Saturday, August 21, 2010

Summer at Tiffany

I just finished reading "Summer at Tiffany" by Marjorie Hart for the on-line book club Word Shakers.



I enjoyed the book very much, and it was a quick read.


For me, the book had three appealing qualities: it was a memoir, it was a period in history that I love, and the setting was a place I love. It was a delight to read.
Hart wrote about the summer of 1945, when she and her best friend Marty shared an apartment and independence in Manhattan. Between their Jr and Sr years in college, they boarded the train with almost no money in their pockets--but thankfully an apartment waiting for them--went to New York City and vowed to make it on their own and have the Best Summer of their Lives. They soon landed jobs as the first women pages at Tiffany. New York's renowned jewelry store. Both girls were in awe and loved going to work each day, even tho the salary barely kept them in tea and crackers. I think it was chocolate milk and crackers...and a lunchtime .25 cent sandwich at the Automat.


They experience a summer full of excitement: waiting on glamorous customers, dating midshipman, going to nightclubs and ultimately being in Times Square for V-day.
It kept me wanting to turn the pages, as I just so enjoyed the escape of being able to live that life for a while thru Marjorie and Marty's experiences.
One of the reviews said the book was "honey-dipped" but Hart had the gift of conveying the texture of mid-century Manhattan (U.S.A. today). That's it in a nutshell.

3 comments:

bermudaonion said...

I would never be daring enough to do something like that, so I love to read about other people who are. This sounds like my kind of book.

Sheila (Bookjourney) said...

Loved this book! I have the link up now so you can add you review. Thanks for doing Wordshakers - I had so much fun :D

Anonymous said...

This isn't a book I would have read on my own, but I loved it!

Friday Friend recipe #354 Crock Pot Stew

  ...about 24 years ago, 50 of my closest friends and family, who had been on an   e-mail forum with me, sent in recipes in different catego...