Lillian Boxfish takes a walk

Resource Information

The work Lillian Boxfish takes a walk represents a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in Stevens Memorial Library (North Andover). This resource is a combination of several types including: Work, Language Material, Books.

Label

Lillian Boxfish takes a walk

Statement of responsibility

Kathleen Rooney

Creator

• Rooney, Kathleen, 1980-

Author

• Rooney, Kathleen, 1980-

Subject

• Historical fiction
• Psychological fiction
• Interpersonal relations
• FICTION -- Contemporary Women
• City and town life
• Interpersonal relations -- Fiction
• Older women
• Large type books
• Large type books
• Interpersonal relations -- Fiction
• Older women -- Fiction
• New York (State) -- New York
• FICTION -- Literary
• Fiction
• Biographical fiction
• Reminiscing -- Fiction
• Reminiscing
• City and town life -- New York (State) | New York -- Fiction

Genre

• Fiction
• Large type books
• Historical fiction
• Psychological fiction
• Biographical fiction

Language

eng

Summary

Inspired by Margaret Fishback, poet and Macy's ad-writing phenom of the 1930s, Rooney imagines an extraordinary walk through the streets of New York City on the last night of 1984, one that triggers a flood of memories for fictional ad woman Lillian Boxfish. The octogenarian muses on the changing urban landscape as she stops at favorite haunts: an intimate neighborhood bar that's just installed a TV, a restaurant where she's dined every New Year's Eve that's about to change owners, the famed Delmonico's, where she ended her marriage. Further stops include a changing lower Manhattan landscape where she meets a haunted Vietnam veteran and engages him in a "best last-line contest," a detour to a hospital emergency room with a frightened woman about to have her first baby, and a party where she's both scorned and adored by a new generation of artists, followed by a hilarious encounter with three muggers. Meanwhile, Lillian carefully recounts her celebrated career in advertising, her adored husband and son, and her emotional breakdown. Elegantly written, Rooney creates a glorious paean to a distant literary life and time-and an unabashed celebration of human connections that bridge the past and future

Member of

• Thorndike Press large print core series

Cataloging source

DLC

Dewey number

813/.6

Illustrations

maps

Index

no index present

LC call number

PS3618.O676

LC item number

L55 2017b

Literary form

fiction

Series statement

Thorndike Press large print core