Lillian Boxfish's Journey of Self-Discovery in "Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk" Novel

loriw: Lillian Boxfish is such an honest, forthright character. My admiration for her continue to grow as long as the book continued. I’d like to read more books like this.

United States on Aug 01, 2023

Nina: I think the book is beautifully written, the pace just right, the interweaving of present and past events quite catching. But? But Lillian herself, oh dear, in spite of all the the author's attempts to make her a likable person, likable she isn't at all. First of all, it is a constant flaunting of her substantial salary, the reader being reminded practically every few pages that she was making a fortune. Ok, good for her, but other than it's sickening to repeat it so often, earning a lot of money because you excel at making people think they need things just so consumerism can continue to sacrifice on the altar of capitalism is not what I'd call a source of pride and satisfaction. LB's life is, on the whole, empty and superficial, which probably explains the bitterness she exudes. Throughout the book she meets people, for a moment, but doesn't really care, and goes on her way. Thirty years later, she's still mad at a colleague whose worst flaw was being unhappy. In short, despite her professional success, LB is a dry little soul. I hope the real woman who inspired the novel was more sympathetic, more profound and less self-absorbed

France on Jul 17, 2023

K. R. Pratt: I love the protagonist, her honesty, friendliness, manners, intelligence. Her story is of a successful career woman and a deep heartbreak at the center of her life. She is so courageous with a beautiful attitude towards life. I will read more from this author.

United States on Jul 11, 2023

Booklover: A delightful walk down Lillian's memory lane. Eighty years of age myself, I could relate to many of her life experiences. Well written!

Canada on Jul 06, 2023

RazzleDazzle: On her walk, Lillian recounts her life and the experiences that shaped her, as well meeting so many people from all walks of life that tie her to the worlds shared humanity. Especially in our divided world, we could all learn from her poise, humility, eloquent words and the way she interacts with strangers and life.

United States on Jun 16, 2023

Ms: I loved Lillian Boxfish. So beautifully written. I walked with her and totally understood her attachment to the city. She was brave and honest. What an inspiring woman.

United Kingdom on Oct 09, 2022

J - loves books, reads books: I read this book in 2017 and thought it was a wonderful, charming and fascinating story. It is beautifully written by Kathleen Rooney who gives us a terrific story full of humour, pathos, an amazing time walking the streets of New York on New Year’s Eve 1984 and the truly fascinating story of Lillian Boxfish.

The story of a brave woman, not just because she undertook a walk through the streets of New York on her own at the age of 85, but because some 50+ years before she arrived in New York and forged an incredible career in advertising. We read of the highs and lows in her career, indeed, in her life as she walks and we are drawn into this utterly charming book and it’s main character.

This is a delightful book and certainly one of my favourites of 2017. I highly recommend it and hope that you will enjoy it as much as I did.

Rating: 5*

United Kingdom on Jan 11, 2018

Hande Z: This is a wonderful book that is based on the life of Margaret Fishback, the highest paid advertising copywriter for R H Macy’s during the 1930s. In this book, the protagonist Lillian Boxfish, at the age of 84, decides to walk to a fancy restaurant, the Delmonico’s on New Year’s Eve, 1984. There she meets Kathy and her daughter, Penny. Lillian arrives without a reservation, but Kathy, a stranger, overhears the waiter rejecting Lillian, and invites her to her table. Lilian changes her mind after dinner and decides to walk on to her young friend, Wendy’s New Year’s Eve party. It is a long walk from her home in Murray Hill, New York, a city she loves dearly.

Along the way to Wendy’s home, Lillian recalls the story of her life, from the time she moved to New York, to her job at Macy’s, marrying her husband, and his divorcing her; and of her love for walking and writing. Hers is a story of life and how to grasp it, and how to regain it when it slips away from you. It is a moving account of a feisty old lady who tells us how feisty she was when young; that even America in the 1930s could not bump a woman of drive and ability off the road.

This passage...

United Kingdom on Sep 20, 2017

CounterCulture: I loved the first half of the book (five stars) and I thought, what a great new writer! (superb, original style, wit, maturity, and a lot of research on various epochs of New York). But then, it slowly becomes dull.

Lillian, adorable at first, .becomes more and more self-righteous, self-important, pedantic and egotist as the book progresses. (The tiny sentence where Lilian says she was relieved when her parents died was a big put off). This type of character (feminist, self-sufficient, ambitious career woman, estranged from family, not fond of kids, etc) has been overdone and has become an American clichee.

To be a great writer you ought to go beyond this. I wished Ms. Rooney marbled her character with more vulnerability and humanity (like she did in the great scene with her divorced husband at DelMonico, and the fact that she never stopped loving him). Lilian is friendly but mainly because she loves to hold court and be the wittiest woman in the room. It gets tiring.

Every person has a secret struggle that gnaws at him or her, however successful or apparently perfect they are. I wish the author explained more compellingly why Lilian became severely depressed...

United States on Jul 30, 2017

Laurel-Rain Snow: “In my reckless and undiscouraged youth,” Lillian Boxfish writes, “I worked in a walnut-paneled office thirteen floors above West Thirty-Fifth Street…”

She took 1930s New York by storm, working her way up writing copy for R.H. Macy’s to become the highest paid advertising woman in the country. It was a job that, she says, “in some ways saved my life, and in other ways ruined it.”

Now it’s the last night of 1984 and Lillian, 85 years old but just as sharp and savvy as ever, is on her way to a party. It’s chilly enough out for her mink coat and Manhattan is grittier now—her son keeps warning her about a subway vigilante on the prowl—but the quick-tongued poetess has never been one to scare easily. On a walk that takes her over 10 miles around the city, she meets bartenders, bodega clerks, security guards, criminals, children, parents, and parents-to-be, while reviewing a life of excitement and adversity, passion and heartbreak, illuminating all the ways New York has changed—and has not.

My Thoughts:  Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk: A Novel  is a delightful journey through the streets of Manhattan, reminding the reader of the...

United States on Feb 02, 2017