Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Summer at Tiffany




Marjorie Hart set about writing her memoirs for her children and grandchildren as a way to share her younger years with them. What she eventually finished writing was the book Summer at Tiffany, about how she and her best friend spent a summer in New York City working at Tiffany Jewelers.

Marjorie grew up in Story City, Iowa, and while I am several decades younger than Marjorie, I, as an Iowa native myself, can appreciate the culture shock of going from a rural setting to a major urban city. New York City in 1945 was an exciting place to be, and the girls were able to spot a variety of different celebrities, and appreciated their glamorous job at Tiffany. While their salary was meager, the girls managed to eke out their existence, going to dances for fun and meeting up with midshipmen. Marjorie includes some of the letters she sent her family during this exciting summer.

At book's end, Marjorie includes information on what happened to her friends and family in the years after this magical summer. She also asks the question and leaves a website to include information on readers' own memorable summers.

Sadly, I can say that I do not have a summer that would compare to Hart's. Yet, I did manage a semester program sponsored by my college in Denver, Colorado. That time away on my own exploring a different city and seeing sights was truly a memory-making adventure, and gives me an idea of Hart's own experience in 1945 New York City.

While I didn't love the writing of this book, I did enjoy Hart's story and felt as though my own grandmother could have been the one telling of her adventures as a young woman. I also appreciate the fact that Hart was able to convey to her grandchildren and children that she was a young woman at one time and still remembers how it feels to twenty years old with a life full of possibility. Hart in her eighties now is still a beautiful woman and I also enjoyed knowing that her inner struggle of deciding what she should do with her life professionally did eventually work out as she became a professional cello player.

Summer at Tiffany was a fun, fast summer read that got me reminiscing about some of my summers during my college years.

2 comments:

Gerbera Daisy Diaries said...

I totally agree. It was a grandmother's story to her granddaughters...not really for a wider audience. Although, I do wish I'd had a summer to write about!

Bailey said...

I agree with you that her writing style wasn't the most engrossing... but still a lovely tale about such an adventurous summer! Enjoyed reading your thoughts.