Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk by Kathleen Rooney on January 17, 2017
Genres: Fiction / Biographical, Fiction / City Life, Fiction / Literary
Pages: 304
Format: Paperback
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This is a book for when your in an introspective mood.
This is book takes place on the last day of 1984 and 85 year old Lillian Boxfish takes an evening walk through Manhattan. She has very specific stops that she wants to go to. Each for a purpose down memory lane. And she has her route all planned out. (There is a map in the front of the book) She goes back in time reflecting on some of the big decisions of her life and if she made the right choices. Career, family, etc are some things she contemplates.
I would say this is a very character driven story. There isn’t much plot. The NYC scenery is interesting. Hearing about how she was one of the first females in the advertising business to her poetry writing career and how all that went was interesting. As she walks, which is something she enjoys doing, she comes across interesting New Yorkers and visits with friends. She isn’t as alone as she thinks.
This story was based on the real life of Margaret Fishback, the highest paid female advertising copywriter of the 1930s. I read this right around New Years Eve and it was just the book I needed to ring in the new year. It wasn’t too long so it moved quickly and stayed interesting.