank you Amy Rowland.
ACTUAL REVIEW
there are few books about suicide that are transcendentally life-affirming. i'm thinking of A Tale for the Time Being and All My Puny Sorrows. what these book do, they get suicide. they get that some people have reasons (let us not dare reduce those reasons to a finite, let alone small, number) to want to terminate their lives. these books accompany the suiciders, often (as in the cases above) through a character who tries to figure out their lives (not their deaths; their deaths are easy to figure out).
The Transcriptionist joins the above masterpieces in their special pantheon. in it, the protagonist, lena, the eponymous transcriptionist for the NYC paper of record (coyly called "The Record"), the last of her kind, decides to find out why a woman she once met briefly on the bus (this woman made an impression on her) decided to die in a most bizarre and probably painful way (she crossed the moat that surrounds the lions' island at the zoo at night and was mauled).
The Transcriptionist is about gentle souls who are overwhelmed by the enormity of other people's/creatures' pain and don't know how to keep this pain in their mind while also staying themselves alive. it is really about bravery cuz, most of us, what we do, we put this enormity out of our minds. we have to. but there are brave gentle souls who can't. lena, our hero, decides that the best way to keep the pain of the world at a remove is to put words between it and herself. as a transcriptionist, she metabolizes pain and suffering into signs and that's it, it's out of her mind, it's gone.
except it isn't.
ever.
this book is lena's journey toward acceptance of the fact that one can hold the pain of others inside and still live and thrive. it is harrowing, in some ways (as are the two books i mention above), but also a majestic lesson in how maddeningly simple it all is. the key (quite a few keys make their appearance in this book) is there for the taking, and the lock for the opening. and one must, quite simply, cross the threshold, and sit, and look around at what is rather than what isn't, and be okay.
ACTUAL REVIEW
there are few books about suicide that are transcendentally life-affirming. i'm thinking of A Tale for the Time Being and All My Puny Sorrows. what these book do, they get suicide. they get that some people have reasons (let us not dare reduce those reasons to a finite, let alone small, number) to want to terminate their lives. these books accompany the suiciders, often (as in the cases above) through a character who tries to figure out their lives (not their deaths; their deaths are easy to figure out).
The Transcriptionist joins the above masterpieces in their special pantheon. in it, the protagonist, lena, the eponymous transcriptionist for the NYC paper of record (coyly called "The Record"), the last of her kind, decides to find out why a woman she once met briefly on the bus (this woman made an impression on her) decided to die in a most bizarre and probably painful way (she crossed the moat that surrounds the lions' island at the zoo at night and was mauled).
The Transcriptionist is about gentle souls who are overwhelmed by the enormity of other people's/creatures' pain and don't know how to keep this pain in their mind while also staying themselves alive. it is really about bravery cuz, most of us, what we do, we put this enormity out of our minds. we have to. but there are brave gentle souls who can't. lena, our hero, decides that the best way to keep the pain of the world at a remove is to put words between it and herself. as a transcriptionist, she metabolizes pain and suffering into signs and that's it, it's out of her mind, it's gone.
except it isn't.
ever.
this book is lena's journey toward acceptance of the fact that one can hold the pain of others inside and still live and thrive. it is harrowing, in some ways (as are the two books i mention above), but also a majestic lesson in how maddeningly simple it all is. the key (quite a few keys make their appearance in this book) is there for the taking, and the lock for the opening. and one must, quite simply, cross the threshold, and sit, and look around at what is rather than what isn't, and be okay.
July 27, 2014
In a room with walls painted the color of an old opossum, Lena Respass sits alone, headset in place, transcribing tapes for the reporters of a New York City newspaper. Located on the 11th floor of the building, it is rare when anyone has occasion to come to the Recording Room in person. Lena's sole company is a pigeon who inexplicably never leaves the ledge outside the dingy window. Lena is losing herself in all the words. Through the Dictaphone, it all comes through her, into her ears and out of her fingertips, endless words and headlines and quotes.
For those readers who enjoy a tale that is slightly on the odd side, this may be one for your consideration. It is a quiet little book with a haunting quality to it. With lions and pigeons and reporters, the pecking order proves most interesting. In our lives, we are all encaged in one way or another. This debut novel will leave you with some things to ponder.
For those readers who enjoy a tale that is slightly on the odd side, this may be one for your consideration. It is a quiet little book with a haunting quality to it. With lions and pigeons and reporters, the pecking order proves most interesting. In our lives, we are all encaged in one way or another. This debut novel will leave you with some things to ponder.
February 13, 2018
I picked up The Transcriptionist from a pile of books heaped on a table; an offering between friends. The stark coloration and lack of back-cover blurb seized my attention; in a world of merchants and pundits, it feels good to choose one's media on a whim lightly sold. So when I cracked the cover I already felt a hint of serendipity, though little did I know how deep this feeling would reach.
Several years ago I conceived a story inspired by Herman Melville's short story Bartleby; The Scrivener. In that famous tale, the young man referenced in the title systematically detaches himself from society despite the best intentions of his boss who also narrates the drama. It isn't until the end of The Scrivener that the source of Bartleby's depression is revealed;
The story I sought to write was the story of a woman working in the modern incarnation of the Dead Letter Office. She would work alone, largely taken for granted, with the weight of her unenviable profession slowly sapping her life the way as it had Bartleby's 150 years before. She discovers a sense of purpose when she stumbles upon a letter that isn't quite dead; perhaps she recognizes a name. And when her bosses ignore her pleas to reroute the letter, she takes up the task of restoring a lost link on her own time; the start of an adventure of undetermined scope.
But any thought I had to putting words to page was stymied in the research phase; with internet searches for more information on how such an office might work coming up mostly blank (though somewhat less blank when I tried the same searches just now.) I shelved the idea away alongside the 90% of ideas that never fully form and have thought sparingly of it since.
These thoughts came flooding back when I read Amy Rowland's debut novel. A Transcriptionist is someone who converts voice-recordings into text. And the heroine of The Transcriptionist, Lena, is the last of her kind at New York City's most prestigious newspaper.
As the story opens, the isolation of Lena's job and the horrifying or banal stories she is tasked with typing out are slowly sapping her life away. Lena discovers a sense of purpose when she is sent a story involving the dramatic suicide of someone she recognizes; a blind woman she met briefly on the subway with whom she shared a connection born from weariness and lives spent listening. When her bosses ignore Lena's pleas to explore the story further, she takes up the task of restoring a lost link on her own time; the start of an adventure grandly personal.
I never found the words for a tale of human connection sought. But Amy Rowland found the words and then those words found me.
Edited 2/13/2018
Several years ago I conceived a story inspired by Herman Melville's short story Bartleby; The Scrivener. In that famous tale, the young man referenced in the title systematically detaches himself from society despite the best intentions of his boss who also narrates the drama. It isn't until the end of The Scrivener that the source of Bartleby's depression is revealed;
The story I sought to write was the story of a woman working in the modern incarnation of the Dead Letter Office. She would work alone, largely taken for granted, with the weight of her unenviable profession slowly sapping her life the way as it had Bartleby's 150 years before. She discovers a sense of purpose when she stumbles upon a letter that isn't quite dead; perhaps she recognizes a name. And when her bosses ignore her pleas to reroute the letter, she takes up the task of restoring a lost link on her own time; the start of an adventure of undetermined scope.
But any thought I had to putting words to page was stymied in the research phase; with internet searches for more information on how such an office might work coming up mostly blank (though somewhat less blank when I tried the same searches just now.) I shelved the idea away alongside the 90% of ideas that never fully form and have thought sparingly of it since.
These thoughts came flooding back when I read Amy Rowland's debut novel. A Transcriptionist is someone who converts voice-recordings into text. And the heroine of The Transcriptionist, Lena, is the last of her kind at New York City's most prestigious newspaper.
As the story opens, the isolation of Lena's job and the horrifying or banal stories she is tasked with typing out are slowly sapping her life away. Lena discovers a sense of purpose when she is sent a story involving the dramatic suicide of someone she recognizes; a blind woman she met briefly on the subway with whom she shared a connection born from weariness and lives spent listening. When her bosses ignore Lena's pleas to explore the story further, she takes up the task of restoring a lost link on her own time; the start of an adventure grandly personal.
I never found the words for a tale of human connection sought. But Amy Rowland found the words and then those words found me.
Edited 2/13/2018
July 19, 2014
Lena is a transcriptionist. She sits alone in a small room on an upper floor of the Record, a newspaper in New York city, and listens to the recordings of reporters hour after hour, day after day, in a job that seems...endless and is bordering on obsolescence. One day she encounters a blind woman on the bus and they form a temporary bond that will throw Lena's careful life into a crisis of sorts. From that will grow this very interesting novel.
The Middlemarch passage that the blind woman quoted
floats before her eyes, as if she is transcribing for the
author and watching the words appear above. "If we had a
keen vision and feeling of all ordinary human life, it
would be like hearing the grass grow and the squirrel's
heart beat, and we should die of that roar which lies on
the other side of silence." (p 24
And as she sought more information on this woman's death (don't worry, this is not really a spoiler), Lena hears that roar of her own pseudo-life, the newspaper, the reporters around her.
I enjoy Rowland's descriptions of New York and of Lena's experience of New York. Here is the black out in the city.
If white is the color of panic, what is blackness,
this blackness? A black blanket thrown over the panic,
not snuffing it out, no, not the absence of panic, not
here, not now, not anymore. But still it is a soothing
darkness, a hot black frost that, for once, allows
New Yorkers to spill out onto the streets with a sense
of wonder that they can never show in the light. And
more thrilling is the notion that there is danger
underneath, that they are children walking on the
sleeping dragon's back. (p 59)
As Lena seeks out answers for the life of this other woman, she also, increasingly seeks answers in her own life. This is an existential search that I am very happy I witnessed.
This being Rowland's debut, I am very much looking forward to what will follow.
A copy of this book was provided by the publisher through NetGalley for the purpose of review.
The Middlemarch passage that the blind woman quoted
floats before her eyes, as if she is transcribing for the
author and watching the words appear above. "If we had a
keen vision and feeling of all ordinary human life, it
would be like hearing the grass grow and the squirrel's
heart beat, and we should die of that roar which lies on
the other side of silence." (p 24
And as she sought more information on this woman's death (don't worry, this is not really a spoiler), Lena hears that roar of her own pseudo-life, the newspaper, the reporters around her.
I enjoy Rowland's descriptions of New York and of Lena's experience of New York. Here is the black out in the city.
If white is the color of panic, what is blackness,
this blackness? A black blanket thrown over the panic,
not snuffing it out, no, not the absence of panic, not
here, not now, not anymore. But still it is a soothing
darkness, a hot black frost that, for once, allows
New Yorkers to spill out onto the streets with a sense
of wonder that they can never show in the light. And
more thrilling is the notion that there is danger
underneath, that they are children walking on the
sleeping dragon's back. (p 59)
As Lena seeks out answers for the life of this other woman, she also, increasingly seeks answers in her own life. This is an existential search that I am very happy I witnessed.
This being Rowland's debut, I am very much looking forward to what will follow.
A copy of this book was provided by the publisher through NetGalley for the purpose of review.
July 11, 2014
What an odd one. On one hand, I found it quite poignant and moving and subtle and lovely, and on the other, I found it a bit pretentious and uncommitted and more than a little unsettling. It's like Amy Rowland has written a whimsical short story but there's no magical realism and it's 250 pages long, and the whole thing just feels very different than most books I've read lately. I think I liked it, and I think it's a 3.5, but really I'm just not all that sure.
There are some really beautifully written passages, and some interesting observations on the news and the brutality and beauty of humanity, and some memorable details (cold cereal in the fridge!)... but I'm not sure I actually get it. It seems like I'm missing something out of the lion motif-- is it a metaphor? Regardless of my lingering doubts, I'll be happy to read whatever Rowland comes up with next, because her voice feels fresh and smart and snappy.
Also: good cover. I'd like it in a hipster t-shirt, please.
There are some really beautifully written passages, and some interesting observations on the news and the brutality and beauty of humanity, and some memorable details (cold cereal in the fridge!)... but I'm not sure I actually get it. It seems like I'm missing something out of the lion motif-- is it a metaphor? Regardless of my lingering doubts, I'll be happy to read whatever Rowland comes up with next, because her voice feels fresh and smart and snappy.
Also: good cover. I'd like it in a hipster t-shirt, please.
July 6, 2015
I'm not quite sure where I stand with this story.
It's a short piece about identity, about the past clashing with the present and the present not having a seat at the past's table, about things dying, and about lions.
Essentially, Lena, an old-school transcriptionist (dying job) for an important New York newspaper (dying forum, supposedly) listens to a recorded story about a woman who committed suicide via lion (she swam the moat at the zoo and walked into the lion's den in order to be eaten) and becomes obsessed with the woman's life and death and being after she realizes she had seen the woman on a bus just a week or two before. So it's a bit of a mystery piece, what with Lena wanting the world to recognize this dead woman but she also winds up having to find herself because there is some evidence that maybe she doesn't really exist anymore, either, not as a thinking human being. She may have become a simple repository for words, nothing more. In befriending the dead woman, she must realize herself, as well.
It's also a bit of a nose-thumbing at New York City, a place that cares for no one, where everyone is on their own. People who are hit by taxis are largely unnoticed. Hell, not even the victim noticed he'd been in an accident, really. Injured pigeons are disgusting because they're diseased and yucky, much like the Fifty-Cent Woman who goes mostly unnoticed. Technology is all the rage and you're left behind if you don't have a cell phone or if you work with old-fashioned recording tapes. A woman who was eaten by lions doesn't even get a funeral or an obit because she's not important. Only Lena can see and feel compassion for these beings. And yet, the denizens of this place, at least in the reporting world, are shocked and appalled by a single, simple lie. Because NYC is a terrible, hypocritical place and it's dulled Lena in all ways but one - her ability to still feel for the forgotten.
There are oodles of literary devices running rampant throughout the story, though most of them went over my head. There's symbolism (the pigeon that lives outside Lena's office), there are comparisons (the invisible mountain lion vs. the actual lion that ate Arlene), there are mysterious women (Arlene and the beggar who was renamed Lydia), and the damned keys to Grammercy Park. There are literary quotes and deep thoughts and all kinds of stuff but, oddly, none of it had any impact on me.
Maybe it was the reader. I'm not sure Xe (Exxie) Sands was the best choice, though, maybe she was. She speaks in this wavering voice, sounding like she's hungover or just back from a serious crying jag. Lena is, herself, a bit dreamy, a bit insubstantial, non-existent even though we see the story unfold through her. So it works. And it doesn't.
There is another whose existence seems questionable, too; the old guy in the morgue. Is he really there? Or is he an imaginary friend? It wouldn't be too far out of the question, seeing as how her true friends are a pigeon on a ledge (who is only there by accident, as it turns out and I didn't understand how it got into its predicament or how it survived for so long) and a dead woman.
I suppose the tale is a little haunting, a little lovely but it is also a little silly with sentences such as She orders a Scotch and tries to act the way people must mean when they say 'normal' and that, to me, reads like something profound written by a youngling, something that would not ever be written by a seasoned author because it's just so obvious and meaningless and useless.
So I don't know. Is it a good story? For some, it must be. It must ring beautifully through certain ears and eyes. For me, it was nice but not memorable. It was entertaining but not meaningful.
You'll have to read it yourself to find out what you think.
It's a short piece about identity, about the past clashing with the present and the present not having a seat at the past's table, about things dying, and about lions.
Essentially, Lena, an old-school transcriptionist (dying job) for an important New York newspaper (dying forum, supposedly) listens to a recorded story about a woman who committed suicide via lion (she swam the moat at the zoo and walked into the lion's den in order to be eaten) and becomes obsessed with the woman's life and death and being after she realizes she had seen the woman on a bus just a week or two before. So it's a bit of a mystery piece, what with Lena wanting the world to recognize this dead woman but she also winds up having to find herself because there is some evidence that maybe she doesn't really exist anymore, either, not as a thinking human being. She may have become a simple repository for words, nothing more. In befriending the dead woman, she must realize herself, as well.
It's also a bit of a nose-thumbing at New York City, a place that cares for no one, where everyone is on their own. People who are hit by taxis are largely unnoticed. Hell, not even the victim noticed he'd been in an accident, really. Injured pigeons are disgusting because they're diseased and yucky, much like the Fifty-Cent Woman who goes mostly unnoticed. Technology is all the rage and you're left behind if you don't have a cell phone or if you work with old-fashioned recording tapes. A woman who was eaten by lions doesn't even get a funeral or an obit because she's not important. Only Lena can see and feel compassion for these beings. And yet, the denizens of this place, at least in the reporting world, are shocked and appalled by a single, simple lie. Because NYC is a terrible, hypocritical place and it's dulled Lena in all ways but one - her ability to still feel for the forgotten.
There are oodles of literary devices running rampant throughout the story, though most of them went over my head. There's symbolism (the pigeon that lives outside Lena's office), there are comparisons (the invisible mountain lion vs. the actual lion that ate Arlene), there are mysterious women (Arlene and the beggar who was renamed Lydia), and the damned keys to Grammercy Park. There are literary quotes and deep thoughts and all kinds of stuff but, oddly, none of it had any impact on me.
Maybe it was the reader. I'm not sure Xe (Exxie) Sands was the best choice, though, maybe she was. She speaks in this wavering voice, sounding like she's hungover or just back from a serious crying jag. Lena is, herself, a bit dreamy, a bit insubstantial, non-existent even though we see the story unfold through her. So it works. And it doesn't.
There is another whose existence seems questionable, too; the old guy in the morgue. Is he really there? Or is he an imaginary friend? It wouldn't be too far out of the question, seeing as how her true friends are a pigeon on a ledge (who is only there by accident, as it turns out and I didn't understand how it got into its predicament or how it survived for so long) and a dead woman.
I suppose the tale is a little haunting, a little lovely but it is also a little silly with sentences such as She orders a Scotch and tries to act the way people must mean when they say 'normal' and that, to me, reads like something profound written by a youngling, something that would not ever be written by a seasoned author because it's just so obvious and meaningless and useless.
So I don't know. Is it a good story? For some, it must be. It must ring beautifully through certain ears and eyes. For me, it was nice but not memorable. It was entertaining but not meaningful.
You'll have to read it yourself to find out what you think.
June 3, 2014
Pros:
I was invested in the protagonist, Lena, throughout the book.
NYC setting was very well done.
Satire (or at least critique) of the news biz was well done without being made into a huge drama (or farce), and using a peripheral character here worked especially well.
Cons:
The pacing/plotting was tricky in that the book was rather slow at first, and hurried later. However, it's a debut novel, so I'm cutting slack a bit for that. Had the book been much longer, it would've seemed drawn out.
Story required a bit of suspension-of-disbelief at times (no deal breaker, but happened).
Audio narration was very good.
Definitely recommended, and I'd be quite interested in more from the author.
I was invested in the protagonist, Lena, throughout the book.
NYC setting was very well done.
Satire (or at least critique) of the news biz was well done without being made into a huge drama (or farce), and using a peripheral character here worked especially well.
Cons:
The pacing/plotting was tricky in that the book was rather slow at first, and hurried later. However, it's a debut novel, so I'm cutting slack a bit for that. Had the book been much longer, it would've seemed drawn out.
Story required a bit of suspension-of-disbelief at times (no deal breaker, but happened).
Audio narration was very good.
Definitely recommended, and I'd be quite interested in more from the author.
May 4, 2014
This was promising in the beginning, but fizzled about halfway through. Felt like the author was trying too hard to make it clever and "deep," but it just didn't work.
April 7, 2018
I loved this - it's very taut writing, carefully building a plot that is unusual - even weird - but somehow works. It's surprisingly riveting for being such a strange and largely introspective story. There's also Rowland's use of equally strange but apt imagery and motifs that recur throughout: the lions, which appear on the cover, and the idea of hunting and being hunted; but also blindness/deafness, and the idea of using one's senses to be a filter for others' thoughts and words, being a kind of animate machine absorbing and then regurgitating pain. And then there is the idea of identity itself. Objectivity and subjectivity. Who are you, who do you become, if you are (reduced to? used as?) a pain machine? There is a clever description of a homeless woman's giving up her name, and then choosing a new one; Lena, our protagonist, is called Carol for the longest time by a reporter; even the lion motif plays into this identity/naming theme with a story from Lena's childhood about a mountain lion, puma, cougar, panther (take your pick) coming up again and again and being important in any number of ways that link to strands of the story. There is memory and remembrance and legacy, and most importantly, there is the exploration of what it is to exist, what it is to be, with its companion, what it is not to be (trigger warning: there is a lot of death and suicide in this novel), and what, in the end - despite all our puny sorrows - gives a life meaning.
The setting feels both timeless and anachronistic (is that possible? it is here!). Everything seems slightly surreal but also very real, in that we are clearly in NYC, landmarks are named (Gramercy Park, Times Square, The Algonquin Hotel, the New York Public Library with its - natch - stone lions). It feels as though things can't be, even tho' they are, contemporary - e.g., there is reference to 9/11 (this is very much a post-9/11 NY novel) - although there is much that is a throwback to an earlier time and clearly on its way out: not only Lena's job as the last transcriptionist for a major NYC newspaper ("The Record", a stand in for The New York Times; journalism itself on its last legs), but also the fact that she lives in a single room in a boarding house for women; she meets a strange old man who works behind a blue door on an otherwise unoccupied floor in The Record's building, who is busy preserving and archiving decades of the paper's obituaries damaged by pigeons who were roosting in the dilapidated and crumbling room. Over and over, we have motifs and images circling around each other, shape-shifting - obituaries being another example. Pigeons, too.
Lena is the kind of character that always appeals to me. Single, bookish, solitary, smart and sensitive, she seems overlooked and underestimated. But her voice - when she finds it - and her actions are strong and definitive and, in the end, brave and compassionate. Also, perhaps because the reader (the extraordinary Xe Sands who can talk in my ear 'til the cows come home; I won't mind) is the same, and I just finished the third in Lydia Millet's How The Dead Dream trilogy, I found The Transcriptionist to bear a remarkable resemblance to Millet's writing: its surreality, its tone, its themes and the way it explores them, its unsentimental but powerful use of animals, and its overall elegiacal feeling.
If you like Millet, you'll probably like this. I hope Amy Rowland writes many more novels. And I hope they are all read by Xe Sands.
The setting feels both timeless and anachronistic (is that possible? it is here!). Everything seems slightly surreal but also very real, in that we are clearly in NYC, landmarks are named (Gramercy Park, Times Square, The Algonquin Hotel, the New York Public Library with its - natch - stone lions). It feels as though things can't be, even tho' they are, contemporary - e.g., there is reference to 9/11 (this is very much a post-9/11 NY novel) - although there is much that is a throwback to an earlier time and clearly on its way out: not only Lena's job as the last transcriptionist for a major NYC newspaper ("The Record", a stand in for The New York Times; journalism itself on its last legs), but also the fact that she lives in a single room in a boarding house for women; she meets a strange old man who works behind a blue door on an otherwise unoccupied floor in The Record's building, who is busy preserving and archiving decades of the paper's obituaries damaged by pigeons who were roosting in the dilapidated and crumbling room. Over and over, we have motifs and images circling around each other, shape-shifting - obituaries being another example. Pigeons, too.
Lena is the kind of character that always appeals to me. Single, bookish, solitary, smart and sensitive, she seems overlooked and underestimated. But her voice - when she finds it - and her actions are strong and definitive and, in the end, brave and compassionate. Also, perhaps because the reader (the extraordinary Xe Sands who can talk in my ear 'til the cows come home; I won't mind) is the same, and I just finished the third in Lydia Millet's How The Dead Dream trilogy, I found The Transcriptionist to bear a remarkable resemblance to Millet's writing: its surreality, its tone, its themes and the way it explores them, its unsentimental but powerful use of animals, and its overall elegiacal feeling.
If you like Millet, you'll probably like this. I hope Amy Rowland writes many more novels. And I hope they are all read by Xe Sands.
February 18, 2016
Lina works as a transcriptionist in an important New York newspaper. But transcripting isn't just her job - it's her whole being. She lives her life through the words of others. She is almost invisible, hidden in far corner of the newspaper building, without anyone knowing her name. The only person who calls her by name does it by the wrong one. In response to events in her daily life, quotes from books she has read and from articles she has worked on keep popping into her mind. She almost never has words of her own. As opposed to all of those verbal reporters she works with, Lina is almost speechless. Silence vs. Speech is one of the strongest motifs in the novel. Lina is like the dictaphone she uses for her work - recorded in her mind are texts written by others in different times and places, but no original texts which reflect her authentic self.
In the beginning of the novel, Lina hears about a blind woman who has entered the lions' den in the zoo and was eaten by them. Later she remembers that she has met the woman a few days beforehand on the bus. It seems that the idea of losing a sense is very troubling to Lina. One of the episodes' title sayd that hearing is the last sense we lose before we die. For Lina, losing her hearing is death. She also seems to be much troubled (but also drawn to) death, especially the choice of suicide. She watches reporters jump to their deaths, and is interested in the possibility that the blind woman's death was a suicide. But is Lina's life can truly be considered as living? If you can't find your own words and live authentically, are you really alive? Lina tries to convince the pigeon on her window seal to jump into the scary air outside. Will she be able to jump out and fly, or will she fall down?
Profound writing, thought provoking and unique.
In the beginning of the novel, Lina hears about a blind woman who has entered the lions' den in the zoo and was eaten by them. Later she remembers that she has met the woman a few days beforehand on the bus. It seems that the idea of losing a sense is very troubling to Lina. One of the episodes' title sayd that hearing is the last sense we lose before we die. For Lina, losing her hearing is death. She also seems to be much troubled (but also drawn to) death, especially the choice of suicide. She watches reporters jump to their deaths, and is interested in the possibility that the blind woman's death was a suicide. But is Lina's life can truly be considered as living? If you can't find your own words and live authentically, are you really alive? Lina tries to convince the pigeon on her window seal to jump into the scary air outside. Will she be able to jump out and fly, or will she fall down?
Profound writing, thought provoking and unique.
May 1, 2014
Once upon a time, I worked in a profession that involved transcribing depositions and legal documents so when I saw the title of this novel, I just had to read it. While the 4th floor newsroom of a large New York City newspaper is abuzz with activity, our protagonist Lena takes the creaky old elevator up to her lonely space The Recording Room on the 11th floor. Day after day she sits alone transcribing news stories. Her only consistent companion with whom she carries on one-sided conversations is a pigeon who perches outside her window. Hers is a career on the brink of extinction. Words are a huge part of her self, totally absorbing her. Even during sleep – her brain doesn’t rest. When Lena comes across a story about a blind woman who entered a zoo’s lions den and was mauled to death, she recognizes the woman as someone who she sat next to on a bus and carried on a brief but memorable conversation just days before. Lena becomes obsessed with the reported details of the case and begins her own quest to find out what really happened to this mysterious woman, challenging the journalistic institution and its principles. Written by a woman who spent a number of years as a transcriptionist at the New York Times, the story is insightful. It is a subtle and steady book and an impressive debut.
March 14, 2015
This was a book I picked up recently, having read nothing about it. The premise of a woman working alone, as the last transcriptionist in a New York newspaper intrigued me. Lena is a lonely woman, and an eccentric soul for a young woman of the 21st century. She lives in the YMCA, a very old-fashioned choice for a single woman of her age. Her life appears to be limited in a number of ways. She interacts with few people. One is a homeless woman who asks her for 50 cents everyday. She used to ask for 25 cents but inflation affects all our transactions. At work, she works on one of the top floors, the only person on that floor. As a resident of the YMCA, she has access to a gated park nearby, something more often associated with London neighborhoods. So even in her leisure time, she is protected from the general public.
Her work focuses on words. This leads her to wonder what happens to the words that are captured in print, and those that are discarded. She muses about the changes in what and who we remember, and who and what we forget. Important public figures have obituaries on file, ready to publish when they die. Some people barely merit a short obituary, and others are forgotten. Lena is haunted by someone she meets who dies soon after their chance encounter. She needs to know more about this woman.
This is a novel that asks questions about the meaning of the news, how we get it, why words matter, and what happens to all the words and news that are discarded. How has our world changed as our way of getting the news has moved from newspapers to digital outlets? What is lost beyond words? There is an older man she meets who spends his time hidden away in a forgotten office organizing copies of obituaries. After finishing the book, I remembered a friend who lived in New York who was an actor (mostly unemployed). He started making scrapbooks of newspaper obituaries of artists - actors, film stars, painters etc. in the late 1970's-early 1980's.Sadly he died after a fall when he was still young. He was one of those people whose obituary didn't appear in the New York Times, and ironically wouldn't have been in his scrapbooks.
This is a book that reminded me of The Night Circus. Not because the themes or even the characters were similar, but because it created a feeling in me that was similar. I am always delighted when I discover a book with no preconceptions of what I will find between the covers, that I love. This is one of those rare finds.
Her work focuses on words. This leads her to wonder what happens to the words that are captured in print, and those that are discarded. She muses about the changes in what and who we remember, and who and what we forget. Important public figures have obituaries on file, ready to publish when they die. Some people barely merit a short obituary, and others are forgotten. Lena is haunted by someone she meets who dies soon after their chance encounter. She needs to know more about this woman.
This is a novel that asks questions about the meaning of the news, how we get it, why words matter, and what happens to all the words and news that are discarded. How has our world changed as our way of getting the news has moved from newspapers to digital outlets? What is lost beyond words? There is an older man she meets who spends his time hidden away in a forgotten office organizing copies of obituaries. After finishing the book, I remembered a friend who lived in New York who was an actor (mostly unemployed). He started making scrapbooks of newspaper obituaries of artists - actors, film stars, painters etc. in the late 1970's-early 1980's.Sadly he died after a fall when he was still young. He was one of those people whose obituary didn't appear in the New York Times, and ironically wouldn't have been in his scrapbooks.
This is a book that reminded me of The Night Circus. Not because the themes or even the characters were similar, but because it created a feeling in me that was similar. I am always delighted when I discover a book with no preconceptions of what I will find between the covers, that I love. This is one of those rare finds.
May 10, 2015
I gave up on this book - and only 3-4 chapters in - which I rarely do. What is the opposite of subtle? Whatever it is, that is the adjective I would assign. A paragraph in the first chapter is a perfect example. The writer includes several metaphoric sentences to describe the newsroom (something about an opossum), then ends the paragraph with, "Gray." I wanted to shout, "Yes, we got it! It's gray. Why are you hitting us over the head with it?" She really did herself a disservice by spelling it out for us. I don't think this is spoiler, but I find it impossible to believe that a transcriptionist would read a story about a blind woman who was mauled by lions and spend hours wondering why the blind woman seemed familiar, when she had just had a highly unusual and unsettling conversation on the bus ABOUT LIONS, WITH A BLIND WOMAN, a mere three days ago. I found this even harder to buy into once I learned that the transcriptionist rarely has conversations with anyone.
I read a few reviews just now, and many other readers gave this book 3 or 4 stars. Maybe I would have given a different rating if I'd actually finished the book. But with all of the amazing and well-written books out there, why would I struggle through one that annoyed me so much? It went back to the library yesterday.
I read a few reviews just now, and many other readers gave this book 3 or 4 stars. Maybe I would have given a different rating if I'd actually finished the book. But with all of the amazing and well-written books out there, why would I struggle through one that annoyed me so much? It went back to the library yesterday.
December 14, 2018
Occasionally I wonder if out there somewhere is the perfect novel which I will never know about. How could you, when you think about it? So many books to read and only one lifetime (unless heaven is a vast library). And then this book was recommended to me and that fear subsides a little: at least one perfect novel found and read.
I had never even heard of this author or this book, but I'm captivated by the writing and the original plot. This is the sort of book I could read in a day because I don't want to put it down. However, even I can't mow the lawn or chop the logs and read at the same time, so, as usual, I'll update when finished...
Well, all I can say is if you love books, words and find people endlessly fascinating, read this novel. The plot defies description to be honest, except to say it's about someone's quest to find herself through attempting to find someone else.
Wonderful novel. Every page is a gem.
I had never even heard of this author or this book, but I'm captivated by the writing and the original plot. This is the sort of book I could read in a day because I don't want to put it down. However, even I can't mow the lawn or chop the logs and read at the same time, so, as usual, I'll update when finished...
Well, all I can say is if you love books, words and find people endlessly fascinating, read this novel. The plot defies description to be honest, except to say it's about someone's quest to find herself through attempting to find someone else.
Wonderful novel. Every page is a gem.
dnfrickingf
May 30, 2014I see many glowing reviews here, and I know I'm going to be the awkward potato this time. Because, I couldn't bring myself to finish this supposedly great book.
I couldn't stand the writing style! The unimportant details! The slow pace! The flat voice of Lena!
At first, I was curious about what had actually happened with the dead woman, but as the story went just as statically boring as being the transcriptionist itself, I couldn't give anymore damn about this book.
More complete rambling on my book blog, Page by Page .
I couldn't stand the writing style! The unimportant details! The slow pace! The flat voice of Lena!
At first, I was curious about what had actually happened with the dead woman, but as the story went just as statically boring as being the transcriptionist itself, I couldn't give anymore damn about this book.
More complete rambling on my book blog, Page by Page .
May 15, 2014
When reading The Transcriptionist, I felt like I was reading something extraordinary, something to carefully digest. I'm not even sure how to review it. But I tried here:
http://www.lifewangie.com/2014/05/the...
http://www.lifewangie.com/2014/05/the...
January 31, 2015
Picking up The Transcriptionist was definitely a cover-lust moment for me. I can't say I'm thrilled I gave in this time, but I'm not unhappy either… which kind of sums up how I felt about the novel overall.
1. Was the story fun to read? Not for me. I think this was a classic case of misplaced expectations. By the description, I thought The Transcriptionist was going to be a genre-bender, a literary mystery, and I was so curious to discover why a blind woman would swim a moat in order to feed herself to lions. Just WHY? There had to be a reason that was as fascinating as the act itself, but there wasn't. The premise was so incredible that the resolution couldn't help but be anticlimactic.
2. Did the characters intrigue me? I didn't relate to any of them, and none were fascinating enough to really draw me into their worlds. The protagonist mostly just hated her job and was lonely. She seemed passionless overall with a few moments of intense emotion, which I think was the point, but it didn't make for an interesting character. I was right there with her wanting to uncover the mystery of the lion suicide, but then her search seemed more about finding her own voice than an answer. I get it; I just wanted to be reading a different book.
3. Did the premise make me think? You can't help but mull this one over. It's about voice, identity, and how we can be so obsessed with remembering and repeating the words of others, we forget to have something to say for ourselves. The symbolism was a little overwhelming: big cats everywhere they could be squeezed into the narrative, birds that couldn't fly, etc. Were it a little subtler, I might have enjoyed discovering it upon closer inspection, but in this case, no further inspection was needed. It screamed at me, "SYMBOLISM!" I couldn't help but see it.
The Transcriptionist felt, to me, like a book that would have been on my list of required reading in college. We would have had a seminar, in which every student would have found it incredibly easy to participate. I recommend this book to people who love to delve into stories and pick them apart, to discuss and write papers. I don't feel it's ground-breaking, but it would be a great read for practicing literary analysis. And of course, the whole thing is just so beautifully written.
1. Was the story fun to read? Not for me. I think this was a classic case of misplaced expectations. By the description, I thought The Transcriptionist was going to be a genre-bender, a literary mystery, and I was so curious to discover why a blind woman would swim a moat in order to feed herself to lions. Just WHY? There had to be a reason that was as fascinating as the act itself, but there wasn't. The premise was so incredible that the resolution couldn't help but be anticlimactic.
2. Did the characters intrigue me? I didn't relate to any of them, and none were fascinating enough to really draw me into their worlds. The protagonist mostly just hated her job and was lonely. She seemed passionless overall with a few moments of intense emotion, which I think was the point, but it didn't make for an interesting character. I was right there with her wanting to uncover the mystery of the lion suicide, but then her search seemed more about finding her own voice than an answer. I get it; I just wanted to be reading a different book.
3. Did the premise make me think? You can't help but mull this one over. It's about voice, identity, and how we can be so obsessed with remembering and repeating the words of others, we forget to have something to say for ourselves. The symbolism was a little overwhelming: big cats everywhere they could be squeezed into the narrative, birds that couldn't fly, etc. Were it a little subtler, I might have enjoyed discovering it upon closer inspection, but in this case, no further inspection was needed. It screamed at me, "SYMBOLISM!" I couldn't help but see it.
The Transcriptionist felt, to me, like a book that would have been on my list of required reading in college. We would have had a seminar, in which every student would have found it incredibly easy to participate. I recommend this book to people who love to delve into stories and pick them apart, to discuss and write papers. I don't feel it's ground-breaking, but it would be a great read for practicing literary analysis. And of course, the whole thing is just so beautifully written.
May 20, 2016
I think this book has a lot going for it. It has an interesting premise: newspaper transcriptionist gets obsessed with a news story about a blind woman who commits suicide by jumping into the lion cage at the zoo. It's terribly Literary and has lots of Themes, like whether or not true objectivity exists, the death of printed news, etc. I particularly enjoyed the characterization of Russell, who's a total douchebag with enough earnest enthusiasm for you to sometimes forget that he's a total douchebag. But all in all, it felt rather dull, and if not precisely predictable, then certainly nothing as inspired and unique as the premise and accolades suggest.
[The priceless expression of the HR generalist handling my paperwork after she asked, "What are you reading?" and I replied with, "This book about a newspaper transcriptionist and a lady who gets eaten by lions," made it all worthwhile, though. Kind of like that time I mentioned to my roommates freshman year of college that I consider The Basic Eight, which is essentially about a girl who kills her classmate with a croquet mallet, to be one of my all-time favorite comfort reads.]
[The priceless expression of the HR generalist handling my paperwork after she asked, "What are you reading?" and I replied with, "This book about a newspaper transcriptionist and a lady who gets eaten by lions," made it all worthwhile, though. Kind of like that time I mentioned to my roommates freshman year of college that I consider The Basic Eight, which is essentially about a girl who kills her classmate with a croquet mallet, to be one of my all-time favorite comfort reads.]
January 3, 2015
A strange little book, this, and I mean that in only the most complementary way. When one sets out to write a story that is just a bit off-kilter, it seems to me that the biggest challenge the author faces is a consistency of tone that does not become tedious, but Rowland pulls it off with seeming ease. This really is quite a wonderful read.
As the title suggests, our heroine, Lena, is a transcriptionist. She works for a major daily newspaper in New York City, transcribing tape recorded interviews and stories of those reporters who don't have ready access to a computer but can call in to her many tape recorders. Rowland has two distinct advantages here: she does, work for a major daily, in fact The New York Times,, and was once (though no longer) a transcriptionist there. Though one hopes the job was not nearly as bleak as is described here, it certainly can't have been very fulfilling, at least not over the long haul.
Lena has a chance meeting on a bus with a blind woman. She barely gets to know her, but the trajectories of their lives becomes entwined until they are inextricably linked. Reporters come and go, and Lena has what on the surface appears to be a normal life at the newspaper. But all is not well in Lena-land, and she is quite evidently on the verge of a crisis. And the unfolding of the events of her life over just a few days are the bulk of the story that Rowland has to tell. And a fine story it is.
This book disturbed my equilibrium a bit, which I always think is a good thing. I really enjoyed this offbeat tale and its appealing protagonist. I think you probably would, too.
As the title suggests, our heroine, Lena, is a transcriptionist. She works for a major daily newspaper in New York City, transcribing tape recorded interviews and stories of those reporters who don't have ready access to a computer but can call in to her many tape recorders. Rowland has two distinct advantages here: she does, work for a major daily, in fact The New York Times,, and was once (though no longer) a transcriptionist there. Though one hopes the job was not nearly as bleak as is described here, it certainly can't have been very fulfilling, at least not over the long haul.
Lena has a chance meeting on a bus with a blind woman. She barely gets to know her, but the trajectories of their lives becomes entwined until they are inextricably linked. Reporters come and go, and Lena has what on the surface appears to be a normal life at the newspaper. But all is not well in Lena-land, and she is quite evidently on the verge of a crisis. And the unfolding of the events of her life over just a few days are the bulk of the story that Rowland has to tell. And a fine story it is.
This book disturbed my equilibrium a bit, which I always think is a good thing. I really enjoyed this offbeat tale and its appealing protagonist. I think you probably would, too.
August 16, 2016
what a fantastic debut novel!
full disclosure: i worked as a transcriptionist for our provincial police for several years, so had a strong connection to this book as it was highly relatable. it was fascinating work, but also all-encompassing and, at times, very dark. but i loved the job a lot.
having said that -- you don't need first-hand experience to appreciate this story. rowland has done a tremendous job giving us a fully realized world - both the inner and outer lives. and rowland also did a really good job creating suspense. i found this new novel to be different - a bit of a new story, well-written and well imagined.
i loved, too, how we got a peek into the newspaper world, and having new york city as the backdrop. FUN!
still processing my thoughts, so may work on a better review and post later.
full disclosure: i worked as a transcriptionist for our provincial police for several years, so had a strong connection to this book as it was highly relatable. it was fascinating work, but also all-encompassing and, at times, very dark. but i loved the job a lot.
having said that -- you don't need first-hand experience to appreciate this story. rowland has done a tremendous job giving us a fully realized world - both the inner and outer lives. and rowland also did a really good job creating suspense. i found this new novel to be different - a bit of a new story, well-written and well imagined.
i loved, too, how we got a peek into the newspaper world, and having new york city as the backdrop. FUN!
still processing my thoughts, so may work on a better review and post later.
June 19, 2014
I think the story was boring. If anything, this book makes me glad that being a transcriptionist is a dead profession. I don't think the author painted anything about the job in a good light and made it seem really depressing. Also it bothered me tremendously that she would give the most unimportant things the most amount of detail. It was a short book to begin with but if you cut out the useless adjectives and worthless setting descriptions, you'd have a 100 page short story about woman who hated her job and how one story caused her to get fired. Also the random sex scene was completely unwarranted. I hated Lena as a character and the last thing I wanted to know was about her sex life...
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 7, 2024
Lena’s head is full of words, although most of them are not her own. A young woman grappling with practically all of life’s complexities, Lena’s job as a transcriptionist surpasses its reputation of boring, unsung necessity status and evolves into a gateway to discovery. This gateway leads Lena to develop new understandings of language, professionalism, religion, and humanity over all.
The author’s work seems to speak specifically to young women with a history of displacement, whether self-inflicted or not, and readers can feel some sort of searing familiarity with Lena. It is refreshing to read a book about a woman in her thirties who has decided that her history does not dictate her future, and it is even more refreshing to read a book about a woman whose self-worth is inspired by (but not defined by) her relationships with others.
This particular novel is a quick and easy read that is not particularly enchanting or spell-binding in any way. There are no fancy tricks pulled by the author or nuances that will whet the appetites of those who claim to have “read it all” already. Many of the plot lines are predictable and commonplace with refreshing spins. The twists are far from exotic, omitting any flashy efforts by the author to prove anything to anyone, giving the familiar refreshment of a cucumber-lime water over a yuzu-passionfruit spritz. The characters are not overly spectacular in anyway. To be clear, this is far from a criticism. It is, instead, a praise of the author’s ability to give us familiarity and echoes of anyone’s footsteps within the confines of 230-something pages, give or take.
The open-ended nature of the conclusion does not leave the reader’s appetite unsatisfied but gives the reader the encouragement to make changes in their own life, to assess their notions of humanity, and to redefine their identity.
The author’s work seems to speak specifically to young women with a history of displacement, whether self-inflicted or not, and readers can feel some sort of searing familiarity with Lena. It is refreshing to read a book about a woman in her thirties who has decided that her history does not dictate her future, and it is even more refreshing to read a book about a woman whose self-worth is inspired by (but not defined by) her relationships with others.
This particular novel is a quick and easy read that is not particularly enchanting or spell-binding in any way. There are no fancy tricks pulled by the author or nuances that will whet the appetites of those who claim to have “read it all” already. Many of the plot lines are predictable and commonplace with refreshing spins. The twists are far from exotic, omitting any flashy efforts by the author to prove anything to anyone, giving the familiar refreshment of a cucumber-lime water over a yuzu-passionfruit spritz. The characters are not overly spectacular in anyway. To be clear, this is far from a criticism. It is, instead, a praise of the author’s ability to give us familiarity and echoes of anyone’s footsteps within the confines of 230-something pages, give or take.
The open-ended nature of the conclusion does not leave the reader’s appetite unsatisfied but gives the reader the encouragement to make changes in their own life, to assess their notions of humanity, and to redefine their identity.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 3, 2020
I loved the beginning of this book, the idea of the transcriptionist sitting alone in what felt like an abandoned part of a huge newspaper building, doing her job, transcribing recorded stories from reporters who were in the field. Feeding a pigeon that was stuck to the windowsill. Wandering in the empty halls. The atmosphere of the book appealed to me. Reminded me of Gormenghast, weirdly, because of the emptiness of the building, as if it went on forever, and our puny modern day could only manage to fill part of it. I liked, not loved, the ending of the book where it becomes a kind of thriller. It's well managed and plausible, and even satisfying. But doesn't altogether live up to the atmosphere of the beginning. There is a good reason for the shift in tone; the book examines the ethics of modern journalism. Tiny quibble for a good book. There's just something so seductive about the first half of it, though. I'd like to write an alternate second half. Well, I wouldn't actually want to do that, but you know, stray thought. I worked as a transcriptionist for some years, on the night shift in a huge public hospital that was mostly empty on my shift. Gave me a feeling for what Rowland is talking about.
January 6, 2020
Over the last year, I’ve read more than a handful of debut novels. This one ranks close to the top of my favorites.
Lena is the sole transcriptionist at The Record in Manhattan. She becomes obsessed with the story of a Jane Doe who was mauled to death by lions at a zoo.
Lena is the sole transcriptionist at The Record in Manhattan. She becomes obsessed with the story of a Jane Doe who was mauled to death by lions at a zoo.
February 9, 2016
While brief, this story is so unique and unusual, you will find yourself thinking about the author's intent in her use of carefully chosen quotes and symbols. High 4 stars for originality and writing.
Lena is working as a transcriptionist for a large newspaper in NYC and becomes consumed by a story about a blind woman who dies in the lion cage at the zoo.
Lena works alone and lives alone in a city teeming with people. Her love of language has her memorizing and reciting passages from poetry to coincide with her observations. She is lonely and has a hard time interacting with others. She even allows a coworker to continually call her by the wrong name without correcting him. The mundane, gruesome and tragic news stories she transcribes daily begin to take a toll. The slow beginning to the plot accentuates Lena's gradual transformation. I read portions with a sense of dread as Lena alters her routine existence. A little dark, but brilliantly written.
I really enjoyed this book. The symbolism of the lion named Robert was genius.
Lena is working as a transcriptionist for a large newspaper in NYC and becomes consumed by a story about a blind woman who dies in the lion cage at the zoo.
Lena works alone and lives alone in a city teeming with people. Her love of language has her memorizing and reciting passages from poetry to coincide with her observations. She is lonely and has a hard time interacting with others. She even allows a coworker to continually call her by the wrong name without correcting him. The mundane, gruesome and tragic news stories she transcribes daily begin to take a toll. The slow beginning to the plot accentuates Lena's gradual transformation. I read portions with a sense of dread as Lena alters her routine existence. A little dark, but brilliantly written.
I really enjoyed this book. The symbolism of the lion named Robert was genius.
May 14, 2014
This is when I dislike stars as a review measure. Maybe I'll go back and change all my stars to nothing and let the reviews speak for themselves.
This story read more like a short story or fable with a strong message about listening, isolation and what is deemed "news worthy". In a time (right now) where George Clooney is getting more airtime about his engagement than the girls kidnapped in Nigeria, I can see where people in the field of news get fed up. Like Lena in this story.
I gave it 3 stars because I liked it. And as a debut novel, I was impressed with Rowland's ability to use descriptive prose to give the reader a feeling of isolation. I truly felt lonely while reading it and hoped for Lena to make a connection with someone other than a pigeon and those there were times where I was underwhelmed.
For more thoughts please visit the full review at:
http://thedailydosage.com/2014/05/14/...
This story read more like a short story or fable with a strong message about listening, isolation and what is deemed "news worthy". In a time (right now) where George Clooney is getting more airtime about his engagement than the girls kidnapped in Nigeria, I can see where people in the field of news get fed up. Like Lena in this story.
I gave it 3 stars because I liked it. And as a debut novel, I was impressed with Rowland's ability to use descriptive prose to give the reader a feeling of isolation. I truly felt lonely while reading it and hoped for Lena to make a connection with someone other than a pigeon and those there were times where I was underwhelmed.
For more thoughts please visit the full review at:
http://thedailydosage.com/2014/05/14/...
June 25, 2014
I was immediately struck by the clarity of Rowland's voice in this, her first novel. It wasn't surprising to later learn that she has had a career at The New York Times; the journalistic influences are clear and make her writing easy to devour. The protagonist, Lena, is presented as a somewhat reclusive, odd, and yet extremely well-educated wallflower-- making her equal parts identifiable and underwhelming. In fact, the novel is populated with characters of this sort, and they all seem to be caught up in their own, magnanimous agenda. I should stress that the best parts of the novel happen in the beginning, and Lena's interaction with the blind woman is definitely powerful. She also has a smart, easy humor that is quite entertaining. Themes of ephemerality, loss, and imprisonment are employed with a heavy hand, and the ending seems contrived. That being said, the novel is enjoyable, and I hope to see more from Rowland in the future.
January 14, 2016
I'm not sure how to explain this book other than to say it's about bigger ideas than the life of a big-city paper transcriptionist who feels like a ghostly presence in her own life. The afterword by the author explains that she, like her character Lena, worked at the New York Times as a transcriptionist during the morose months surrounding 9/11. The novel, she says, is not about 9/11, but it's about the losses that stemmed from it, big institutions taken down and the advent of technology and the demise of old-style news reporting that led over the years to a sense of community amongst its readers. I liked this novel; it's a spare and extremely gloomy book, so let that be a caution if you might not be in the mood, but it will stick with you for a while. I hope more people read it.
June 13, 2016
I enjoyed the darkness of this novel, and the unique perspective of what it’s like to spend too much time transcribing the words of others. I’ve had a little experience with that task, and love how she describes the body as a conduit, with the sound coming in your ear and leaving through your fingers.
Also, the character is obsessed with literary quotes, which made for fun reading. My favorite, from Italo Calvino: “It is not the voice that commands the story; it is the ear.”
Also, the character is obsessed with literary quotes, which made for fun reading. My favorite, from Italo Calvino: “It is not the voice that commands the story; it is the ear.”
July 1, 2014
I'm not entirely sure why I liked this book as much as I did. It got off to a somewhat slow start. By the time I realized I'd become invested in it, I was over halfway through, and by the last two chapters, I was in tears (also, if you can read about the visit to the lion's sanctuary and not get weepy, don't even talk to me). It won't grab you by the lapels, but this is worth reading.
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