Rose is actually quite funny, an astute observer. In retrospect, do you think she ever follows the rules? Or does she follow only the ones she agrees with? Rose is such a stickler for the rules, yet as the novel progresses, she starts breaking them frequently. Do you? Why or why not? Might her Victorian sensibility, when viewed by a contemporary reader, be misinterpreted and sexualized even if it might be innocent and pure? Some readers may think that Rose is a lesbian. Why do you think this is so? Why, despite all the new people she comes into contact with, is Odalie the only one she seems to be charmed by? Yet she seems to take to it all rather quickly. Clearly Rose is an outsider who doesn’t belong. Through Odalie, Rose gains entry into a world she’s never seen before, one filled with opulence and rich, glamorous people. Why is Rose so captivated by Odalie, someone she wholly disapproves of initially? less …ĭo you think Rose is a reliable or unreliable narrator? Why? If you did question her veracity, at what point in the novel did you begin to do so? And soon her fascination with Odalie turns into an obsession from which she may never recover. As the two women navigate between the sparkling underworld of speakeasies by night and their work at the station by day, Rose is drawn fully into Odalie’s high-stakes world. When glamorous Odalie, a new girl, joins the typing pool, despite her best intentions Rose falls under Odalie’s spell.
Yet prudish Rose is stuck in the fading light of yesteryear, searching for the nurturing companionship that eluded her childhood. All around her women bob their hair, they smoke, they go to speakeasies. Gone are the Victorian standards of what is acceptable. This is a new era for women, and New York is a confusing place for Rose. It is 1923, and while she may hear every detail about shootings, knifings, and murders, as soon as she leaves the interrogation room she is once again the weaker sex, best suited for filing and making coffee. A typist in a New York City Police Department precinct, Rose is like a high priestess. With a few strokes of the keys that sit before her, she can send a person away for life in prison. Ripley and The Great Gatsby comes one of the most memorable unreliable narrators in years. And soon her fascination with Odalie turns into an obsession from which she may never recover.For fans of The Talented Mr. When glamorous Odalie, a new girl, joins the typing pool, despite her best intentions Rose falls under Odalie’s spell.Īs the two women navigate between the sparkling underworld of speakeasies by night and their work at the station by day, Rose is drawn fully into Odalie’s high-stakes world.