My Salinger Year (Joanna Rakoff)

First off, sorry for the glare on the picture. Library bindings don't tend to photograph well. Second, I really enjoyed My Salinger Year. I don't often read brand new books, but this 2014 memoir sounded too interesting to pass up.*

In 1997, Joanna Rakoff was fresh out of University with a degree in literature, a mountain of debt, and few job prospects. Perhaps one of the reasons this book is so popular now, is because 1997 could just as easily be 2014. Newly graduated students with masters degrees have mountains of debt and no job prospects. The same uncertain feeling that Rakoff experienced in 1997, is still felt by young people starting out into the world on their own now. 

In 1997, Rakoff was lucky. She scored a job as an assistant at the literary agency who represented J.D. Salinger, the author of Catcher in the Rye, a book I'm slightly embarrassed to admit I have never read. I suppose that's okay, because when Rakoff began working at the literary agency, she too had very little experience with J.D Salinger's writing. 

Earning about $18 000 a year, a salary her father thought was too little even back in 1997, Rakoff lived in a tiny chilly apartment with her boyfriend. While trying to sort out her personal life, and assist her boyfriend with his own writing, she secretly worked on her own writing.  

Rakoff is also the author of the novel A Fortunate Age. 

(If you feel inclined to, you can check out Joanna Rakoff's personal website here: 

http://www.joannarakoff.com/) 

*My arts writing prof. from this past semester says I shouldn't use "interesting" to describe anything because it is an insincere word. I don't care. I'm not insincere. For me, "interesting" is the highest of complements.