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3.69 AVERAGE
3.69 AVERAGE
Especially fun if you know Chicago. A bit predictable... the characters are sort of one sided and obvious but the news environment is fun and the time period and the city are sort of characters in themselves in a good way because they have such a strong influence in the story telling.
challenging
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
emotional
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I really enjoyed this book. My mom gave it to me a couple of years ago and I just now got around to reading it. To be honest, I didn't think I would like it. I was afraid it would be like Brooklyn and I hated that book. Fortunately, I loved this book. There were some similarities between those two books, and also a lot of similarities between this and Edge of Eternity by Ken Follett.
One thing I didn't like so much was the romance aspect of the book. Yeah, Jack was a horrible person, but I just thought the book would have been fine without any romance in it. I mean, the flirting with the guys was fine, but the actual relationships I could have done without. I absolutely loved Scott, though, and I was pretty sad about how that turned out, mostly because it was her fault. My only other issue was with Jordan herself. She was really oblivious, and that paired with the plot being pretty predictable was a little irritating. But I really liked Jordan because she was so flawed. She was willing to do anything to get a good story and push her career forward, which was obviously not a great thing for her. She was kind of a bad person in that regard, that she put her work before people she loved, but that was what made her an interesting character.
I found myself relating to Jordan quite a bit, too. She loved Jack's family because it was so big and everyone was always around, which was in stark contrast to her own family, who didn't talk to their relatives and was basically just the three of them. Obviously, that's a bit like my own life and how I feel about my boyfriend's family. I also liked how close she was with her mom. Though her father really frustrated me, I liked her mom. I also could relate to Jordan because of how she tried so hard to be able to be one of the guys. It reminded me of my sophomore year of college when I tried so hard to keep up with the boys on our morning doubles to prove to them I could do it.
My favorite part was the ending.
Anyway, this was a great read, and I loved how much I learned about journalism, especially journalism in the 1950's. It was really neat.
One thing I didn't like so much was the romance aspect of the book. Yeah, Jack was a horrible person, but I just thought the book would have been fine without any romance in it. I mean, the flirting with the guys was fine, but the actual relationships I could have done without. I absolutely loved Scott, though, and I was pretty sad about how that turned out, mostly because it was her fault. My only other issue was with Jordan herself. She was really oblivious, and that paired with the plot being pretty predictable was a little irritating. But I really liked Jordan because she was so flawed. She was willing to do anything to get a good story and push her career forward, which was obviously not a great thing for her. She was kind of a bad person in that regard, that she put her work before people she loved, but that was what made her an interesting character.
I found myself relating to Jordan quite a bit, too. She loved Jack's family because it was so big and everyone was always around, which was in stark contrast to her own family, who didn't talk to their relatives and was basically just the three of them. Obviously, that's a bit like my own life and how I feel about my boyfriend's family. I also liked how close she was with her mom. Though her father really frustrated me, I liked her mom. I also could relate to Jordan because of how she tried so hard to be able to be one of the guys. It reminded me of my sophomore year of college when I tried so hard to keep up with the boys on our morning doubles to prove to them I could do it.
My favorite part was the ending.
Spoiler
When her newspaper boys all rallied to help her catch the men who killed her brother. Oh my gosh, that was so sweet. When Henry was like, "Don't fuck with the press." And they finally all showed how much they cared about her. It was so great. That was my favorite part for sure; it really brought the story home for me.Anyway, this was a great read, and I loved how much I learned about journalism, especially journalism in the 1950's. It was really neat.
I am familiar with author, Renee Rosen's writing. I fell in love with Dollface and the roaring 1920s. Then there was What a Lady Wants, which I felt like I got to know more about the great Chicago fire. So I was very looking forward to reading this book. After having just recently attempted to read Copy Girl. Another book about the journalist world that did not draw me in, I instantly noticed a difference between that book and this one. It was obvious that Renee Rosen's polished writing style had the upper hand when it came to telling a story focused in the journalist world.
Sadly, the world that Ms. Rosen built up was great but that was about all I liked about this book. I had and still have a hard time connecting with the characters. I struggled through the first seventeen chapters and could not proceed any further. This is the first book that I have experienced this way by this author. I am looking forward to the next book by this author and hope it finds the magic I experienced with the prior novels.
Sadly, the world that Ms. Rosen built up was great but that was about all I liked about this book. I had and still have a hard time connecting with the characters. I struggled through the first seventeen chapters and could not proceed any further. This is the first book that I have experienced this way by this author. I am looking forward to the next book by this author and hope it finds the magic I experienced with the prior novels.
A special thank you to Penguin and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
From the author of Dollface and What the Lady Wants, Renee Rosen delivers the well-researched, and captivating WHITE COLLAR GIRL infused with glam, scandal, injustice, and corruption --with human emotions, historical significance, and real life events and people, into the fabric of this exciting, yet tumultuous journalism world of Chicago in the 1950’s.
Historical fiction and journalism fans will devour. Powerful. Well-plotted. Absorbing. The pains and joy. The wins and the losses. The sacrifices. The raw passion, the energy, and adrenaline highs.
Jordan Walsh, twenty-one, a journalism major, ready to prove herself to the world, a daughter of a journalist and a poet. Using her name and background she is ready to tackle the world as a reporter at the Chicago Tribune.
It was time for her to carry on the family tradition. Her father had been a war correspondent during WWII, and before that during the Spanish Civil War, working alongside Ernest Hemingway. Her mother was the daughter of a newspaperman and during the war in Europe she took a job as a reporter at the CityNews Bureau. Her parents were regarding as an intellectual, literary couple.
Jordan wants to honor her brother, Eliot, who had worked at the newly formed Sun-Times. He was named after her mother’s favorite poet, T.S. Eliot, poet, dramatist, literary critic, and editor. Some part of her motives for becoming a reporter is to dig up dirt on his mysterious death. He believed in her. He was a rising star at the paper when he was killed at age twenty-five years old. A stand- up comic and journalist. A hit and run. Accident, or not?
Now, it is up to her to live out that dream for the both of them. A promise she had made at his funeral two years earlier. At the time of his death he was working on a big story, an expose, and she always wondered if one had something to do with the other. He was hit near the subway station in 1953. She knew she would not find peace until the person who killed her brother, was caught and prosecuted. Her anger is still raw.
However, she soon learns, the men who dominate the city room of the Chicago Tribune have no interest in making room for a female reporter. Instead Jordan is relegated to society news, weddings, reporting on Marilyn Monroe sightings at the Pump Room and interviewing secretaries for the White Collar Girl column.
Walsh finds herself dealing with office politics, sexist comments, in a male dominated work: chauvinist, sexism, the stealing of bylines, injustice, and prejudice—in and out of the office. How dare they treat her like some school girl, stealing her bylines?
However, she will let nothing stand in her way, using every opportunity, her intelligence and her strong drive and will, to get her story-- and make a mark. She quickly rises from the Chicago Tribune’s society page to the city desk, as she covers breaking news stories and scandals from dirty politics, and crime.
From the main characters to the array of secondary characters, we get both sides of the coin from the strong, aggressive, and driven, to the M, a woman of the 50s, supporting herself, while looking for a husband and family. Everyone has a path to their ultimate goal, and many go about it a different way.
Covering a ten year period, a female reporter in a man’s world-- fighting against all odds in a time, when woman were frowned upon for having a marriage, family, and a career. The price of ambition. An unforgettable story of an ambitious woman’s struggle to break into the male-dominated newspaper world of the 50s—bringing Chicago alive.
At the heart, an underlying story of her brother’s murder, and reopening the investigation. Justice. In a time when newspapers played a huge role in the lives of millions of Americans, from news stories to political scandals. The world counted on the news media to uncover the truth. The watchdog, reporting the down and dirty of society. The judges, politicians, lawyers, and police officers, to the corporate giants.
Jordan has people in her life, some good and some bad. Conflicting emotions, she falls in love with fellow journalist—Jack Casey, threatened by her professional accomplishments. Scott Trevor was the love of Jordan’s life, however, she had had choose between a story and her loyalty in Operation K. Marty Sinclair, the Pulitzer Prize journalist is Jordan’s hero at the beginning of the novel; however, as the story progresses he falls from grace.
In the Author’s Note (Outstanding)… she addresses history and scandals covered in the column, White Collar Girl. Many powerful stories, controversies, fraud, corruption, cover-ups, arrests, corrupt judicial system, robbery sprees, politicians, food administration, and others rocking Chicago and the nation, were covered from Operation Greylord, the horsemeat scandal, to the Kennedy/Nixon election.
Love the title, the story, and the stunning cover— White Collar Girl, the name of the actual column written by Ruth McKay, which ran in the Chicago Tribune during the 40s and 50s. Enhancing your overall experience of the novel, blending fact and fiction--- the author uses main characters, editors, reporters of fictional nature, infused with many events covered in White Collar Girl, based on actual news stories and political scandals.
An ongoing theme in White Collar Girl, of course is women in the workplace, and the challenges faced on a daily basis. In some areas of the country, and specific industries, there is still a lingering problem even in today’s society, comparable to the 1950s, particularly in the "good ole' boys" South. However, many more advantages in today’s world.
Personal Note:
I can relate, growing up in the 50s and 60s, even in the South, my mother was a strong career woman, (against a lot of odds), and at one point as a child, my mom was the main bread-winner in the family, when my father was temporarily laid off. She continued to work, long after my dad who took early retirement.
If you grew up in the 50s and 60s, you will enjoy revisiting all the fun filled times and places, such as sitting at the Woolworth’s counter (where my aunt took me so she could flirt with the men). I recall as only yesterday, in the 6th grade school classroom, the day Kennedy was shot; when the teacher delivered the announcement with tear stained eyes.
Online versus Print:
The journalism and media world has drastically changed over the years due to the digital age, where the dirty laundry is out there, due to social media, and camera cell phones, making it easy to capture videos and on the scene scandals. Also the newspapers play less of a role as a watchdog. As we compare the former world of print news media, versus today’s social world, the author, proposes some thought-provoking discussion questions:
Are we less informed about local, national and world events due to the decline of newspapers, or are we better informed due to the immediacy of social media, Twitter, web, and cable news?
Each person will have an individual opinion; however, for me, in today’s world, it is almost too over whelming. Overkill. You receive so many tweets, news feeds, you only hit highlights—everyone is on a fast paced life schedule. Whereas in the older days of print, you may spend more quality time reading an article at your leisure, versus hundreds of postings coming at you at once.
Summary:
I loved Jordan’s tenacity, and at times confronted with moral issues, bending the law, to get a story—in order to expose the truth, using those opportunities to her advantage.
Rosen’s passion and attention to details, reflective through each page --from page one to the epilogue. She places you in the setting, as you feel the vibrant energy of the newsroom.
Upcoming Book: The Blues and Chess Records
Bringing us to Rosen’s next book, all about The Blues and Chess Records, and famous artists Chicago put on the map; Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, Etta James.
“There’s the pretty marble Chicago, there’s the gritty Chicago. I like being right here so I can see it, touch it, feel it,” says the author.
Based on the true story of Chess Records and the birth of the Blues, as told through the eyes of a young immigrant woman of Jewish Polish descent who helped bring the blues sound to Chicago and the world, again to NAL, in a two-book deal, for publication in Fall 2016,
Now this will be a book, not to be missed. Cannot wait to see the cover reveal, and read this one!
JDCMustReadBooks
From the author of Dollface and What the Lady Wants, Renee Rosen delivers the well-researched, and captivating WHITE COLLAR GIRL infused with glam, scandal, injustice, and corruption --with human emotions, historical significance, and real life events and people, into the fabric of this exciting, yet tumultuous journalism world of Chicago in the 1950’s.
Historical fiction and journalism fans will devour. Powerful. Well-plotted. Absorbing. The pains and joy. The wins and the losses. The sacrifices. The raw passion, the energy, and adrenaline highs.
Jordan Walsh, twenty-one, a journalism major, ready to prove herself to the world, a daughter of a journalist and a poet. Using her name and background she is ready to tackle the world as a reporter at the Chicago Tribune.
It was time for her to carry on the family tradition. Her father had been a war correspondent during WWII, and before that during the Spanish Civil War, working alongside Ernest Hemingway. Her mother was the daughter of a newspaperman and during the war in Europe she took a job as a reporter at the CityNews Bureau. Her parents were regarding as an intellectual, literary couple.
Jordan wants to honor her brother, Eliot, who had worked at the newly formed Sun-Times. He was named after her mother’s favorite poet, T.S. Eliot, poet, dramatist, literary critic, and editor. Some part of her motives for becoming a reporter is to dig up dirt on his mysterious death. He believed in her. He was a rising star at the paper when he was killed at age twenty-five years old. A stand- up comic and journalist. A hit and run. Accident, or not?
Now, it is up to her to live out that dream for the both of them. A promise she had made at his funeral two years earlier. At the time of his death he was working on a big story, an expose, and she always wondered if one had something to do with the other. He was hit near the subway station in 1953. She knew she would not find peace until the person who killed her brother, was caught and prosecuted. Her anger is still raw.
However, she soon learns, the men who dominate the city room of the Chicago Tribune have no interest in making room for a female reporter. Instead Jordan is relegated to society news, weddings, reporting on Marilyn Monroe sightings at the Pump Room and interviewing secretaries for the White Collar Girl column.
Walsh finds herself dealing with office politics, sexist comments, in a male dominated work: chauvinist, sexism, the stealing of bylines, injustice, and prejudice—in and out of the office. How dare they treat her like some school girl, stealing her bylines?
However, she will let nothing stand in her way, using every opportunity, her intelligence and her strong drive and will, to get her story-- and make a mark. She quickly rises from the Chicago Tribune’s society page to the city desk, as she covers breaking news stories and scandals from dirty politics, and crime.
From the main characters to the array of secondary characters, we get both sides of the coin from the strong, aggressive, and driven, to the M, a woman of the 50s, supporting herself, while looking for a husband and family. Everyone has a path to their ultimate goal, and many go about it a different way.
Covering a ten year period, a female reporter in a man’s world-- fighting against all odds in a time, when woman were frowned upon for having a marriage, family, and a career. The price of ambition. An unforgettable story of an ambitious woman’s struggle to break into the male-dominated newspaper world of the 50s—bringing Chicago alive.
At the heart, an underlying story of her brother’s murder, and reopening the investigation. Justice. In a time when newspapers played a huge role in the lives of millions of Americans, from news stories to political scandals. The world counted on the news media to uncover the truth. The watchdog, reporting the down and dirty of society. The judges, politicians, lawyers, and police officers, to the corporate giants.
Jordan has people in her life, some good and some bad. Conflicting emotions, she falls in love with fellow journalist—Jack Casey, threatened by her professional accomplishments. Scott Trevor was the love of Jordan’s life, however, she had had choose between a story and her loyalty in Operation K. Marty Sinclair, the Pulitzer Prize journalist is Jordan’s hero at the beginning of the novel; however, as the story progresses he falls from grace.
In the Author’s Note (Outstanding)… she addresses history and scandals covered in the column, White Collar Girl. Many powerful stories, controversies, fraud, corruption, cover-ups, arrests, corrupt judicial system, robbery sprees, politicians, food administration, and others rocking Chicago and the nation, were covered from Operation Greylord, the horsemeat scandal, to the Kennedy/Nixon election.
Love the title, the story, and the stunning cover— White Collar Girl, the name of the actual column written by Ruth McKay, which ran in the Chicago Tribune during the 40s and 50s. Enhancing your overall experience of the novel, blending fact and fiction--- the author uses main characters, editors, reporters of fictional nature, infused with many events covered in White Collar Girl, based on actual news stories and political scandals.
An ongoing theme in White Collar Girl, of course is women in the workplace, and the challenges faced on a daily basis. In some areas of the country, and specific industries, there is still a lingering problem even in today’s society, comparable to the 1950s, particularly in the "good ole' boys" South. However, many more advantages in today’s world.
Personal Note:
I can relate, growing up in the 50s and 60s, even in the South, my mother was a strong career woman, (against a lot of odds), and at one point as a child, my mom was the main bread-winner in the family, when my father was temporarily laid off. She continued to work, long after my dad who took early retirement.
If you grew up in the 50s and 60s, you will enjoy revisiting all the fun filled times and places, such as sitting at the Woolworth’s counter (where my aunt took me so she could flirt with the men). I recall as only yesterday, in the 6th grade school classroom, the day Kennedy was shot; when the teacher delivered the announcement with tear stained eyes.
Online versus Print:
The journalism and media world has drastically changed over the years due to the digital age, where the dirty laundry is out there, due to social media, and camera cell phones, making it easy to capture videos and on the scene scandals. Also the newspapers play less of a role as a watchdog. As we compare the former world of print news media, versus today’s social world, the author, proposes some thought-provoking discussion questions:
Are we less informed about local, national and world events due to the decline of newspapers, or are we better informed due to the immediacy of social media, Twitter, web, and cable news?
Each person will have an individual opinion; however, for me, in today’s world, it is almost too over whelming. Overkill. You receive so many tweets, news feeds, you only hit highlights—everyone is on a fast paced life schedule. Whereas in the older days of print, you may spend more quality time reading an article at your leisure, versus hundreds of postings coming at you at once.
Summary:
I loved Jordan’s tenacity, and at times confronted with moral issues, bending the law, to get a story—in order to expose the truth, using those opportunities to her advantage.
Rosen’s passion and attention to details, reflective through each page --from page one to the epilogue. She places you in the setting, as you feel the vibrant energy of the newsroom.
Upcoming Book: The Blues and Chess Records
Bringing us to Rosen’s next book, all about The Blues and Chess Records, and famous artists Chicago put on the map; Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, Etta James.
“There’s the pretty marble Chicago, there’s the gritty Chicago. I like being right here so I can see it, touch it, feel it,” says the author.
Based on the true story of Chess Records and the birth of the Blues, as told through the eyes of a young immigrant woman of Jewish Polish descent who helped bring the blues sound to Chicago and the world, again to NAL, in a two-book deal, for publication in Fall 2016,
Now this will be a book, not to be missed. Cannot wait to see the cover reveal, and read this one!
JDCMustReadBooks
Loved this. Rosen uses Chicago again but this time in the 50s. Thankful for women like this character that paved the way for us to have choices. A great historical fiction novel.
Check out the full review at Kritters Ramblings
1955 and Jordan Walsh was conveniently named by her parents with a gender neutral name to hopefully help get her ahead at a time where women's options were limited - and it did! Jordan gets a job at the Chicago tribune on the society news, but she has hopes to move to the city desk to be able to report the "real news."
What I loved reading was watching Jordan in a man's world during a time where women weren't welcome beyond the home and seeing that Jordan's being a female actually helped her get to the heart of a story faster. I loved that Jordan came from a family of writers and although she is following in her family's "trade", I didn't feel as though this got her the job at the Tribune and I liked seeing her work hard to get the stories and jobs she wanted.
1955 and Jordan Walsh was conveniently named by her parents with a gender neutral name to hopefully help get her ahead at a time where women's options were limited - and it did! Jordan gets a job at the Chicago tribune on the society news, but she has hopes to move to the city desk to be able to report the "real news."
What I loved reading was watching Jordan in a man's world during a time where women weren't welcome beyond the home and seeing that Jordan's being a female actually helped her get to the heart of a story faster. I loved that Jordan came from a family of writers and although she is following in her family's "trade", I didn't feel as though this got her the job at the Tribune and I liked seeing her work hard to get the stories and jobs she wanted.
Great book! Really well written and an intriguing story about a female newspaper reporter in Chicago in the 1950s. Jordan is likeable and unlikable at the same time. She's so determined to succeed yet abandons all she loves in the process. Fascinating to consider what career girls of that era endured. If you like mad men you'll like this book!
I wanted to love this book. It seemed so interesting. The author was just trying to do too much. The main character, Jordan, is a journalist who wants to be taken seriously by her colleagues. But instead of doing what was assigned to her, she was always spending time working on stories her editor would tell her not to write. I found her insufferable. You can tell the author did a ton of research about what was going on in Chicago durning this time. But she included so many stories and then every story Jordan thought "was the big one" would fade out and that would be that. It had potential to be great, but with so many random story lines and surface level characters, I found little of it enjoyable.