Helpful Score: 13
A great little book for the summer. A very fast read that gives you a peek back in time. The girls got to participate in so many historical situations in one summer it really must have been dreamlike. There are quite a few situations in the book--for example in the elevator and dancing with the sailor, where you can picture yourself because things like that happen to all of us one time or another. The ending is sweet but doesn't go for great gobs of emotion.
Helpful Score: 6
A memorable story with lots of detail that paints a romantic picture of summer in NYC during the end of WWII. Interesting to read how the staff at Tiffany handled their first women pages.
Helpful Score: 5
I loved this book and didn't want it to end! The author was a very likeable character and I enjoyed some of her humorous experiences, events of 1945, and references to living in Iowa. The author did a great job of giving the feel of the saddness and worry of wartime as well as the joys of growing up and gaining independence. I highly recommend this book.
Helpful Score: 3
I originally ordered this book thinking that it would be a nice beach book and when it arrived I was surprised to learn it was a memoir. The excitement the author felt during her time in New York city was clearly evident in the writing. Each chapter seemed to sparkle with excitement and magic. What a wonderful way to remember the best summer of your life. The book was truly effervescent. Through Marjorie Harts descriptive language the reader is able to transport themselves back in time to an age of family, conflict and triumph. Reading Marjorie Harts words was like listening to my Grandmother's stories of her childhood and growing up as part of the greatest generation. This book took me on a wonderful journey down memory lane.
This memoir was a like a breath of fresh air. It recounted the summer two college girls from Iowa spent in New York City in 1945. They landed jobs at Tiffany, saw quite a few celebrities and experienced a lot of US history in those three short months. They certainly had the summer of their life. This book is light, humorous and a delight to read.
I obtained this book for the shelf at the old soldiers and sailors' home, but had the pleasure of reading the first couple of chapters. The author has jotted down notes about NYC in 1945 as she experienced it, as well as speaking with some of her friends and co-workers from that time now distant to post-Baby Boom generations. Note that this was a different world for young ladies, before the middle 1960s. She had a great companion in Marty, who had the chutzpah to go to the senior manager to obtain their employment--they were coming very late to the summer job market. For those readers who did not become somewhat acquainted with the salad days of the Greatest Generation, gals would often reside in sororities for reasons of economy and respectability--my mom did so in Portland, Oregon at this time. The cost of obtaining a modest living in NYC was very reasonable until sometime in the 1970s; the room or small apartment might be seventy years old but it was in NYC! (pp. 40-41 their budget).
Professor Hart (who made an excellent career with a faculty appointment in San Diego) offers several well-chosen photos. Note that her earnings totaled $220, which was adequate with careful budgeting, and that Social Security cost her $2.20. Employers and employees each paid 1% until 1950 and my Dad was amazed at how fast he collected all he had paid in when he began to recieve Social Security benefits. "The view from our living room window was a brick wall, it was stifling hot, the twin beds sagged, and the kitchen was so small you could barely open the fridge door. And the phone rang night and day--courtesy of Checker Cab's advertised number, one digit away. But despite its faults, we adored our tiny abode. To have our own Manhattan apartment without a parent or housemother within a thousand miles was a college girl's dream."
No index (so I deducted one star from my evaluation).
Professor Hart (who made an excellent career with a faculty appointment in San Diego) offers several well-chosen photos. Note that her earnings totaled $220, which was adequate with careful budgeting, and that Social Security cost her $2.20. Employers and employees each paid 1% until 1950 and my Dad was amazed at how fast he collected all he had paid in when he began to recieve Social Security benefits. "The view from our living room window was a brick wall, it was stifling hot, the twin beds sagged, and the kitchen was so small you could barely open the fridge door. And the phone rang night and day--courtesy of Checker Cab's advertised number, one digit away. But despite its faults, we adored our tiny abode. To have our own Manhattan apartment without a parent or housemother within a thousand miles was a college girl's dream."
No index (so I deducted one star from my evaluation).
