Review by Booklist Review
Much like Brian Morton's recent Florence Gordon, Diamant's new novel is a resonant portrait of a complex woman. When 85-year-old Addie Baum is asked by her granddaughter how she came to be the woman she is today, Addie launches into the story of her life. In a voice that is as comforting as it is fluid, and without a shred of self-pity, Addie tells of her poverty-stricken childhood as the daughter of immigrants living in Boston's North End neighborhood. Against her mother's wishes, she spends the summer of her sixteenth year at an inn for young ladies in a seaside town north of Boston. It's there she meets like-minded girls who will become lifelong friends and sees that there might be a way out for an intelligent young woman with ambition. She also talks about her sister's tragic circumstances; her first disastrous love affair; and her happy marriage. In addition to providing a graphic, page-turning portrait of immigrant life in the early twentieth century, Diamant's novel is an inspirational read that is likely to be a popular book-club choice. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: A media blitz, including an author tour, will back the latest from the best-selling author of the much-loved novel The Red Tent (1997) as well as Day after Night (2009)--Wilkinson, Joanne Copyright 2014 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Actress Lavin, best known for her star role in the 1970s sitcom Alice, is an ideal narrator for Diamant's portrait of Addie Baum, a turn-of-the-century girl born to immigrant parents in Boston. Set in the 1980s, the story is framed as an oral history in which Addie describes to her granddaughter her coming of age in the 1910s and 1920s. We journey through the immigrant experience, the joys of adolescent friendships and first romantic "assignations" (as Addie puts it), the sadness wrought by the 1918 influenza epidemic, and the struggles of pioneering women in the workplace. Lavin nails the notoriously difficult Boston accent as she brings Addie to life with marvelous wit and wisdom, showcasing the heroine's innate playfulness as well as her gutsy perseverance. Lavin's performance sparkles throughout. It's hard to imagine a more perfect pairing of novel and narrator. A Scribner hardcover. (Dec.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Linda Lavin-best known for the title role in the sitcom Alice-brings warmth and charm to this story of a Jewish girl's coming of age in early 20th-century America. Lavin's Boston accent and Yiddish pronunciation lend authenticity to this first-person bildungsroman. Diamant's (Day After Night) latest has Addie Baum recounting to a granddaughter her attempts to leave the physical and cultural claustrophobia of her parents' tenement world. While attending a book discussion group at a settlement house, Addie makes several friends and begins to achieve liberation as women are winning the right to vote and deciding their own direction in life. VERDICT Detailed and charming, this work is recommended for fans of Boston, American history, and Jewish immigrant tales. ["Readers interested in historical fiction will certainly enjoy this look at the era, with all its complications and wonders": LJ 10/15/14 review of the Scribner hc.]-David Faucheux, Lafayette, LA © Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A Jewish woman born in 1900 tells her granddaughter about growing up in the 20th century. Diamant (Day After Night, 2009, etc.) establishes an agreeable, conversational tone in the opening paragraph: "I'm flattered you want to interview me," Addie says. "And when did I ever say no to my favorite grandchild?" It's 1985, and we quickly learn that Addie is the daughter of Russian immigrants, the only one born in the New World but not the only one to disappoint her bitter, carping mother by turning out to be "a real American." Older sister Betty horrifies their parents in 1910 by moving out to become a saleswoman at Filene's, and Addie flouts their limited expectations by attending high school and joining a reading club at the local settlement house. It's there she learns about Rockport Lodge and snatches a vacation at this "inn for young ladies in a seaside town north of Boston" with the help of the settlement house's nurturing Miss Chevalier. On her first trip to the lodge in 1916, Addie forms lifetime friendships with other striving working-class girls, particularly Filomena, whose affair with a married artist demonstrates the promises and perils of the new freedoms women are claiming. Addie's narrative rambles through the decades, spotlighting somewhat generic events: the deaths of two nephews in the 1918 flu epidemic, an unfulfilling romance with a traumatized World War I veteran, an encounter with a violent rumrunner. Her increasing aspirations take her from a secretarial job to a newspaper, where she climbs from typist to columnist with the help of other uppity women. True love arrives with labor lawyer Aaron Metsky, and a quick wrap-up of the years after 1931 tells us Addie found her vocation as a social worker and teacher. Enjoyable fiction with a detailed historical backdrop, this sweet tale is paradigmatic book club fare, but we expect something more substantial from the author of The Red Tent (1997) and The Last Days of Dogtown (2005). Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
