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66th out of 124 books
—
21 voters
The Receptionist: An Education at The New Yorker
by
Janet Groth
Thanks to a successful interview with a painfully shy E. B. White, a beautiful nineteen-year-old hazel-eyed Midwesterner landed a job as receptionist at The New Yorker. There she stayed for two decades, becoming the general office factotum—watching and registering the comings and goings, marriages and divorces, scandalous affairs, failures, triumphs, and tragedie...more
Hardcover, 320 pages
Published
June 26th 2012
by Algonquin Books
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My older daughter wants to be some kind of writer. This is the second book I've read in recent times written by someone who teaches writing on a college level and it is making me want to tell her to avoid all such courses in college.
This is a poorly organized mishmosh. Is it a personal story? Portraits of various writers for the New Yorker? An elegy to her beauty? Explications of the writings of various authors she knew?
Personally, I am unimpressed by her foot long blond ponytail or the beauty o...more
This is a poorly organized mishmosh. Is it a personal story? Portraits of various writers for the New Yorker? An elegy to her beauty? Explications of the writings of various authors she knew?
Personally, I am unimpressed by her foot long blond ponytail or the beauty o...more
The Receptionist: An Education at The New Yorker, by Janet Groth
http://www.cozylittlebookjournal.com/...
The Receptionist is the pity tell-most memoir of Janet Groth, receptionist at The New Yorker from 1957-1978. The names of the famous and the fabulous have been preserved, while pseudonyms are used for the less famous and the cads. Or at least that seems to be her system. Either way, each anecdote is the sort of provocative repartee that would have you leaning in at a literati cocktail party, s...more
http://www.cozylittlebookjournal.com/...
The Receptionist is the pity tell-most memoir of Janet Groth, receptionist at The New Yorker from 1957-1978. The names of the famous and the fabulous have been preserved, while pseudonyms are used for the less famous and the cads. Or at least that seems to be her system. Either way, each anecdote is the sort of provocative repartee that would have you leaning in at a literati cocktail party, s...more
I couldn't even finish this book because it was so bad. The last time I flaked out on a book was maybe... fourth grade? I usually stick it out, even through bad books, but The Receptionist was beyond anything I could handle. Where to even begin??
Maybe the author's name dropping would have been less annoying 100 years ago when the people she encountered were relevant. And it is disgusting how self-confident the author is in her own good looks. Janet Groth really takes narcissism to a whole new le...more
Maybe the author's name dropping would have been less annoying 100 years ago when the people she encountered were relevant. And it is disgusting how self-confident the author is in her own good looks. Janet Groth really takes narcissism to a whole new le...more
10 likes · like · see review
Reading this book, for me, was something akin to The Wizard of Oz. For the first 80% of the book (yes, I read on Kindle), I plowed ahead through an intellectual, disconnected, black and white retelling of events and names of people I struggled to care about. While it painted a picture of life at The New Yorker, I felt like I was having an out of body experience, watching from afar.
And then, suddenly, near the end, everything changed. I can't figure out what happened, exactly. But the author cam...more
And then, suddenly, near the end, everything changed. I can't figure out what happened, exactly. But the author cam...more
Before I review this, I need to confess a weakness for literary tell-alls and for The New Yorker, pre-Tina Brown. This book satisfies both, but is definitely written for a specific audience. Groth spent 21 years as a receptionist at the New Yorker, minus a couple of months when she was tried out in a different position but was summarily moved back. The book harkens back to a much more glamorous time, when folks had three-martini lunches and spent a couple of months each summer in Europe, even on...more
I could sum up this book in one quick blurb: Pretty blonde takes advantage of an informal meeting with literary giant E.B. White to beg for a position at The New Yorker. Being a kind man with a generous soul, he passes her along to the head secretary, who offers her a position as a receptionist, a job she held for twenty-one years without ever advancing at the magazine. She meets a few great writers (poet John Berryman, essayist Joseph Mitchell and novelist/playwright Muriel Spark) with whom she...more
When the blond author's live-in boyfriend left her for a brunette, she thought it was for superficial reasons--only after the fact did it occur to her that it might be because she lacked the depth necessary to be a compelling life partner. The same can be said of this book, which provides some amusing anecdotes of the New Yorker under William Shawn, but largely lacks any kind of insights as to why this publication needed to be eviscerated by Tom Wolfe or why she let her professional ambitions to...more
Ever wonder what the good old days were like, when one could just show up in NYC and land a receptionist gig at a prestigious magazine? One that gave you eight weeks off in the summer, four of them PAID? Sure, she did have the strength of an introduction. That helps. But the woman didn't even attend an Ivy League college! She was a midwestern Lutheran, daughter of grocers! See, that stuff never happens today. Sigh.
Groth's strength is when it comes to describing the characters who worked and/or w...more
Groth's strength is when it comes to describing the characters who worked and/or w...more
2 likes · like · see review
I came to this with an expectation of more about what it was like to be involved at the New Yorker in the 1960s and beyond, and was somewhat disappointed.
Groth has written more about herself and her young life than insider tales of the New Yorker and life in that era. Once I let that go I had a more enjoyable reading experience. She used lots of pseudonyms for people so the few juicy details were muted. Perhaps this tells more about what I was looking for in a summer read than what she was offe...more
Groth has written more about herself and her young life than insider tales of the New Yorker and life in that era. Once I let that go I had a more enjoyable reading experience. She used lots of pseudonyms for people so the few juicy details were muted. Perhaps this tells more about what I was looking for in a summer read than what she was offe...more
4 likes · like · see review
Some books are just so delicious. Scattered, anecdotal and wonderfully insider-ish, this is one of them. Reading this book is like being at a cocktail party with author Janet Groth. Actually, a few cocktail parties, for at one she might have had only one glass of wine, so she name drops with discretion, while at another she may be a bit lit, so she has a TMI moment that she may or may not regret the next day. For those who want something with a bit more heft, read Brendan Gill's "Here at the New...more
A lot of Goodreads reviewers hated this book, because they expected it to be something it is not. It belongs at the far end of a New Yorker memoirs shelf, and not in the central position with Ved Mehta, Brendan Gill, Renata Adler, Lillian Ross, etc. It's essentially a series of journal entries about a young, attractive woman's dating life in 1960s-1970s New York. Much of the book chronicles Groth's romances, flirtations, and promiscuity, which she ascribes to her physical attractiveness (36-26-3...more
I got impatient with this book rather quickly and would have given it two stars, even though the first few chapters (about John Berryman, Joseph Mitchell, and Muriel Spark) were interesting and well-written. It redeemed itself and became three stars near the end when Ms. Groth (Dr. Groth now, actually) finally dived into describing her dysfunctional Iowa family and her uprooted childhood due to the business misadventures of her alcoholic dad.
It was probably her choice to write in the voice of t...more
It was probably her choice to write in the voice of t...more
I enjoyed reading the story of Janet Groth, a midwestern girl, who spent much of her working life as a receptionist at The New Yorker. I enjoyed the style of her writing and found it witty and entertaining. I liked the short chapters of her specific relationships and experiences. Contrary to many others' opinions, I even liked some of the name-dropping and didn't find it to be braggadocio on Ms. Groth's part. New York is a fascinating town and I enjoyed the snippets of it seen through the eyes o...more
This is a tough one to rate. While I find the era and location, New York City through the late 50s to the early 80s, fascinating, the author doesn't succeed in bringing that time to life. Yes, she does describe her lunches and dinners with interesting characters in some of the most fashionable establishments of the day, but there is a missing element of immediacy, and her recollections seem musty and unappealing. Also,there was little sense of what it was like to work in the offices of the New Y...more
In 1957, Janet Groth, fresh out of college in the Midwest, met with E. B. White at the New Yorker's Manhattan offices. She "eventually" wanted to write and she wasn't a professional typist, but the legendary writer was willing to give her a chance. For the 20-plus years, Groth would fill the desk on the building's 18th floor where the magazine's writers had their offices. But she was not a writer. She was the receptionist.
For two decades, Groth ran interference for writers who couldn't be distur...more
For two decades, Groth ran interference for writers who couldn't be distur...more
I came to this book with great expectations...and perhaps that was the biggest problem.
I've loved The New Yorker for years and as soon as i heard about this book, I was itching to read it. I even placed a special interlibrary loan request since my own city didn't yet have a copy of it.
But almost as soon as I started to read it, i knew it wouldn't be great. The writing is clear enough - i sailed through it in a day or two, all while taking care of my six-month-old - but as to what the writing w...more
I've loved The New Yorker for years and as soon as i heard about this book, I was itching to read it. I even placed a special interlibrary loan request since my own city didn't yet have a copy of it.
But almost as soon as I started to read it, i knew it wouldn't be great. The writing is clear enough - i sailed through it in a day or two, all while taking care of my six-month-old - but as to what the writing w...more
This book was a real disappointment. Although I haven't been a recent reader of the New Yorker, I am a former subscriber and had always enjoyed it, which is why I thought I would enjoy the book. However, the period of time in which Groth was a receptionist there was from the early 1950's to early 1970's, way before I started to read the magazine, and I was unfamiliar with most of the people she talked about. There was a one-sentence reference to Woody Allen; that was about the most familiar pers...more
Well. I thought this would be highly interesting and right up my alley, but it feels more like a little old lady's last hurrah, retelling about the "wild" times she had in the big city at her job at The New Yorker. But, this was the 50s and 60s and the names she drops (ALL THE TIME with the name dropping - that's all this is) meant very little to me, except for a few.
The only parts that were a bit fun were the mention of her alma mater - U of Minnesota - where I went; also the few author names...more
The only parts that were a bit fun were the mention of her alma mater - U of Minnesota - where I went; also the few author names...more
Added 6/28/12.
Published June 26th 2012 by Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.
The author of this book, Janet Groth, was a longtime New Yorker receptionist. This book is about her years there.
I first heard about this book from link in my NY Times email. See article at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/28/fas...
Amazon's "Look Inside" feature provides a good amount of pages to read at:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1616...
I've always been fascinated by what goes on behind the scenes, especially in litera...more
Published June 26th 2012 by Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.
The author of this book, Janet Groth, was a longtime New Yorker receptionist. This book is about her years there.
I first heard about this book from link in my NY Times email. See article at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/28/fas...
Amazon's "Look Inside" feature provides a good amount of pages to read at:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1616...
I've always been fascinated by what goes on behind the scenes, especially in litera...more
I read this book because of my general love of The New Yorker, and I thought Groth's memoir would give me an inside look of the magazine in a particular era. It certainly did that, but that's not all that's going on in her book.
She's effectively recalling two stories: that of the New Yorker during the buzz and twist of New York during the sixties and early seventies; and her own painful (if somewhat charmed) journey to her adult life.
The first is a treat for those that love windows into societ...more
She's effectively recalling two stories: that of the New Yorker during the buzz and twist of New York during the sixties and early seventies; and her own painful (if somewhat charmed) journey to her adult life.
The first is a treat for those that love windows into societ...more
A former longtime subscriber to the The New Yorker, I downloaded this book to get an idea of what it was like to work there. The reader does receive a glimpse of life at the hallowed magazine, but the real story is the evolution of women's place in society/workplace. The section set in the 1950s is an eye-opener for anyone who considers Mad Men a fantasy. Being taken seriously was damn near impossible for a woman.
Ms. Groh is certainly bright and she should have advanced at the magazine. I guess...more
Ms. Groh is certainly bright and she should have advanced at the magazine. I guess...more
Groth spent 20 years, 1957-1978, working at the New Yorker under the legendary editor William Shawn. She never managed to rise from the reception desk, despite her ambition to write for the magazine. Groth's experiences with a long list of famous men and women feel unforced, genuine and far removed from the kind of name dropping that often seems to stretch the most casual of acquaintances in many memoirs. As a tall, blonde midwesterner, she often appeared as a sort of novelty accessory on the ar...more
I was hopeful when I began this memoir of working at The New Yorker that I would be riveted to this book. I wasn't even though some parts of the book raised some significant issues. Groth herself was a bit hard to figure out and strategically, I think she waited too long to tell about herself. She put it somewhere in the middle of the book. Reorganizing the narrative would have made it stronger for me as a reader because I would have known why I should care about her struggles with men or her in...more
I was pretty disappointed with this book. It's marketed as a memoir of the long-time receptionist at The New Yorker magazine. I was hoping for either lots of anecdotal tales about her days at the magazine, or a personal memoir about her career and life there. Unfortunately, it was neither. The author spends the first two-thirds of the book talking about other people -- various luminaries and others at TNY -- but the stories lack depth. I don't feel like I'm getting to know these people, there's...more
This is not a bad book -- It's just being promoted incorrectly. This is not about the New Yorker magazine, nor is is about the world of magazine publishing. It's almost three different books (which is a way of saying it reads a little disjointedly).
The first part is a breezy, gossip-columnist style piece, full of name-dropping of celebrities and literati of the past. I think this is the weakest part of the book, as it is just enough distant past that the casual reader isn't quite familiar enoug...more
The first part is a breezy, gossip-columnist style piece, full of name-dropping of celebrities and literati of the past. I think this is the weakest part of the book, as it is just enough distant past that the casual reader isn't quite familiar enoug...more
This book was something of a disappointment. Less of life at the magazine, and more of the New York art-and-intellect scene in the 60s which the magazine fed off of. Bits of this are interesting and colorful, but the author's tone is self-congratulatory. And she makes occasionally references to her own mental hang-ups and failure to be anything more than a pretty blonde; yet, for most of the book, she seems to very much enjoy the attention and benefits of being a pretty blonde, and does little t...more
still not sure what this book was supposed to be about. was it her two decades at the new yorker? (that would be interesting enough.) her midwesterner-turned-new-yorker insecurities and subsequent identity crises? (girl, i hear you.) justification of youthful indiscretions? (fine, but no need.) the eternal struggle of the writer who "carried within my breast in equal shares the conviction that i could write and the certainty that i could not"? (seriously, word.)
had one of these themes emerged a...more
had one of these themes emerged a...more
I'm fond of The New Yorker, and enjoy reading work by and about some of the "classic" writers the magazine has featured in its nearly 90 years of publication. Janet Groth knew a good many of those writers, and, in her 20-year role as receptionist on the 18th floor of The New Yorker's offices ("the writer's floor"), she heard all their gossip and kept a good number of their secrets in her confidence. The first chapters of The Receptionist contain more than a little name-dropping, and they are the...more
I can certainly understand why people stopped reading this one. It felt as though there had been a bit of a "bait-and-switch" between what the book claimed to be and what it was. I did have a hard time believing that Janet was ever mild and meek as she certainly did shy away from away from the constant description of herself as an attractive blond with an air of holding herself as intellectually superior to others. I shouldn't judge because I'm sure being a "career" woman in that era was no easy...more
I was intrigued by this book because it supposedly told the story of a young woman from the Midwest who came to the big city, worked for the New Yorker, got a Ph.D. and taught literature at university. An autobiography of sorts, supplemented with delicious tales of behind the scenes at the best magazine in the country. NOT. That is not at all what this book is about- sadly. The magazine anecdotes are mostly about who was shagging whom in spite of the fact that both parties were married. Mostly,...more
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Sep 15, 2012 05:50pm