Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk: A Novel

“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 times in which this character lived: 20th Century life with all of its quirks, just as Lillian relishes her own idiosyncrasies.

Lillian is the kind of character women might emulate, with her independent streak a mile wide, and her insistence on finding her way on her own a metaphorical “walk through the streets.” A perfect salute to a time long gone, I enjoyed how the walk offered the character an opportunity to reminisce about her life, from the 1930s to the momentous New Year’s Eve in 1984.

She looked back at her celebratory moments, but also those that revealed her vulnerabilities. When she suffered from a “breakdown” of sorts, and when she realized that, to some, she was no longer relevant, we could relate, as everyone has both good and bad to reflect on in a long life.

Despite her realizations, however, she is stalwart and determined to move forward on her own terms. She is definitely a character to root for…and her candid assessments of her life will make her a memorable one. Here’s to Lillian! Five stars.

I enjoyed getting to know Lillian Boxfish and also the glimpse into New York City in the 80's. Lillian is a woman to be admired who lived life on her own terms, but we learn that living life in that way does come with a price. Both the city and Lillian are full of surprises. The book was delightful!

This book piqued my interest because of the time period and subject matter - advertising woman in the 30s. Its an appealing topic and I enjoyed the historical parts. If I'd known at the beginning that Lillian was based on a real person I may have enjoyed it more. It meandered too long and I found it hard to believe an 85 year old woman would have been quite so sturdy and unflappable. Also got distracted by the repetition. Oreos. R.H. Macy's. Ugh. By the halfway point I was wishing she'd jump in a cab.

This book piqued my interest because of the time period and subject matter - advertising woman in the 30s. Its an appealing topic and I enjoyed the historical parts. If I'd known at the beginning that Lillian was based on a real person I may have enjoyed it more. It meandered too long and I found it hard to believe an 85 year old woman would have been quite so sturdy and unflappable. Also got distracted by the repetition. Oreos. R.H. Macy's. Ugh. By the halfway point I was wishing she'd jump in a cab.

Lillian, an 84 year old woman is preparing for New Year's Eve 1984. She is planning on going to a restaurant in her neighborhood. However, she ends up taking a walk through a variety of NYC neighborhoods. She meets different people through her walking. In alternate chapters, the reader discovers who Lillian was as a young working woman to who she is now. The book started a little slow for me but by the end I really liked Lillian Boxfish.

A unique book that is a quick read, especially entertaining for those who are current or former New Yorkers. My only criticism is of Lillian's witticisms. When you read the book, you'll know what I mean. I think the author could have done more to make her ads and certain poems more intelligible to a 21st century audience without hurting the story.

This is the worst book I ever enjoyed reading. What does that even mean? Well, the main character is FLAT. So, I'm very much enjoying the story, but I never connect or identify with Miss Boxfish. Also, a lot of the book reads as a To Do list: first she went here, then there, etc. The conversations she has with people she meets along the way are not the least bit believable (I walk around NYC meeting and talking with people and the conversations are more on the order of, "Where are you from?"), and, in fact, somewhat boring. She is also something of a slut, and I don't think most professional women sleep around indiscriminately. Many of the events have no connections, no segue from one event to another. All of a sudden she is in a mental health hospital with nothing bringing the reader up to that event. Out of the blue, she's depressed and an alcoholic, and just as quickly she's cured. There's no discussion of her emotional process through all of it. So, I'm not sure what exactly attracts me to and kept me reading. I truly am ambivalent about this book, but I know I won't choose this author again should she write again. (Yes, I know I've messed up my verb tenses in this review, but then, I'm not a writer.)

The protagonist speaks in the first person, and the character is continually mentioning her lovers and friends as adoring​ her, praising her,congratulating her for her outstanding sense of humor. She relates conversations that quote their saying how funny she is or was...yet nothing she said even made me smile. It's all GREAT praise for herself, and only other characters weave in and out of her narrative of her life
I would give it 3 stars, but the writing and phrasing was quite good. I just wanted and couldn't get into her story, her life.

A delightful story. I admire Lillian and so enjoyed reading about New York. At times I thought the novel was dull but I would just skip to Lillian’s adventure. I am glad I persevered because Lillian was quite the woman!

Lillian Boxfish is a work of fiction, inspired by the life of a real woman, the brilliant Margaret Fishback, a poet and ad woman who was the highest-paid female advertising copywriter in the world during the 1930s. The author did meticulous research and crafted a story about a fictional Margaret, with lavish, rich references to the period. This book is a character study, and the pace is slow.

Lillian was stylish, funny, gracious, the epitome of class. She write poetry and guidebooks to everyday life which contained her usual superlative wit and lighthearted cynicism. Lillian was on top of the world, and her world was sophisticated Manhattan, where even during the Depression, she prospered. In fact, her cleverness and verbosity wore on me.

The book is structured as a walk--Lillian is a super-fit 85 in the present day. She loves the city, loves to walk and find inspiration in its streets--in this case, New Years' Eve, 1984, enroute to a party. While on this walk, she applies her stiletto-sharp mind and fearless heart to various vignettes, showing us the good (mostly) in the city. She goes from a bar to a steakhouse to a bodega to a creepy party and then back home again, a walk of many miles.

Alone in the dark, this cocky 85-year-old wearing a mink coat sashays around the dark streets and warehouses of the city. The tension builds as the reader worries: people are warning Lillian that it's not safe but she blows them off, knowing she can handle anything. She's the master of her own fate, and she's cool with the prospect of death (she comes to this conclusion after a 2-minute assessment of the issue, under hostile circumstances).

When the inevitable life-threatening challenge occurs, she triumphs. It's unlikely, but an interesting vignette to read. Her wit, once again, saves her. Then she goes home to feed her cat and think about how "no one survives the future." While the author did a good job of introducing us to a fascinating woman, someone's low expectations of aging leaked into the narrative. All of the vignettes involve young or youngish people, the book is structured on a physical feat few 85-year-olds would find plausible, and at the end, Lillian is saved, it could be argued, because of her interest in rap music. At the end of the book I felt depressed about aging. Not my cup of tea.

Profound. Utterly inspiring. This is an exceptional book. Lillian plans to walk to dinner on New Year's Eve, 1984, but she ends up walking miles through NYC, and through the decades of her life, both glamorous, tough, and back. Lillian herself is exceptional. She's 85 years old now, but still walking, as if she were still that famous ad-woman, working at Macy's in 1930's at top dollar.
Don't miss the this book. Enjoy.

Let me just tell everyone, that this is not a "cutesy" book just for women. Certainly, women might enjoy it a bit more, but this story is about life. Yes, Lillian was a well paid, ad-woman in the 1930's for a famous NY department store, but it's so much more than that. So much more.
Also, the hardcopy book includes a map of her walk. Bonus!

Lillian Boxfish, an 86 year old woman who once earned a good living as Macy's top advertising honcho, narrates her New Year's Eve walk around the city. But her life story isn't dramatic or interesting, and worst of all, Miss Boxfish has no "voice". This successful career woman and writer of another era sounds generic, not like a literary woman raised in another era. Her life story is pedestrian and she isn't witty.
And New York isn't described with insight or quirky observation either.
I found the book a slog, very disappointing.

While the book is based off of nostalgia and reflecting back on her life, Lillian's thoughts just bounce around the pages of the book - with no real plot or character development. It's as if her EVERY. SINGLE. observation has been put to paper. The book just ambles on and on with no real progress. That being said, I think that's partially the point; now that Lillian is older and stubborn with no one around, all she has left are her memories and independence, by default. She has a good sense of humor, but she's also incredibly vain and judgmental - which, gets old after a while. For someone who was supposedly so progressive 'in her day', she certainly objects to change on a neurotic level.

It took me at least 5-7 chapters to get even remotely interested. It has it's moments, but the book didn't do anything for me. I needed more character development as she reflected, and as she went about her life in the present.

I enjoyed the book, and the personality of Lillian Boxfish. Sometimes it got a little long with too many details which didn't effect the story, but overall, an interesting book, and an interesting character.

Definitely chick lit, but good presentation of a period in NYC during which a prissy ad writer for Macy's experiences life - related during a 6-hour walk on New Years Eve 1984. Some notable passages, good story development, silly interaction between Boxfish and the three youths, and preachy regarding the gay man and his beard.

Bits of this book were interesting to me - an elderly woman describing her day in NYC (and many flashbacks). I finished this about a week or so ago and I honestly don't remember very much of it so that says a lot .... others might enjoy this!

This was an interesting contrivance, but the lack of dialog and action made it very dull. The writing itself was good. The storyline payoff at the end of the book wasn't enough of a reward to have made the pages that I did read worth it.

I expected a little more panache in a story about a woman whose life was extraordinary. Good story about a woman who followed her dream to NY where she wrote fashion ads for Macy's. I never felt like I got much beneath the surface of what made her tick. Kinda slow.

Well written, but didn't capture my attention. A stretch to think that a woman her age could walk the distance that she covered. Also, many of her observations of the time period were simplistic and obvious, without much depth.

Though this novel is inspired by Margaret Fishback––a writer of light verse and an ad copy writer for Macy’s who was the highest-paid copy writer in the world in the 1930s––it’s not heavily focused on Lillian’s life in advertising and writing. Instead, it’s about the life of one woman in New York from the 1920s until New Year’s Eve as the calendar is about to turn to 1985.

Lillian’s 10-mile walk takes her from her Murray Hill apartment all the way down to the tip of Manhattan and back, with stops at two restaurants (one her favorite neighborhood restaurant for over 30 years, and another the famous Delmonico’s, which was the scene of a turning point in Lillian’s life), a bodega, Penn Station and several other places. (The book includes a map of Lillian’s walk and the stops, a wonderful feature.) The people she meets along the way are from all walks of life, and her encounters with them are by turns warm, bittersweet, dangerous and funny.

This walk feeds Lillian’s reminiscences to herself about the places she lived, worked and ate, the people who were part of her life over the decades, and the New York of the mid-80s, a dirty and dangerous place, but one that still feels beautiful and alive to Lillian.

Kathleen Rooney’s writing gives voice to a unique character. Lillian is wry, witty, a keen observer and an inveterate punster and word painter, even in her own head. This is a standout book in the quality of its writing, its creation of a fascinating character and its evocation of the ever-changing life of 20th-century Manhattan.