Reviewer: Kate
I received a copy of White Collar Girl by Renée Rosen in exchange for an honest review.
Synopsis:
The latest novel from the bestselling author of Dollface and What the Lady Wants takes us deep into the tumultuous world of 1950s Chicago where a female journalist struggles with the heavy price of ambition…
Every second of every day, something is happening. There’s a story out there buried in the muck, and Jordan Walsh, coming from a family of esteemed reporters, wants to be the one to dig it up. But it’s 1955, and the men who dominate the city room of the Chicago Tribune have no interest in making room for a female cub reporter. Instead Jordan is relegated to society news, reporting on Marilyn Monroe sightings at the Pump Room and interviewing secretaries for the White Collar Girl column.
Even with her journalistic legacy and connections to luminaries like Mike Royko, Nelson Algren, and Ernest Hemingway, Jordan struggles to be taken seriously. Of course, that all changes the moment she establishes a secret source inside Mayor Daley’s office and gets her hands on some confidential information. Now careers and lives are hanging on Jordan’s every word. But if she succeeds in landing her stories on the front page, there’s no guarantee she’ll remain above the fold.…
Review:
Renée Rosen has a rich, lush writing style that makes you want to turn the page. Chicago, as always in Rosen’s work, is a seductive character in and of itself, as integral to Rosen’s stories as New York to Sex in the City. There is also something alluring and interesting about an author writing about writers. In White Collar Girl Rosen takes on her trope of choice—the ambitious woman—in the 1950s second-wave feminist era, exploring what it meant to be a professional woman in the male-centric world of journalism. It’s fun to watch a writer talk about a writer admiring and trying to emulate other writers. And Jordan is directly and tangentially connected to some of the best of the day. The main crux of the story is this: Jordan Walsh is a go-getter, with the instincts of a top notch investigative reporter, but being a woman she has to work twice as hard as her male counterparts to earn the respect she deserves. This for me is the only problem of the story. It’s so typical. There are no twists in this story that make you think, no ah ha moments, no real take away for me. As in my review of What the Lady Wants, White Collar Girl leaves this white collar girl wanting a bit more.
Rating: 3 ½ Stars
