Tag Archives: Karolee Gillman

On the shelf: ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ by Lauren Weisberger

Books, Citizen Journalism, Entertainment, , ,

By Karolee Gillman, Grand Rapids Public Library, Main Branch

 

In the the world of high fashion, Miranda Priestly is queen. Miranda is the editor of Runway magazine. She expects perfection from everyone, including her newly hired assistant, Andrea Sachs. Andrea wants to be a writer for The New Yorker, but has left her resume at every publishing house. Runway offers Andrea a job “that a million girls would die for”.

 

The job is actually salaried servitude. Miranda has one demand, often near impossible, after another for Andrea to complete during the day. Andrea pushes friends and family aside as she tries to keep up with those demands. During a trip of a lifetime to Paris Fashion Week, Andrea realizes what is really important in her life, and abruptly quits her job.

 

The way Andrea quits makes news in the society pages, making her a minor celebrity. Afraid that she has been blacklisted in the publishing industry, Andrea moves back home with her parents, and begins writing short-story fiction. One of these stories is picked up by a national teen magazine, and her career really begins.

 

 

On the Shelf Book Review: ‘The Dollmaker’, by Harriette Arnow

Books, Citizen Journalism, Entertainment, , , ,
the-dollmakerOn the Shelf Book Review
By Karolee Gillman, Grand Rapids Public Library, Main

Originally published in 1954, The Dollmaker begins with a very emotional scene of an Appalachian mother desperately trying to save her youngest son’s life, and the roller coaster of emotion doesn’t stop.

This book is very descriptive and worded so beautifully, you can see the story come to life. The book is very long and when the characters speak, they do so in the Appalachian dialect. I had to often read the conversations out loud to comprehend what was being said.

Gertie Nevels is a strong, compassionate woman, with a passion for whittling. Her one dream is to buy her own farm in the backwoods of Kentucky and live there with her husband and children. But World War II intervenes, and as a good wife she must take her children and follow her husband to Detroit, where he has been put to work in a war factory. In the city, Gertie fights desperately to keep her family together, maintain their rural values while they stuck in a Cracker-Jack-box housing development in a world far away from Appalachia.

Read The Dollmaker to see how Gertie handles tragedy and betrayal and makes the ultimate sacrifice to save her family. You will smile and cry right along with her.