The Other Typist

By: Suzanne Rindell

Narrated by: Gretchen Mol

Length: 10 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's summary

Rose Baker seals men’s fates. With a few strokes of the keys that sit before her, she can send a person away for life in prison. A typist in a New York City Police Department precinct, Rose is like a high priestess. Confessions are her job. 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.

This is a new era for women, and New York is a confusing place for Rose. Gone are the Victorian standards of what is acceptable. All around her women bob their hair, they smoke, they go to speakeasies. Yet prudish Rose is stuck in the fading light of yesteryear, searching for the nurturing companionship that eluded her childhood. When glamorous Odalie, a new girl, joins the typing pool, despite her best intentions Rose falls under Odalie’s spell.

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. And soon her fascination with Odalie turns into an obsession from which she may never recover.

©2013 Suzanne Rindell (P)2013 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"From the first page [I] was absorbed...Suzanne Rindell’s story of a 1920s police stenographer who becomes increasingly obsessed with a glamorous new typist reminds me at points of Notes on a Scandal and Patricia Highsmith, but has creepy charms all its own.” (The Paris Review)

“Take a dollop of Alfred Hitchcock, a dollop of Patricia Highsmith, throw in some Great Gatsby flourishes, and the result is Rindell’s debut, a pitch-black comedy about a police stenographer accused of murder in 1920s Manhattan.... A deliciously addictive, cinematically influenced page-turner, both comic and provocative.” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review)

“Rindell's debut is a cinematic page-turner.” (Publishers Weekly)

Loved This One !

I really enjoyed this one ! I loved the Gatsbyesque setting and the fascinating first-person narrator. And I especially LOVED the ending ! Soooo unusual. Excellent reading by Gretchen Mol. Her almost emotionless dictation suits the character.

Okay story

This Other Typist provides an interesting enough background of the 1920s era (complete with prohibition, the mood of the times, and great settings) but for me the actual story was contrived and hard to believe. Plus the naivete of the protagonist was ridiculous to the extreme.

I won't repeat what others have already written with respect to the theme and agree that, up front, the less you know about it the better. Probably my biggest complaint is with the narrator. Admittedly there are many run-on sentences within the text, but that alone isn't always a bad thing. However, the narrator lacked helpful pauses and read with so little inflection that even i felt out of breath by the time the full stop presented itself.

In my opinion it's probably best to forego the audio version of this book and maybe read it instead.

Confusing, unsatisfying ending

I enjoyed this book. Gretchen Mol's was very flat except when she spoke as characters other than the narrator. The ending was very disappointing. I would have liked a definitive answer to who was who. Was Rose all three characters, Genevra, Odialie and Rose.
I think it's unfair for the author to lead us through a story that had no conclusion.

Twisting 20’s crime story

Read this for book club and probably would never have picked it myself, but this is the beauty of the clubs. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I loved the 1920s setting in NYC & the glimpse into life then, especially for women. I really enjoyed the way the story unfolded & the journey the author took to reach its conclusion, with multiple twists along the way. The narrator was fabulous… delivered the story perfectly. I think I will be seeking out this author and narrator in future selections.

Good Grief

This was an ridiculous story and the only reason I listened to the end was because it was a book club selection and I was driving across Kansas. I am pretty sure it is supposed to be in the young adult category. At times it sounded like even the narrator was bored. The ending ending seemed incredibly contrived and I couldn't wait until it was finally over.

Really slow. Boring

The ending isn’t even an ending. And it leaves you questioning what really happened. I was disappointed.

Tedious!

How is it possible to write....much less publish.....such a tedious book? Wish I wasn't the kind of person who made myself finish a book once I started it. An annoying waste of time.

Fantastic Performance, Terrible Ending

What disappointed you about The Other Typist?

The set-up (and it's almost all set-up) is decent. But the ending made me feel that if it weren't for the excellent audio performance I would have completely wasted my time.

What does Gretchen Mol bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Gretchen Mol's terrific job is the only real reason to listen to this.