Lillian Boxfish takes a walk was my New Year’s Day read. (I started it on NYE before our annual costume murder mystery party, 20s themed this year.)
I’ve worked in marketing and focused on writing for most of my 18-year career, so Lillian’s story was especially engaging to me. She was the “highest paid woman in advertising.” Although the sexism of the time with its differentiated pay rates was very briefly covered, most of the story focused on decades of Lillian’s life and the breakdown of her marriage.
The book was a mostly positive look-back over a life spanning war in the 1940s and into the orange-lipsticked 1980s. Getting to know Lillian in various decades and in various parts of her life maturity was fun, but since the entire book takes place in a few quick hours, you keep up like you’re walking as fast as dear aged Lillian.
A bit of a depressing twist at the end, to be sure, left me sad and (just slightly) surprised, but overall the book intended to present a life well lived. It was a creatively mapped journey through NYC with some memorable characters. A highlight for me was a mugging (or near-mugging, depending on your perspective) involving a fur coat.
Lots of rhymes that were cheeky and full of life are included; from the booknotes, I learned they are from a famous advertising woman of that era that inspired the book although the character is entirely fictional.
