Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk by Kathleen Rooney
Fiction
2017
Finished on December 8, 2024
Rating: 3.5/5 (Good)
Any day you walk down a street and find nothing new but nothing missing counts as a good day in a city you love.
Publisher's Blurb:
As she traverses a grittier Manhattan, a city anxious after an attack by a still-at-large subway vigilante, she encounters bartenders, bodega clerks, chauffeurs, security guards, bohemians, criminals, children, parents, and parents-to-be—in surprising moments of generosity and grace. While she strolls, Lillian recalls a long and eventful life that included a brief reign as the highest-paid advertising woman in America—a career cut short by marriage, motherhood, divorce, and a breakdown.
A love letter to city life—however shiny or sleazy—Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk by Kathleen Rooney paints a portrait of a remarkable woman across the canvas of a changing America: from the Jazz Age to the onset of the AIDS epidemic; the Great Depression to the birth of hip-hop.
Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk was slow to pull me in, but I didn't give up, and I wound up enjoying the story although it didn't wow me. I enjoy novels about women in their later years, but this story fell just shy of being one that I could love. One of my favorite things to do when visiting a new town or city is to wander up and down the streets, exploring neighborhoods and business districts. I've walked numerous miles in Victoria, Banff, Jasper, Port Townsend, Jackson, and London, to name a few. When my daughter and I were in NYC many years ago, we walked from our lovely hotel (The Peninsula) on 5th Avenue up to the Guggenheim Museum, then back down 5th all the way to Battery Park. Along the way, we admired St. Patrick's Cathedral, the New York Public Library, the Flatiron Building, and the World Trade Center. We took the ferry to the Statue of Liberty and then over to the Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration. After more than eight miles, we were exhausted and caught a cab back to our hotel. And thus, I was happy to discover a map of Lillian's route of her New Year's Eve walk in NYC, and couldn't help but notice that it was very similar to the one we took in 1996!
Other than the premise of spending New Year's Eve walking across Manhattan, I doubt I'll remember very many details about this book. But, if I make it back to NYC, I'd love to retrace Lillian's steps.
Good review, I enjoyed this book as well. It had been sitting on my shelf for a while and my plans were to read what is on hand so...that was my first in that endevour.
ReplyDeleteI think you might have enjoyed this one more than I did, Tina. I'll have to take a look at your review! Like you, I'm trying to read from my own shelves. I could easily do that for at least a couple of years before I run out!
DeleteToo bad this one wasn't more captivating. I also love a good city walk, checking out the neighborhoods, etc.
ReplyDeleteJoAnn and Tina enjoyed it much more than I did, so you might want to give it a try, Helen.
DeleteI resisted visiting NYC but finally gave in this fall. It's still too big for me but I've read a few books set in the city since then (by coincidence) and I have to admit that it is nice to have seen so many of the sights myself.
ReplyDeleteJen, my husband isn't a fan of big cities, so I was happy to go with my daughter when she was about 12. We saw some Broadway shows, shopped, enjoyed eating out, went to some art museums, and saw a lot of the tourist sights. We were there a full week and really enjoyed ourselves.
DeleteI love this story. I enjoyed hearing Lillian tell us little stories about her life as she walks through the city. I'm a huge fan of stories about older women these days.
ReplyDeleteDeb, I love stories about older women, too. This one was pretty good, and I find myself thinking more about it since writing my review.
DeleteI loved this book, and I love NYC.
ReplyDeleteVicki, I would love to take another trip to NYC!
DeleteI've read this one twice now and really loved it both times... it's just so NYC! And, of course, I love NYC, too.
ReplyDeleteJoAnn, I thought of you as I was reading the book. I'm definitely due for another visit to NYC!
DeleteThat would be great to retrace her steps. I'm so glad you included the map of her walk in your post. So interesting. We have walked around NYC as well. I think I tried this novel once but I didn't too far. Perhaps I should try again?
ReplyDeleteSusan, I was happy to see the map included in the book. My mom tried reading this one and didn't get very far either. If you struggled with it, I'm not sure it's worth trying again. I didn't love it, although some of our mutual reading buddies did.
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