Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk: A Novel Hardcover – January 17, 2017

This is a wonderful book that is based on the life of Margaret Fishback, the highest paid advertising copywriter for R H Macy’s during the 1930s. In this book, the protagonist Lillian Boxfish, at the age of 84, decides to walk to a fancy restaurant, the Delmonico’s on New Year’s Eve, 1984. There she meets Kathy and her daughter, Penny. Lillian arrives without a reservation, but Kathy, a stranger, overhears the waiter rejecting Lillian, and invites her to her table. Lilian changes her mind after dinner and decides to walk on to her young friend, Wendy’s New Year’s Eve party. It is a long walk from her home in Murray Hill, New York, a city she loves dearly. Along the way to Wendy’s home, Lillian recalls the story of her life, from the time she moved to New York, to her job at Macy’s, marrying her husband, and his divorcing her; and of her love for walking and writing. Hers is a story of life and how to grasp it, and how to regain it when it slips away from you. It is a moving account of a feisty old lady who tells us how feisty she was when young; that even America in the 1930s could not bump a woman of drive and ability off the road. This passage illustrates the wit and charm of Rooney’s book: ‘“Love, Olive, is not what I scoff at,” I said. “What I scoff at is rank sentimentalism: the silly idea of love that advertisers – including us – use to sell everything from soup to soap to subjugation. As for the city, Olive, I live here because I like it.”“You like it because it’s fashionable.”“No, Olive,” I said. “I like it for the same reason that it’s fashionable. Namely, that it is pretty swell.”’ I do not know if this book has won any prizes, but it clearly deserves one.

The first time I read Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk I had fun tweeting out clever lines, starring and underlining passages. Then, because I was so smitten with the book, with Lillian’s story, with Kathleen Rooney’s voice, I had to share it, so gave my book to an up-and-coming young female writer who I thought would appreciate the proto-feminist heroine, the smart plotting, the zinging humor. Thus, I no longer have my underlined copy and must start anew to refresh my memory.This is a happy burden, since it’s such a delicious read and succeeds on every level. It’s the story of a woman taking a ten-mile New Year’s Eve walk through 1980’s New York, and bumping into her 1930’s past along the way. It’s a love story that turns tragic. It’s a story that frames the tension between work and parenting. It’s a portrait of a lovely friendship between two ‘career’ women when they were the exception, not the rule. Women who would complete the truism: LOVE MAKES THE WORLD GO ROUND, with this witticism—or truerism: THEN IT MAKES THE WORLD GO FLAT. Women I’d like to know, and felt I did, reading Rooney’s book.Perhaps it should be no surprise that Lillian Boxfish was inspired by a genuine figure, the highest paid advertising woman of her time, Margaret Fishback. Who, however highly paid, still got lower wages than lesser men. As it is, as it always has been. Perhaps, as it won’t always be, with such eloquent champions as Rooney.But Lillian Boxfish is much more than an “inspired-by” tale spoon-feeding us social history. Because Rooney is such a talented writer, it doesn’t matter if Lillian grew out of history or the author’s fertile imagination. She’s a full and ferocious heroine who will make you laugh out loud, will make you cringe when she’s hurt and will make you cheer when she lands a literary punch. Read it.

Lillian is a wonderful woman - a symbol of a wide-eyed young professional in the 30's, a woman who put off marriage until her true love sold her a rug, a mom who loved her son dearly, but who could not be all to her, a woman who loved life, had endless curiosity, and a woman who worked through a terrible time when all seemed lost. From start to finish, this book kept me involved and I was sorry it ended. How I would have liked to spend some time walking and talking with Lillian in her NYC!

I’d read some reviews before purchasing this book that said it was boring, and others who found it reminiscent of New York City. So I was surprised to find that this book was about a woman’s personal path and growth, from a new, young college graduate wanting to experience city living, maiden, mother, crone. I thought the author did a really good job of pealing back the story, bit by bit. Unfortunately, I found the story captivating, so when I would read it at 2 a.m, I couldn’t put it down until 4 a.m, which was not good for my work week - but very satisfying.I think this book may appeal most to people who have moved to new locations, tried a challenging professional role, balanced motherhood and a career, and have had to wake up one day as a mature woman instead of a “cute something”, or who has thought herself hardened, only to find she is tender and vulnerable

It's strange - I neither hated nor loved this book. It was just "meh." The premise of the story is interesting, and so is the setting - New York from the 1930s till today. However, the main character of Lillian Boxfish is just not very interesting. Admirable, maybe, but neither very likable nor relatable. The dialogues are completely unrealistic. No one talks that way. The author wanted to convey that Lillian was unconventional and not scared to talk to strangers, even if they were characters most of us would avoid talking to. But I would say she utterly failed in this respect. You could totally smell how fake it was, and none of the people she talked to were memorable. And yet I didn't exactly hate the book either, and I'm not exactly sure why. I suppose when the writing focused on what Lillian was thinking, it was a lot easier to digest.

Based on the previous reviews I bought this book. As I started reading it I wasn't sure I liked it but I am very glad I pressed on as it turned out to be a delightful, charming book which is loosely based on an advertising women from the thirties. It is evident that the author has extensive knowledge of the English language as she uses many words I am unfamiliar with (or perhaps I'm just not as well versed as I thought I was). Even so, it all fit and worked. It really is an enchanting read.

This is a wonderful book that is based on the life of Margaret Fishback, the highest paid advertising copywriter for R H Macy’s during the 1930s. In this book, the protagonist Lillian Boxfish, at the age of 84, decides to walk to a fancy restaurant, the Delmonico’s on New Year’s Eve, 1984. There she meets Kathy and her daughter, Penny. Lillian arrives without a reservation, but Kathy, a stranger, overhears the waiter rejecting Lillian, and invites her to her table. Lilian changes her mind after dinner and decides to walk on to her young friend, Wendy’s New Year’s Eve party. It is a long walk from her home in Murray Hill, New York, a city she loves dearly. Along the way to Wendy’s home, Lillian recalls the story of her life, from the time she moved to New York, to her job at Macy’s, marrying her husband, and his divorcing her; and of her love for walking and writing. Hers is a story of life and how to grasp it, and how to regain it when it slips away from you. It is a moving account of a feisty old lady who tells us how feisty she was when young; that even America in the 1930s could not bump a woman of drive and ability off the road. This passage illustrates the wit and charm of Rooney’s book: ‘“Love, Olive, is not what I scoff at,” I said. “What I scoff at is rank sentimentalism: the silly idea of love that advertisers – including us – use to sell everything from soup to soap to subjugation. As for the city, Olive, I live here because I like it.”“You like it because it’s fashionable.”“No, Olive,” I said. “I like it for the same reason that it’s fashionable. Namely, that it is pretty swell.”’ I do not know if this book has won any prizes, but it clearly deserves one.

I read this book in 2017 and thought it was a wonderful, charming and fascinating story. It is beautifully written by Kathleen Rooney who gives us a terrific story full of humour, pathos, an amazing time walking the streets of New York on New Year’s Eve 1984 and the truly fascinating story of Lillian Boxfish.The story of a brave woman, not just because she undertook a walk through the streets of New York on her own at the age of 85, but because some 50+ years before she arrived in New York and forged an incredible career in advertising. We read of the highs and lows in her career, indeed, in her life as she walks and we are drawn into this utterly charming book and it’s main character.This is a delightful book and certainly one of my favourites of 2017. I highly recommend it and hope that you will enjoy it as much as I did.Rating: 5*

Brilliant story, and so well written. Very unusual I thought and hugely entertaining and gripping. You just wanted to read more and more. I loved the main character, and thought she was beautifully portrayed.

Hooked from the first page. Clever, funny, moving. A brilliant imaginative idea, beautifully written and compelling from the start. Lillian’s walk is an experience we can all identify with. So many encounters and experiences that will transport the reader through their own memories. Kathleen Rooney is a wonderful empathetic writer. I shall now read every word she’s written.

And it's also a very clever way to tell the story of a woman from her youth to her old age, as she walks through the city and remembers past jobs, loves, and events. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.