Life in a small town is like no other. Guaranteed someone knows your business, even the secrets you do not know. It doesn’t matter you live in a tiny English village straight off a biscuit tin, a New England mill town, a seaside hamlet or a Midwest town. And I am not immune to secrets and revelations so when I heard about a 2020 novel called The Operator? I was interested enough to take a screenshot and see if the local library carried it.
According to the author bio on the back flap of The Operator, this is Gretchen Berg’s debut novel. Seriously? Because unlike another debut novel I took a chance on earlier this spring I had absolutely no problem diving into tiny 1950s Wooster, Ohio even with the spouse braying at the antics of whatever Minecraft Let’s Play video he was watching. The first page sucks you in, you are right there with Vivian, wearing old winter boots on her way to work.
A 1950s woman…working? Weren’t all women housewives being supported by their husbands. Not exactly. Vivian’s work at the telephone company makes life nicer, paying for the things her husband’s salary cannot quite cover. And Vivian likes her work, she loves knowing the ins and outs of what is happening in her town and being a telephone operator is a great match. Until Vivian learns a secret about herself.
Giving away the secret takes away the fun of reading The Operator but let’s say Vivian doesn’t die, it’s a whopper with nesting boxes of whoppers. And Vivian is very relatable. She doesn’t curl up in a ball and give in even if some of her decisions are made from social pressure. She keeps on going and a bit at the end has me tearing up because that part of journey touches on something in my own mother’s life. Go Vivian go!
The Operator is a fine book club recommendation (I have book clubs on the brain at the moment having just joining a site wide book club at work) and between you, me and the World Wide Internet if the trade paperback edition has one of those book club suggested discussion questions I need to see “When did you realize CHARACTER NAME was THING I DIDN’T FIGURE OUT BECAUSE I AM THAT DIM” because I can’t be the only one this dim. Also The Operator would make nice Paramount Plus show because Vivian and her pluck remind me of Ginnifer Goodwin in Why Women Kill. Get cracking out that Paramount Plus.
I can give The Operator a firm Essie Hi Maintenance (Revlon’s Fire and Ice looks dreadful on me) thumbs up. Grab it from your book source, find a comfortable spot (I recommend not on the other side of the couch from your spouse) and spend a few hours with Vivian Dalton and the secrets of Wooster, Ohio.
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