Loving Edith

by Mary Tannen

A sprightly, satirical love story follows a fresh-faced college girl's struggles to stay afloat in the midst of Manhattan's chic artistic and literary circles, where she meets her match. Reprint.

Genres: Fiction, Adult Fiction

Mass Market Paperback

First published May 9, 1995

Reviews

[Andie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a frothy little piece of fiction about a young girl who comes to New York to work as a summer intern at a magazine very much like The New Yorker /she is unaware that her upstairs neighbor, the rather extravagantly eccentric Lulu, is the mother who gave her up for adoption 21 years earlier. Nor does she realize that Lulu worked at the same magazine where she is an intern or that the Senior editor may very well be her father.

How all is revealed and how Edith grows into herself makes for a wonderful summer read

[Jenny Hales · Rating 2 out of 5]

This story was ok. There were no twists or anything unexpected. I kept waiting for something to happen or some drama...bleh.

[Virginia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a completely enjoyable read. The story line was easy to follow, but the characters were interesting enough that it didn't matter that the plot was fairly straight forward. The story was set in the early '90s, but it didn't really feel like the '90s as I remember them, although that did not detract from the book at all. Also, when I finished the book, it struck me as something that could have easily been written as a play. All in all, if you're looking for something on the lighter side that isn't brainless, this is an excellent choice.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

More like 3.5 stars but I'm round up because my dad bought this for me at Book Trader in Old City in either 1999 or 2000. (I wanted to round down because there was a line about abortion that was really icky and closed-minded but I'm not sure was intended to be from a character's point of view or the author's. It didn't sit well with me regardless and it was out of left field. Something along the lines of "I'll destroy this baby and have another one at a more convenient time." Destroy, baby, convenient were all verbatim.)

Everyone was so weird to Edith! All the adults in her life treated her so, so creepily. I loved reading a thoroughly 90s novel, written in the 90s, set in the 90s. Nary a cell phone in sight! A fun time capsule, set in New York at a snobbish literary magazine with all the anticipated characters. Edith rollerblades around Manhattan. Lulu is opening a show at an art gallery. Florence and Martin have a townhouse. So 90s! That was refreshing.

[Kidlitter · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very arch, very nineties, very post #MeToo. Its style is not as twee as W.M. Spaceman's more stylized take on love among East Coast upper classes but it doesn't have that unique voice, however objectionable. Edith is a bit of a black hole and the elders who obsess over and around her are un appealing lot, however interesting the literary magazine setting. The experience of reading this is a bit like watching a Woody Allen film now - lovely surfaces, some things to smile at, more to wince about when dark shadows are spotted lurking in the corners.

[Marla · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. It was a lot fun reading fiction again.

[Tara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved the characters and the world building, wish it came together stronger at the end.

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good

Not a bad story. Read on my kindle if you can get past all the miss spellings, the editor must have been drunk or falling asleep. But the all over story was good not great.

[Meredith Viox · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good but lowkey sus? A very chill read

[Jen · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was recommended via a dear friend of mine. She simply loves this book, and I can see why it appeals to her. It's a New York coming of age tale, and she likely read it at that pivotal time in her life in New York... I didn't have the same reaction. The title for one, is interesting, because I really didn't feel like Edith was the central character in this story. Everyone in her parents' world and the world of the magazine drive the story. I found Edith herself to be inconsequential. The story just sort of happens to her, and she's not very active in it. I also felt a little cheated at pivotal moments of epiphany in this novel, where you'd expect to read a marvelous scene of discovery, but instead you got a sentence or two, perhaps a paragraph even, of narration that glossed over the plot point. I was hoping for more, but I certainly didn't love 'Edith.'

[M · Rating 2 out of 5]

Frothy, fun summer read.