My Salinger Year by Joanna Rakoff: A book to cherish

My Salinger YearMy Salinger Year is Joanna Rakoff’s account of her first job after completing her post-grad studies in London, a year spent working for J. D. Salinger’s literary agent. It’s 1996 and on her first day she wonders where her computer is only to be presented with an electric typewriter then put to work typing up the backlog of contracts and letters all held on a pedal-operated Dictaphone. This is an office where photocopiers are regarded as the coming thing. In her first week she’s called into her boss’s office and given the Jerry rules – never reveal Salinger’s personal details, never pass on any letters – and a pile of unanswered fan letters complete with a form response. The problem is that when she comes to read them she’s unable to harden her heart to the World War Two veterans who identify with Salinger, to the teenagers who identify with Holden Caulfield convinced that Salinger has been channelling them, to the mother who wants to name the library she’s setting up in memory of her daughter after a Salinger short story. She writes her own replies.

Rakoff is an immensely likeable and entertaining guide to the inner workings of the Agency, as it’s referred to throughout, which seems to have not one but both feet firmly planted back in the mid-twentieth century. At one point her boss daringly considers buying a computer but only if they’re available in black. Max and Lucy try their best to breathe fresh air into the Agency, taking on young, edgier clients but Rakoff’s boss reigns supreme, refusing to take part in auctions and removing any reference to ‘electronic books’ from contracts. The Agency is all agog when Salinger himself strikes a deal with a tiny publisher to publish a short story originally run by the New Yorker, in book form. It’s a fraught enterprise and Rakoff finds herself fielding phone calls from the publisher attempting to soothe his shredded nerves. Loud calls with the man himself are conducted behind closed doors in her boss’s office and some times with Rakoff herself. She becomes quite matey with him, confessing her own literary aspirations. Running through her account is Rakoff’s personal life: her college boyfriend in California who she loves but cannot be with; her New York boyfriend, older, self-obsessed and neglectful; her hopes for her own writing career and the horrible realisation that she will somehow have to make ends meet on the Agency’s pittance and pay off the credit card bill that she’d assumed her parents were footing. By the end of it, you can’t help but root for her, desperately hoping that she’ll ditch Don, rescue the close friendship that seems to be drifting away from her, reunite with her college boyfriend and make her own mark on the literary world. In the final section of the book, Rakoff ties up the loose ends of her Salinger year then brings us pleasingly up to date with her life.Stet

I would have been amazed if I hadn’t loved this book entrenched as it is in the book world and I wasn’t disappointed: it’s a delight from start to finish, an endearingly affectionate portrait of a particular corner of the trade being dragged, quietly protesting, towards the twenty-first century. It’s tone reminded me of Julie and Julia – Julie Powell’s account of a year spent learning to cook like Julia Child – and at times it screams ‘film me’. If this has whetted your appetite for another insider’s view and you haven’t come across Diana Athill’s Stet already, you’re in for a treat. Beautifully expressed, it isn’t as exuberant as My Salinger Year but it’s a fascinating insight into life as an editor in a publishing house. I thoroughly enjoyed both.

19 thoughts on “My Salinger Year by Joanna Rakoff: A book to cherish”

  1. Great review. Coincidentally, I just heard Joanna Rakoff on Radio 4’s Today programme earlier this morning. She spoke of how she lived with these letters each day, how they seeped into her lunchtimes and evenings. The book sounds fascinating.

    1. Susan Osborne

      Thank you! It was a delight, Jacqui. I caught a snatch of that interview. She sounded great – I think I’ll check it out on iplayer.

    1. Susan Osborne

      It is, Anne. I think she couldn’t bear to send out the terse little form letter to all those fans who poured out their heart and souls to Salinger.

  2. I could really sense how much you loved this book – your joy in reading it bounds off the blog page! It’s going on my list (incidentally just finished Black Lake – oh my!)

    1. Susan Osborne

      Delighted to hear that on both counts, Kerry. It’s a gorgeous book, definitely one for the overcrowded shelves not the charity shop run!

  3. Cracking review, I can’t wait to get my hands on a copy of this. I love books set in the heart of the publishing world – I’ve read and re-read STET so many times. Have you read Jeremy Lewis’ KINDRED SPIRITS? It’s a hilarious account of Jeremy starting out in publishing and climbing the ladder, meeting numerous authors, editors (all of whom you will recognise – Athill is featured). It did go out of print for a while but is available as a Faber Find http://www.faber.co.uk/catalog/kindred-spirits/9780571244287 – I heartily recommend it!

    1. Susan Osborne

      Thanks so much for the Kindred Spirits recommendation, Alice. I’d not come across it but it’s gone straight on the list, squeezed in at the top!

  4. I heard Rakoff discussing this on the radio a couple of weeks ago and she sounded such an interesting person in her own right that I put the book straight on the tbr list. Now I can see I am going to have to move it higher up.

  5. Pingback: Books to Look Out For in June 2015: Part 1 | A life in books

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