[NLN]∎ Libro The Other Typist Suzanne Rindell 9780241963746 Books

The Other Typist Suzanne Rindell 9780241963746 Books

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The Other Typist Suzanne Rindell 9780241963746 Books

Rose Baker is a staid, ultraconservative typist/stenographer for the New York City Police Department. She types reports and confessions of criminals, a responsibility which calls for quite a staunch stamina indeed! The Sergeant and the Lieutenant Detective seem to vie for her attention, but her respect definitely seems to be for the former, an attitude that perhaps foreshadows some trouble in the future. A significant change when the department hires a new typist, Odalie, who saunters into her interview and later daily appearance as if she were the most famous movie star in the world!
Initially Odalie ignores Rose and befriends the other typists who are even blander than the perfect and proper lady, Rose. That changes, however, after Odalie drops a bejeweled brooch which Rose picks up and conveniently forgets to return to Odalie the next day. Rindell’s depiction of Odalie is perfect as narrated through the observations of Rose. For Odalie reads people’s personality quickly and reacts accordingly; but she also seems adept at sensing their weakness which she exploits covertly. She then introduces Rose to a world of speakeasy rooms and parties where there’s no shortage of liquor despite Prohibition laws. It isn’t long before Rose is totally sucked into excessive drinking and dancing the latest jazz numbers. While there’s always a tinge of guilt and questioning in Rose’s acquiescence to every invitation by Odalie, it doesn’t stop Rose from eventually agreeing to be Odalie’s roommate in a very posh hotel in Manhattan. Then the trouble begins!
The possibility of raids on the places where the two friends party, the many questions that arise out of Odalie’s stories about her background and the appearance of a man named Teddy carry the rest of the novel into a tense, riveting mystery that ends in a calamitous act. The reader is stymied about who did what and actually who is the actual perpetrator of several heinous crimes.
The Other Typist is an excellent mystery that illuminates Rindell’s formidable talent at pacing a story with just the right amount of increasing intensity and dread. The characterization of both women is superb, one a foil for the other’s sociopathic personality – or perhaps it’s the reverse? Highly recommended novel about obsession and the unique facets of the criminal mind!


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The Other Typist Suzanne Rindell 9780241963746 Books Reviews

If you’re looking for a novel full of action and suspense this is not it. It’s told through first person narrative Rose Baker a stenographer in a local police precinct. Her object of rapt affection is the other typist Odalie Lazare. Throughout the entire book was the grooming of Rose by Odalie. It was foreshadowed early on that Odalie was getting Rose prepped to take the fall for something She was planning. An illegal venture for sure. But it never really came to fruition. The ending was anti-climatic. I felt it had built up a mild suspense but then the story fizzled out. I did however love the author’s writing style. It was very discriptive and seemed to float along at a rather slow pace. I don’t think this book should be compared to Gone Girl or Chevy Steven’s Still Missing. Real nail biting hold your breath suspense is not found in this novel.
Everything about Rose Baker seemed prim and proper, from her “unremarkable” appearance to her orderly way of approaching each task. Her childhood spent in an orphanage set the tone for how her life would unfold, including her time spent as a typist in a police precinct.

Until the day “the other typist” walked into the precinct and seemingly tugged at a feeling that Rose had, as yet, not experienced. At that point, Odalie Lazare became the object of her obsession.

The Other Typist is narrated in Rose’s first person voice, and as she tells the story from her perspective, we learn that it is set in the mid-1920s, a time that would become real and visual in every way. We can almost feel what she feels as she describes her impressions of Odalie, her experiences with her as the two become confidantes and then roommates. The mysterious Odalie would become the center of Rose’s universe.

Nights in speakeasies, getaways to the beach, and entry into a world previously unknown…all would inform the days, weeks, and months of Rose’s life with Odalie as a friend.

So how did everything go so wrong? What, if anything, had Odalie done to set events in motion? What could anyone do or say to change the outcome of one fateful night? How did Rose become someone even she herself did not recognize? Had she been tricked and played, or was she simply a very unreliable narrator who might fool any one of us?

I could see it all coming, of course, as Rose’s narrative dropped hints along the way. But the ending completely stunned me…and I then began to question my own conclusions. Definitely a book I would recommend for anyone who loves a thriller with unexpected twists. 5 stars.
I've seen the reviews that point out the numerous anachronisms and they're right. But what bothered me much more was the unearned, ridiculous ending. I don't want to include any spoilers so I won't do it. The writing was good, not great. Honestly, it took me a while to get into this book, but then I liked it well enough. The main character was interesting, but wound up being two dimensional. And I probably would have forgiven that because I always appreciate the effort to do something fresh and different and this book does aim for that. But to have Odalie pull off the virtually impossible in the blink of an eye at the very end of the book - and to have the lead character deal with it the way she does, that is to say completely out of character - made me want to throw the book across the room. I hate it when a perfectly competent character suddenly turns into an idiot and no one says the most obvious things. In the end, it made me wonder why no one, not the editors, the first readers, her friends, didn't get her to earn any of the ending. This was not meant to be a fantastical story about fantastical characters, at least not for the first 320 pages, but that's where it goes at the end and it was untrue to anything realistic or to the lead character.
Rose Baker is a staid, ultraconservative typist/stenographer for the New York City Police Department. She types reports and confessions of criminals, a responsibility which calls for quite a staunch stamina indeed! The Sergeant and the Lieutenant Detective seem to vie for her attention, but her respect definitely seems to be for the former, an attitude that perhaps foreshadows some trouble in the future. A significant change when the department hires a new typist, Odalie, who saunters into her interview and later daily appearance as if she were the most famous movie star in the world!
Initially Odalie ignores Rose and befriends the other typists who are even blander than the perfect and proper lady, Rose. That changes, however, after Odalie drops a bejeweled brooch which Rose picks up and conveniently forgets to return to Odalie the next day. Rindell’s depiction of Odalie is perfect as narrated through the observations of Rose. For Odalie reads people’s personality quickly and reacts accordingly; but she also seems adept at sensing their weakness which she exploits covertly. She then introduces Rose to a world of speakeasy rooms and parties where there’s no shortage of liquor despite Prohibition laws. It isn’t long before Rose is totally sucked into excessive drinking and dancing the latest jazz numbers. While there’s always a tinge of guilt and questioning in Rose’s acquiescence to every invitation by Odalie, it doesn’t stop Rose from eventually agreeing to be Odalie’s roommate in a very posh hotel in Manhattan. Then the trouble begins!
The possibility of raids on the places where the two friends party, the many questions that arise out of Odalie’s stories about her background and the appearance of a man named Teddy carry the rest of the novel into a tense, riveting mystery that ends in a calamitous act. The reader is stymied about who did what and actually who is the actual perpetrator of several heinous crimes.
The Other Typist is an excellent mystery that illuminates Rindell’s formidable talent at pacing a story with just the right amount of increasing intensity and dread. The characterization of both women is superb, one a foil for the other’s sociopathic personality – or perhaps it’s the reverse? Highly recommended novel about obsession and the unique facets of the criminal mind!