The Other Typist Free Preview

by Suzanne Rindell

A free preview of "The Other Typist" by Suzanne Rindell For fans of "The Talented Mr. Ripley "and "The Great Gatsby" comes one of the most memorable unreliable narrators in years. Rose Baker seals men's fates. With a few strokes of the keys that sit before her, she can send a person away for life in prison. A typist in a New York City Police Department precinct, Rose is like a high priestess. Confessions are her job. It is 1923, and while she may hear every detail about shootings, knifings, and murders, as soon as she leaves the interrogation room she is once again the weaker sex, best suited for filing and making coffee. This is a new era for women, and New York is a confusing place for Rose. Gone are the Victorian standards of what is acceptable. All around her women bob their hair, they smoke, they go to speakeasies. Yet prudish Rose is stuck in the fading light of yesteryear, searching for the nurturing companionship that eluded her childhood. When glamorous Odalie, a new girl, joins the typing pool, despite her best intentions Rose falls under Odalie's spell. As the two women navigate between the sparkling underworld of speakeasies by night and their work at the station by day, Rose is drawn fully into Odalie's high-stakes world. And soon her fascination with Odalie turns into an obsession from which she may never recover.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Book Club, Mystery, Crime, Adult Fiction, Thriller

356 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 2013

About the author

Upcoming novel:

SUMMER FRIDAYS
***May 28, 2024!!!***

Suzanne Rindell is the author of four previous novels: The Other Typist, which has been translated into 20 languages, Three-Martini Lunch, Eagle & Crane, and The Two Mrs. Carlyles.

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About my reviews/activity on Goodreads: I only rate and review books I *like.* If I'm not into it, I simply don't rate it/review it. So you'll only see four or five stars ratings from me, and maybe a few notes about who I think might best enjoy the book in question.

Reviews

[Sharon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved this book. I saw the entire thing as a black and white movie in my head, with Joan Fontaine as Rose and Heddy Lamar as Odalie. The ending left me with questions which is how I found this site. Although I wish I had a clearer understanding of the end, the book was so enjoyable as a Turner Classic Movie type of experience that I can't subtract any stars. The unresolved ending may be looked upon as a good thing in that it makes you want to call someone immediately and have them read the book so you can discuss it.

[Cynthia Archer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just finished The Other Typist and like many who read and reviewed this title, I'm still trying to figure it out. The ending came out quite different from the book that I started a few days ago. The setting interested me from the start. I love books that have some historical reference, and the 1920's are a bit of a rage right now thanks the recent interest in the lives of writers like F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway.
The setting is a sleepy NYC police precinct office, and the central figure is a young typist named Rose Baker. Rose is the picture of professionalism and efficiency. She is also poor and plain and quite self-satisfied with both, thanks perhaps in part to her humble upbringing in a Catholic orphanage. Her one small pleasure in life is her job and the appreciation of her Sergeant, who is older and married. She is confident that she is a wee bit special to him and has a much superior attitude over the other two typists in the office. Everything changes abruptly when "the other typist" arrives.
Odalie Lavare is every bit as exotic as her name. She immediately charms everyone in the office with a lovely girlishness and uncanny ability to make them all feel special. Everyone except Rose, who finds herself disproving of this young woman who seems too privileged to be in need of a job as a lowly typist. There is a friction between the women caused by Rose's jealousy that ignites a spark in the story, changing it from a simple tale to one that becomes intensively complex. Rose's interest in Odalie becomes an obsessive after Odalie originally ignores her and then suddenly courts her friendship. Rose finds herself sharing Odalie's world filled with money, luxurious living, and parties. Eventually Rose is transformed into a party girl of the Roaring Twenties and finds much of her moral ground slipping away. The ending is quite shocking and although there are hints as to the direction of the story, you can not predict the twist that awaits.
Near the end of the book, you see the effect Odalie's approval has had on Rose, and it's power to totally possess her. "It is impossible to explain to someone who has never made Odalie's acquaintance how glorious this is. It is not enough to say she had a way about her. If you were feeling heavy, she had some sort of trick to make you feel so light as to become giddy with it. If you were slighted at work, she made the person who slighted you the butt of an inside joke. When you were with Odalie, it was impossible to be an outsider. For me, this latter phenomenon was nothing short of a miracle. After all, I had been an outsider all my life."
The author is a student of modern literature and she has captured that in her own way in this, her first novel. It left me unsettled and confused as I expect it is meant to. This book got under my skin and like a view of an accident scene, it left me fixated, unable to look away. While I don't recommend this book for everyone, I do think that it will appeal many, especially those with curiosity. If you are curious, I would recommend you read it just to find out how it ends. It's worth it, and you will want to talk about it when you finish. Because of that, it would make a great book club title and also an amazing movie. Those may be reasons enough to read The Other Typist.
Thanks to Shelf Awareness and Putnam publishing for the chance to read and review this book. I also applaud the selection of this cover. It is an excellent depiction of the power play within this story. I look forward to much more from Ms. Rindell.

[Nithya · Rating 3 out of 5]

So obviously the Big Thing about the ending is how ambiguous it is. Having looked back I actually think the author has been overambitious and just made a confused, impossible ending while trying to be clever and mysterious. Theories hinge on Rose/Odalie/Ginerva only one or two women and the rest being multiple personalities (which is shoddy in itself, multiple personalities don't hang out together). Okay, should list this:

Odalie and Rose are not the same person:
1)Lt Detective tells Rose (in mental asylum) that Odalie (free woman) wanted him to give her the brooch.
2)On Odalie's first day a big deal is made about a flurry of interest and how she interacts with every single person independently of Rose.
3)Odalie's bob is mentioned so many times including having the Lt Detective comment on her hair. Rose still has long hair until she cuts it off at the end.
4)Teddy recognizes Odalie when they're on their holiday. He takes the time to tell Rose the story without ever trying to confront her. If they were the same person he would have pressed it when they were on the swimmer's tower together. He really tried to corner Odalie and was tense with her during all their interactions.


Rose and Ginerva aren't the same person:
1)Teddy didn't recognize Rose
2)Odalie was the one flipping out and throwing hairbrushes saying Newport people should stay in Newport. Odalie also had the two bracelets. Strongest evidence suggests that Odalie was Ginerva.

Rose grew up in a convent:
1)Rose's landlady steamed open a letter and tells Helen that Rose and a young novice named Adele were quite entangled. So Adele isn't a randomer, she's definitely a nun. Rose was clearly close enough to her that Adele needed to write a stay-away letter. If the police/doctor can't find evidence that Rose ever lived there, the nuns covering a scandal might be a better explanation than Rose somehow being Ginerva.

So, it makes most sense for the story to be 'straight', that Ginerva/Odalie hooked Rose into taking the fall and Rose's life becoming a new shifty backstory for Odalie to comandeer. In THAT case, the whole description of Rose seeing Teddy's face as he fell to his death, the cutting of her hair and being all "two can play at this game," is just muddying which makes it seem messy and shoddy rather than raising the fact that there are multiple interpretations. Or something.

[Samantha March · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I thought I would like this book for several reasons. One, I love the 1920’s era. I’m always on board to read a book that falls in that time period. Second, court reporting was a very popular major at my small college, and I have several friends who work as court reporters today. I thought this would be a fun way to see how “typists” started out and hopefully recommend the book to my friends. Unfortunately, it didn’t quite turn out to be what I expected. It took a long time for me to get into the story and for any real action to start happening, and while I waited, the writing became quite tedious. There were long paragraphs that didn’t really move the story forward and seemed inconsequential to the story. My interest was pretty lost by the time the “twist” was being put into the works, and I had started speed reading at that point, so I wasn’t able to fully immerse myself in how the ending was going to work out. I did enjoy the setting – the 1920’s, the speakeasies, learning about how women were starting to find new roles in the workplace – but the gist of the story was mostly confusing and exhausting to get through.
2.5 stars

[Betsy Robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

The combination of Suzanne Rindell's impeccable storytelling technique, plus the perfectly understated and prim voice of her narrator, Rose Baker (typist/transcriptionist for criminal confessions at a police department in 1923), plus a riveting story make The Other Typist irresistible and un-put-downable. And I think I would feel this even if I'd never worked as a typist and deposition transcriptionist.

However I did. So, boy, was this book fun. Rindell spills the big secrets of the job: how intimate is the act of hearing deposition testimony, how much the transcriptionist observes and understands about people that they believe they are hiding, and finally that the transcriptionist is anything but an automaton and actually can effect the understood truth. (I will not elaborate for fear of committing a spoiler and self-incrimination.) The only thing in this book that made me cock my head with disbelief was the claim that Rose types 160 words per minute on a manual typewriter; I was considered a speed demon at 80 to 100 words per minute on an IBM Selectric.

The story luxuriates in the era of speakeasies and flappers, and the community of conscious poseurs and compulsive sociopaths is both beguiling and relevant to our human propensity to "perform" with a remarkable obliviousness to our transparency. The Other Typist is an absolute joy to read, and in my reader/writer's opinion, Rindell is victorious in her wish to "pay deliberate homage to the first true love of [her] teenage years: Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby." Read this book. You are in for a treat.

[Personal Note: I'm still a bit stunned by the similarities between this book and my own novel, The Last Will & Testament of Zelda McFigg (Black Lawrence Press, Sept. 2014). The Other Typist was published a year earlier, and I can only guess that Rindell and I were writing our respective novels at the same time and our muses were at least first cousins.]

[Lexie Thompson · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is a slow read to begin with. It keeps you just interested enough to hang on. At times Rose's seemingly "ignorant" stance makes you want to roll your eyes and slap her, but there are just enough hints dropped to make you suspect she may be a bit obsessive and not quite "normal."

The narrator is completely unreliable, which could have worked to the authors advantage had she tied the ending up neatly and brought you to that "ah ha!" moment. This does not happen. I kept waiting for it all to come together. Instead I was left pissed off and re-reading the last page to make sure that I hadn't missed something.

I hadn't.

This book had great potential and was completely shot to hell at the end. Obviously Odalie and Ginevra are the same people. Rose is a separate person. They are not one and the same, not someone with "multiple personalities." Common sense should point this out so I won't waste time listing the reasons.

I really, really wanted to give this book more stars but the ending has left me so irritated and pissed off I just can't bring myself to do it. I won't say that it's a terrible read, but you just honestly don't get that great ending that has the possibility to leave you stunned and thinking "damn, that was some clever writing!" The book had that potential, but unfortunately the author fell short.

[Kandice · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the slow, lazy narrative Rindell used. We hear the story of Rose and Odalie's friendship through a series of narrative falshbacks with occasional glimpses into Rose's present that alert us to the fact that this relationship will end badly. For Rose.

My problem with the novel is Rindell's obvious attempt to make it more than it is. This is simply a story of betrayal. The setting, prohibition, speakeasys and flappers, is lovely and the detail Rindell imparts is a big reason I am giving this three stars instead of two.

Rindell writes the last chapters of the book as if it suddenly occurred to her that betrayal was not enough. She saw the need to, at that late date, begin writing in clues to mental illness, split or double personalities and more creative arranging and finagling than I felt was necessary.

Why wasn't it enough that Odalie was setting up Rose as her stool pigeon from the beginning? Why did Rindell feel the need to muddy the waters with more? Had she left the story straight, I feel like I would have been awarding it four stars, but as it is, I cannot.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was amazing! Set in the roaring twenties during prohibition, we meet straight-laced typist, Rose, who works at a police precinct in New York. Rose becomes obsessed with her glamorous new co-worker, Odalie and as a hot summer passes, they become fast friends and roomates. Rose soon realizes Odalie has many secrets, some of them dangerous. A dark mystery and a sense of foreboding piqued my interest throughout. A surprise ending left me thinking about what really happened, and it could be argued that there are several different truths to what Rose considered reality.

[Hilary Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

And the prize for unreliable narrator goes to... yeesh.

[Hameeda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book deserve 3 1/2 stars in my opinion. I didn't finish it in one sitting as the story got interesting after the first hundred page. Our book club colleagues had some very interesting ideas about the narrator: is she believesble, telling the truth, bi polar, schizophrenic etc. I think she did have some kind of obsessive streak. The author didn't give me the Vow factor in this story as I had experienced in some previous mystery books like The Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train.

[Ruth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rindell is great at sorting out the triteness of human nature. This quote rang true with how so many people I know perceive modern art: "My personal belief is that people who cannot work within the parameters of art's great time-honored traditions simply lack the talent and discipline stop do so."

This master work of historical fiction is a fun read with twists! It would be great for a book club!

[Taryn Harbert · Rating 1 out of 5]

Let it be noted - I do not give out single stars with ease. I believe this is the first I've ever given.

I picked up this book because the cover art had a quote along the lines of "if you like Gone Girl you'll love this book" which was reason enough for me to pick it up. I read other reviews, and was hesitant to buy it because they were mixed. I am glad I read it and developed an opinion for myself, but that surely didn't do me any favors.

I'm not going to go over the plot, it's covered in the synopsis of the book, and it's pretty accurate. What I will say is that at the beginning of the book, I really admired Susan Rindell's writing style. Is she verbose? Yes, she is. But it's intellectual and refreshing, until you're half way through the book. I found that I begin to approach the book as I would a text book for school; it became a labored process. I remember thinking to myself "just get on with it already, we get it!".

I also cannot remember reading a book which took me so long to read. I assume because this book put me to sleep more times than not. Honestly, I don't ever recall falling asleep while reading a book to this extent.

Overall, I didn't find the protagonist, Rose, likable in the least. As a result I really wasn't invested in anything she was doing or what happened to her. I think that is why this book really seemed to drag out for me. I simply didn't care about her. It picks up in the end but the last 10% being exciting wasn't worth the road to get there. Also, after all the work I put into finishing it, I didn't appreciate that it left on a sort of ambitious note. I worked that hard and I don't even get a straight answer? It didn't feel clever it felt thrown together, as if the author herself wasn't sure who to finish it.

[Zaida · Rating 5 out of 5]

You should know going in that there is going to be a big twist. Doing so, you will know to pay attention to the details, the clues laced in the narrative from Rose, and you wont get so hung up in the twist when it comes. So hung up that you can't sort it out. I peeked at the reading guide, which did kinda spoil things I warn you, but at least I knew what to look for and so the ending is not to hard to figure out (or a theory of it anyway) that I am left unsatisfied.
I applaud the twist and the writing style. It is refreshing to get away from dim writers who over detail the wrong things, and then can't do a good enough job detailing the few interesting sections. I think the author did a great job of setting the ambience without needing a whole page to do so, and she slowly gave out the clues without getting to eager and being straightforward.
Loved the book and I think it's a must read, just know going in this is suppose to twist your mind and you can't believe everything you "hear" or rather, read.

[Leslie Lindsay · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a fascinating book...and one I am still trying to puzzle out. Immediately, I was drawn into the sleepy vintage vibe of THE OTHER TYPIST, a mash-up of THE GREAT GATSBY, THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY, and a dash of J. Courtney Sullivan's THE ENGAGEMENTS but then about half-way through the book, I found the narrative lost drive and sort of lost me for a bit, too. The writing is georgeous, the turns of phrase eloquent and unique but still I had difficulty connecting especially in that middle third.

The end came as a bit of a surprise, but not entirely so. Most of the book was presented in a first-person unreliable POV which took the form of a confession...but just what, exactly is what was to be determined. Perhaps the ambiguity of the ending is what some will say makes this a great book and others who claim they don't like it. I will say that for a debut, THE OTHER TYPIST is very well done with touches of psychological-thriller meets literary meets classic.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am so thankful for my new Book Club. The Other Typist was our September selection. I will admit I would not have chosen this book to read on my own. And I will admit that I loved reading the book and really got into every page...after about page 60. From reading several reviews before beginning the book I was aware that this book is either loved or hated by the reader. Almost every aspect of the story was intriguing to me. I appreciated the fact that the plot and 'character(s)' were not just another predictable replication of so many historical fiction based books. There was about a 50/50 split rating wise in the Book Club so all I can say definitively is...try it, you might like it, or even love it!

[Hailey Bruce · Rating 3 out of 5]

I actually really enjoyed the story but the author overwrites badly. She could cut out half the words in most sentences and often writes two sentences in a row that say exactly the same thing. The clarification is unnecessary. I don't want I roll my eyes while I'm reading. It was well done though and I liked how the answers don't come until the very end and ebbs then it's up to the reader to decide whether or not to trust
Rose.

[Meagen · Rating 1 out of 5]

It was so wordy and the main character was so hard to relate too. This was a book my book club had chosen and there are not many books I can't power through but I tried about 5 different times to read it and finally gave up and skipped to the end which was a disappointment.

[Christine · Rating 1 out of 5]

Difficult book to finish...I really did not like any of the characters, I had to make myself finish, due to the fact I refused to give up. It was slow, took forever to get to the story, really didn't like the ending....

[Hyla · Rating 4 out of 5]

still letting the book sink in.

[Coryanne Hicks · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun read but definitely a debut.

Suzanne Rindell's debut novel does a great job of drawing you in with its strong narrator and intriguing plot. Rose (the narrator) was well-drawn and interesting. Her voice and story-telling are unique and fun to read. The story itself provided a nice sense of discovery as we gradually come to see there's more going on than Rose may realize, and to question just how reliable she is.

What was lacking for me was a sense of coming together. I felt like Suzanne Rindell was lining up all these puzzle pieces as we went, but they never really fell together in the end. It was like trying to build a puzzle with pieces that look like a good fit until you try to put them together. Then it's like: wait a minute, that doesn't quite work. What just happened there?

In an interview with the author, she alluded to the story just unfolding as she wrote it. She was guided by Rose's voice in her head and had to follow Rose wherever she wanted to go. This is exactly how the book feels: Unplanned. Rose is such a strong voice, you easily fall into the narrating of her story and get sucked along with her. But it feels like even Rindell didn't know what really happened in the end. The result is a lot of ambiguity at the story's close. Not a bad thing, necessarily. But I get the sense a more experienced author could have handled it a little bit better.

I would definitely read more of Suzanne Rindell and enjoyed this book, but can't rate it among my favorite reads because it didn't quite come together for me in the end. I think there is better yet to come from Rindell and look forward to seeing what comes next.

[Avery Leiss · Rating 5 out of 5]

i honestly loved this book, and have only a few pieces of criticism for it. beautifully, poetically, and cleverly written, i found myself entranced by the language on every page. it had been a while since i’ve read something so eloquently written, and it was a treat. Rose is yet another unreliable narrator, mainly because any reader could see that Rose was so clearly obsessive and oblivious from the start, and because she held her undeserving loyalties for far longer than i certainly ever would have. my main critique was how often rose mentioned “the mystery” of the fall of the storyline, it felt redundant and i felt myself thinking “i get it something happens but WHAT” in a more annoyed than anticipating tone. Overall, Odalie is a malicious, selfish, and conniving brat and i was disappointed but not surprised at the ending; it seemed only fitting that’s what Rose would have done.

[Kristin · Rating 2 out of 5]

For me to give a book two stars means I was not at all impressed. This book claims to be another in the long list of recent supposedly psychological thrillers. What it is is a historical novel with little reason to call it a thriller and thin on the psychological. The novel has such dogged detail and is so plodding that it never becomes suspenseful. I found it such slow going it took me three weeks to finish, which is unheard of for me. The unreliable narrator is so unreliable that readers are left with big questions about plot points. I guess I measure every supposed psychological thriller against Gone Girl and have not read one that lives up to the pacing and surprises that appear throughout that novel.

[Dana Ray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful read.
I am not typically a fiction book reader. I always seem to get to a point where I want to put the book down, which then discourages me for not finishing. While reading this book, I was reading a few other non-fiction ones. It took me about 3 months due to this. But it is a very easy read with its fair share of twist and turns through the prohibition era. The end of the book definitely has left me with a few questions! I really enjoyed Suzanne Rindells writing style. My next book purchase will be another one of hers.

[Lana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to this book while traveling and it moved just fast enough to keep my interest and still drive. I had to listen to the ending twice and still thought "What?!" Then read the other readers' comments before coming to my own conclusion. Rindell integrated the New York scene and the social structure so well, very interesting/

[Shelley Blanton-Stroud · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this one twice, then listened to it on audiobook afterward. I really enjoyed this book. There is mystery, psychology, well-crafted language, and a main character who surprises me. I read this while writing, to remind myself how a person can build tension with sentence structure. I highly recommend this if you like The Talented Mr. Ripley.

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

At first I felt it dragged and I couldn't get into the story. Towards the end it picked up for me and I couldn't wait to get back to the story. The ending left me feeling like I had missed something and wanted there to be more story to help sort it out.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent. The book does not really have a strong identity. It is sort of a mystery, tale of obsession, historical times book. But it has nice flow and keeps you reading even though you don't know where it is going.

[Camandwmm · Rating 1 out of 5]

A frenzied quest of what is real and what is not. Rose is narrator of this book. I read the entire book, but was constantly waiting for something good to happen; it never did. Not a fun read, author rambles on and on too much.

[Elmira Kokova · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just finished it and I'm really confused by the ending 😬 So many theories are floating around about what the ending actually means for the whole plot of the book.... Read it and see for yourself if you can figure it out.

[Candy Shaiboon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a page turner for me. The author has a polished way of building suspense. I loved everything about this book except… there were too many unanswered questions at the end which was a disappointment for an invested reader.