Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Book Review: The Secret Papers of Madame Olivetti by Annie Vanderbilt

BIG THANKS to Mary Ann for sending this book along for me to review!

“The Secret Papers of Madame Olivetti” by Annie Vanderbilt

Published by New American Library, a division of Penguin Group

Rating: 4.5 stars

“The Secret Papers of Madame Olivetti” is a wonderfully written novel about Lily Crisp, who takes her typewriter, also known as Madame Olivetti, to her vacation home in southern France to put her past on paper and heal after the death of her husband. What I thought would be a cute book about an older woman and a younger man, turned out to be a fascinating story filled with rich family history and intricately woven flashbacks.

I loved reading about Lily Crisp and her adventures of the past and the present. Annie Vanderbilt’s writing makes each memory, each relationship and each landscape come alive. Many passages from the book are so beautifully written they sound like poetry.

Here is one of my favorite passages from the book:

“But if life was a process – and surely it was not a static arrangement – then change was the perpetually evolving fabric, not the outcome of living. Change had not happened to Lily; she had simply introduced new patterns and colors into the weave of her destiny”

This book is definitely a worthwhile read that will take you through a whirlwind of emotions, ending off with a smile.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is in my stack of books, so I'm glad to see it's good. Thanks for the review.

Anna said...

I think it's interesting that the typewriter has a name. That alone makes me want to read the book!

--Anna
Diary of an Eccentric

KyleeJ said...

Sounds like a very moving read.