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The Operator by Gretchen Berg delivers a vivid look inside the heads and hearts of a group of housewives and pokes at the absurdities of 1950s America, a simpler time that was far from simple. In a small town, everyone knows everyone else's business... Nobody knows the people of Wooster, Ohio, better than switchboard operator Vivian Dalton, and she'd be the first to tell you that. She calls it intuition. Her teenage daughter, Charlotte, calls it eavesdropping. Vivian and the other women who work at Bell on East Liberty Street connect lines and lives. They aren't supposed to listen in on conversations, but they do, and they all have opinions on what they hear, especially Vivian. She knows that Mrs. Butler's ungrateful daughter, Maxine, still hasn't thanked her mother for the quilt she made, and that Ginny Frazier turned down yet another invitation to go to the A&W with Clyde Walsh. Then, one cold December night, Vivian listens in on a call between that snob Betty Miller and someone whose voice she can't quite place and hears something shocking. Betty Miller's mystery friend has news that, if true, will shatter Vivian's tidy life in Wooster, humiliating her and making her the laughingstock of the town. Vivian may be mortified, but she isn't going to take this lying down. She's going to get to the bottom of that rumor, get into it, get under it, poke around in the corners. Find every last bit. Vivian wants the truth, no matter how painful it may be. But as Vivian is about to be reminded, in a small town like Wooster, one secret usually leads to another...… (more)
User reviews
Titanic shifts in small-town life ought to be intriguing. I was bored by these bored housewives, bored by the "shocking" revelations, and bemused by the abrupt insertions of recipes and snippets of nursery rhymes (which Vivian gets wrong). Betty is evil, and Vivian is a moron. Both are annoying. I had no sympathy with either of them, even though I assume that since Vivian is based on the author's grandmother, I was supposed to be rooting for her.
All of the rest of the characters are completely flat. Descriptions of people and places are either absent or ineffective; I got no particular small town, warm-and-fuzzy vibe even though it was Christmas. I have no idea why Vivian's boots reappear over and over, crunching in the snow, or why her purchase of a hat is so significant. In one story line, the scene changes from Ohio to Canada to meet another completely dull set of characters. No spoilers, but the Canadian group had every imaginable reason to be interesting and they were not. At the very least, they might have been used as comic relief.
The author seemed to be trying to decide whether she was writing a mystery, a cozy, chick lit, or literary fiction and managed to write none of the above.
I received an advanced readers copy of this book from the publisher and was encouraged to write a review.
That’s not really what this is though. The Operator is satire, exploring the darker side of small town life that lurks beneath the
I struggled with The Operator, in large part because I didn’t much care much for the characters. The residents of Wooster, Ohio, or at least those with whom we spend the most time, Vivian and Betty, are mainly unpleasant, perpetually unsatisfied, small-minded women whose flaws are their own undoing. Vivian’s lifelong habit of eavesdropping, which she indulges freely as a telephone operator, proves the old adage, “eavesdroppers never hear any good of themselves”, true. While Betty, a spiteful, snob is ripe to learn, “people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones”.
Though I found the pacing a little slow and disjointed through the first half, the story has its moments as Vivian digs into the secrets being kept from her, exposing scandals far more serious than who has answered the door without makeup on, including premarital pregnancy, adultery, robbery, bigamy, and desertion.
Of additional interest, the author’s note reveals the story is loosely based on her own grandmother’s life and as such some elements of the story are rooted in fact, including the misspelled recipes, poems, and a news article.
I didn’t particularly enjoy The Operator, though I didn’t particularly dislike it either, it just wasn’t for me. It may be just what your looking for though.
Broadly speaking, there are two timelines.
The "past"begins in 1925 and familiarizes us with the
McGinity family, in particular three daughters, Vera, Vivian and Violet.
Looking at them carefully, we see the stage is set for their futures.
The "present"
The condescending Betty Miller is given a scandalous tidbit from a voice Vivian cannot place.
If true, Vivian's personal and family life could be shattered.
I found the characters as well as the settings easily visualized.
There were many dimensions to the plot and all were successfully resolved.
...a fast moving, entertaining read....
It’s the 1950’s, and that could be done with a simple "number please." The operators could also disconnect a call too.
What if you heard something in a conversation about you? Would you keep listening to conversations? Would you try to do something about
Vivian was devastated when she listened to a conversation and found out she was the topic of some gossip and gossip she wanted to keep under wraps even though she knew it would spread like wildfire.
After hearing the gossip, Vivian tried to avoid everyone when she went out in case they would ask her any questions.
What could it be that she was so worried about? The reader was kept in suspense for many chapters.
There were other problems that the town thought were worth gossiping about too - and there was plenty of gossip to pass around.
Secrets and gossip kept the small town of Wooster buzzing.
THE OPERATOR is a light, comical, enjoyable read that should be enjoyed by readers of all genres. 5/5
This book was given to me by the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
The story centers around Viv- an operator for Bell who "knows people" , who has her fingers on the pulse of town life by connecting and then
Two thumbs up and 5 stars.
“They’re always passing judgment on what you wear, what you eat, what you do, who you love.” Flora shrugged. “And if you’re smart enough to keep your distance, you can sit back and watch them the same way. Just enjoy it all, like you’d enjoy a stage play or a movie.”
Based on the author's own family history, Vivian Dalton is a telephone operator in a small town in Ohio. A middle child who never finished high school, Vivian has long gained power through eavesdropping and can't help listening in to the calls she connects at work. Her technique backfires spectacularly, however, when she overhears a shocking rumour about her own husband. And the receiver of this devastating gossip is none other than Vivian's nemesis and the mayor's daughter, Betty Miller. Both women are ridiculous in their arrogance and judgement of others, particularly as both are housewives with small minds and vicious tongues. Vivian goes into meltdown, terrifying her teenage daughter, until she discovers a weapon she can use to get revenge - but will she?
Vivian and Betty's petty rivalry bored me silly until Vivian lost control and started to fight back, then I found myself completely in her corner. 1950s wives and mothers living in claustrophobic communities didn't really have a great deal of choice in life, as Vivian observes, and petty jealousies started out of boredom could be blown out of proportion.
If Vivian let herself think about it for too long, she’d work herself up into a lather about how unfair it was, and how women ended up trapped in their marriages with mouths to feed, and how there was no chance of them ever getting out of that, and the next thing you know she’d be waving a sign or wearing a pair of trousers.
The hidden secrets that are revealed are perhaps a little obvious but I enjoyed the rigid rules of 1950s society being thrown into chaos! Vivian is the true star of the of the story, with her addiction to learning new words and frustrated habit of screaming into cushions. When she stops being a frustrated housewife and turns amateur investigator, I loved her all the more.
Recommended for fellow lovers of character-driven stories.
Berg's story begins just a few days
Rather than just confronting Edward, Vivian stews and plots and snoops. She even hires a private investigator to track down the other woman in New York State, then tracks her down herself. When she and Edward remarry in a civil ceremony just to make sure they are legally married, you may think the story should be over, but it is just beginning. There are more revelations and more surprises to come.
Strangely Edward turns out to be the most sympathetic character in the novel, with the possible exception of their teenage daughter Charlotte. But then he is the only key character into whose mind Berg does not take us. He is portrayed just as a hapless man trying to swim through his troubles while making minimum waves. It's the women, especially Vivian and Betty, who are shown as petty, spiteful and vain.
Berg's novel, which includes a bank embezzlement subplot, is loosely based on a true story.
All readers will find this novel fascinating. Those of us old enough to remember the time of telephone operators and party lines will find it sobering.