My Salinger Year By Joanna Rakoff

[amazon_link id=”1408830175″ target=”_blank” ][/amazon_link]’My Salinger Year’ is by Joanna Rakoff.

At twenty-three, after leaving graduate school to pursue her dreams of becoming a poet, Joanna Rakoff moves to New York City and takes a job as assistant to the storied literary agent for J. D. Salinger. She spends her days in the plush, wood-panelled agency, where Dictaphones and typewriters still reign and old-time agents doze at their desks after martini lunches, and at night she goes home to the tiny, threadbare Brooklyn apartment she shares with her socialist boyfriend. Precariously balanced between glamour and poverty, surrounded by titanic personalities and struggling to trust her own artistic sense, Joanna is given the task of answering Salinger’s voluminous fan mail. But as she reads the candid, heart-wrenching letters from his readers around the world, she finds herself unable to type out the agency’s decades-old form response. Instead, drawn inexorably into the emotional world of Salinger’s devotees, she abandons the template and begins writing back.

The story is seen from the perspective of Joanna, a young woman who has returned home to America after studying in England and is fortunate to get a job in an agency, the most prestigious and well known literary agency in New York, called ‘The Agency’. It is there that she undertakes the role of the assistant of ‘The Boss’ a busy and demanding woman who handles some of America’s biggest authors such as Judy Blume and JD Salinger. In her role as assistant, it is Joanna’s responsibility to reply to the fan mail that JD Salinger receives. On a clonky old dated typewriter, she sends the fans standard replies even though they pour their hearts out to her, but as time goes by Joanna begins to develop a understanding and a kinship with the fans as they all have a mutual appreciation for Salinger’s writing, as it has connected with all at some point whether it is the troubled high school teen or the war veteran who is trying to return to normality.

The story is a memoir, wittily observed, it flows at a pleasant pace against the busy backdrop of New York. Starting out in life, Joanna’s finds solace and comfort in her job. Although it isn’t quite her dream occupation, as she aspires to be a successful poet, she enjoys the interaction and the attention the job brings. The book also gives an fascinating perspective into what goes on behind the scenes and how the industry works. As a memoir, this book is quite an enthralling one. The lead girl appears as the underdog, getting left with minimal jobs and stuck in a relationship that no longer makes her happy as her boyfriend openly makes snide remarks about her jobs as he tries to write the next bestseller.

The interaction between Joanna and the fans of Salinger’s plus her brief moments with the author himself also make for gripping reading as they share their thoughts and dreams with Joanna unaware that they communicating with a stranger and not their favourite author. It’s fascinating how many people Salinger inspired particularly across the generations and how it moved and helped people through the hard times.

A pleasurable story from the very beginning, this book reads like a ‘Mad Men’ episode, sexy and sophisticated. A sharp eyed and sensitively written coming of age tale, funny and gripping with an intriguing lead and a beautiful cover, ‘My Salinger Year’ is a gem of a story.

You can buy [amazon_link id=”1408830175″ target=”_blank” ]My Salinger Year from Amazon[/amazon_link] and is available to buy from good bookshops.