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Downtown
The year is 1966, a time of innocence, possibility,and freedom. And for Atlanta, the country, and one woman making her way in a changing world, nothing will be the same . . .
After an airless childhood in Savannah, Smoky O'Donnell arrives in Atlanta, dazzled and chastened by this hectic young city on the rise. Her new job as a writer with the city's Downtown magazine introd...more
After an airless childhood in Savannah, Smoky O'Donnell arrives in Atlanta, dazzled and chastened by this hectic young city on the rise. Her new job as a writer with the city's Downtown magazine introd...more
Paperback, 512 pages
Published
May 24th 1995
by HarperTorch
(first published July 1st 1994)
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Jan 11, 2013
Mary
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Anyone who likes historical fiction
Recommended to Mary by:
Bookmooch
The year is 1966, a time of innocence, possibility, and freedom. And for the city of Atlanta, Georgia, the country, and one woman making her way in a changing world, nothing will ever be the same.
After an airless childhood in Savannah, Maureen 'Smoky' O'Donnell arrives in Atlanta, a naive young woman, dazzled and chastened by this hectic young city on the rise. Even though Smoky has to literally earn her wings as a female reporter on the staff of the male-dominated magazine, she gains membershi...more
After an airless childhood in Savannah, Maureen 'Smoky' O'Donnell arrives in Atlanta, a naive young woman, dazzled and chastened by this hectic young city on the rise. Even though Smoky has to literally earn her wings as a female reporter on the staff of the male-dominated magazine, she gains membershi...more
Smoky O'Donnell, a small town southern Catholic girl in the 1960's, accepts a job as layout editor for the newly published "Downtown" magazine, put out by the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce. Her strict parents allow her to go only on the condition that she live in a convent that takes in boarders and that she live the conven¬tional life of a sheltered religious girl of her time. But the staff of "Downtown" is not like this they work all hours, go out together to eat and drink a lot, and meet and in...more
I loved the excitement Smoky felt about her first real job and the glamour of Atlanta at the beginning of this book. I could relate. I remember my first “real” job and how exciting it was to work “downtown”. And that song played through my head as I read the book. Siddons has been known to add a dark side to her novels, however, this one did not have it. It is an early work. Siddons sometimes gets a little too wordy and this was no exception. So, I just skimmed through some of the detail. I thin...more
pat conroy turned me on to the south east in some of my favorite novels, beach music and prince of tides. siddons writes in the same vein, if not as poetically, as conroy. i have read some of her books and enjoyed them, this book was by far the best one i've read so far. (granted, i am still searching for the house next door, which comes recommended as a great ghost story. . .two in one for me!!!!) if you have any interest in the trials of the late sixties in georgia, READ THIS BOOK.
Aug 11, 2011
Antonina Sh
added it
Feels like an immersion trip into American South of late 60s, captivating as it is. And even if it doesn't give a complete picture of what it was like, it most certainly makes you wanna be there, live there, see it all with your own eyes. The book might be not that deeply thoughtful, and at times is too much like those tacky love novels, but there is definitely something there... Something that makes you kind of dwell in it.
An interesting look at the Civil Rights movement and the 'hippie/flower child/make love not war/if it feels good, do it' time in our history. Great prose, but lots and lots of it, and far more romance than I ever want in a novel. Predictable ending, but a good one, nonetheless. I am still sad about the dysfunctionality of Smoky's family and their willingness to just let each other go.
This was the first Anne Rivers Siddons book that I read. I have been hooked ever since! She is one of my all-time favorite authors. If you're into books set in the South, I highly recommend her.
This is a fairly good Siddons, apparently loosely based on her experiences with Atlanta magazine in the late '60s. It is somewhat sappy, though, and the ending is odd. If you're a fan, you should read it; otherwise, move on.
Maureen O'Donnell, known as Smoky, moves from Savannah to Atlanta to accept a position with a new magazine called Downtown published by the Chamber of Commerce. Raised Catholic, her parents only let her go if she promises to board at a convent. But she quickly gets absorbed into the lives of the magazine staff and moves in to an apartment with one of the other women and going out to eat and drink with the other staffers. Her position provides opportunity to meet a wide range of people - from th...more
I always like Siddons, some more than others, but I like the way she develops her characters, and her psychological insights into what molds and drives them.
Coming of age in the 60s in the South is very real to me -- it was where I was at that time in my life. Siddons does a careful and realistic view of the South in a time when life sat every day on the edge of tension.
This book was very good. I came to Atlanta during the years she writes about. I could relate to most of it.
I have read almost all of Anne Rivers Siddons' books. "Downtown" is probably my favorite.
I like Siddons best, I think, when she's writing most closely to her own life.
Not one of my favorite Siddons books. Still love her writing.
I love the descriptive Anne Rivers Siddons, but did not feel as incaptured in this book as I have with other works of her. I still enjoyed the story, especially since I am a transplant to Atlanta, it gave me some insight into that 1960s here.
A nice coming of age story set in the 1960's Atlanta.
Never finished this book. I don't like her writing style.
I am almost finished with this book and will highly recommend it to my fellow readers! It is an absolute must read!
First half more interesting and ending predictable
Not one of my favorite Ann Rivers Siddons books, but it was good. I guess I just didn't think enough happened, which is odd considering it takes place in 1966-1967 in Atlanta. I did like the way things wrapped up in the end and it was interesting to see how this one year in Smokey's life shaped everything else she did.
I am a fool for emotive, coming-of-age, stand-next-to-greatness type stories. This is one of the best. Just hearing the song Downtown makes me choke up after reading this book. This is old fashioned chick lit--more like, woman lit.
Added 4/5/11 - Read a while ago.
I enjoyed this book. Great characters and the story was from an interesting time that I didn't know much about.
A great read...
good
Great descriptions, perhaps a little bit too much description. It brought back a time in my life (the 1960s) that was as chaotic as those in this book, so surprisingly, I didn't enjoy it as I should have.
Could hardly finish. Too much inaccuracies about the south in the 60's.
LOVE it! Smokey O'Donnell is awesome and I definitely wanted to be her in this book. It's a great peek at history around the time of the Civil Rights Movement and you get a real feel for what was happening during that time. This is my favorite of all of Anne Rivers Siddons books.
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“I could run nearly naked on a hot, windy beach and plunge without care into a running diamond sea; roll on the sand and fling my arms wide to the sun and still be what I was...young.”
—
10 people liked it
“I still don't know a place with lovelier Aprils. The mornings and nights are fresh and cool, and the sun pours down like spilled honey, warm without the thick wet weight of the coming summer. The damp earth is as red as flesh, or blood, and so fecund that you can almost hear the thrumming, rustling push of growth up through it. The new foliage is a thousand different shades of pink, red, gold, and green. I could not seem to stay indoors at night in that first spring; I was enraptured with the startling, ghostly white showfalls of dogwood in dusk-green woods, and with streetlights shining through new leaves. Azaleas rolled like surf through the wooded hills of the northwest.”
—
8 people liked it
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