Book Blurb:
New York City is filled with opportunities for single girls like Alice Weiss who leaves her small Midwestern town to chase her big city dreams and unexpectedly lands the job of a lifetime working for Helen Gurley Brown, the first female Editor-in-Chief of a then failing Cosmopolitan Magazine.
Nothing could have prepared Alice for the world she enters as editors and writers resign on the spot, refusing to work for the woman who wrote the scandalous bestseller, Sex and the Single Girl. While confidential memos, article ideas, and cover designs keep finding their way into the wrong hands, someone tries to pull Alice into this scheme to sabotage her boss. But Alice remains loyal and becomes all the more determined to help Helen succeed. As pressure mounts at the magazine and Alice struggles to make her way in New York, she quickly learns that in Helen Gurley Brown’s world, a woman can demand to have it all.
My Review: 4 stars
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Park Avenue Summer was the perfect combo of great storytelling and an interesting subject matter. I was born in 1967, so Helen Gurley Brown was before my time, but Cosmopolitan magazine was not. In the late 70s and early 80s, Cosmo was an integral part of growing up.
Now that this book has opened my eyes to this petite, ballsy and bright woman who took over Cosmopolitan, I love this magazine ever more. She had scores of men, and even some women, who were against her vision and did their darnedest to undermine her. Her instincts were spot on and she stayed true to herself; that’s a role model. The entire time I was reading however, I just couldn’t get over how things have gone in circles as far as work place politics. Her sexual promiscuity and forthcoming banter regarding sex would have had her or anyone fired in our current work place climate.
I like that the author used a fictional personal assistant to tell Helen’s story, rather than write revisionist fiction. Rosen used this character’s point of view as our lens into the time, place and happenings of Helen Gurley Brown. She could instill facts into what Alice, the assistant, saw so that the reader really believed in the narrative.
This book reads quickly, especially for me, who knew so little about her and her successes. I immediately bought a used copy of Sex and the Single Girl when I finished the book. This is a great read to pick up this summer when you want a book that grabs you from start to finish. Kudos to the author for another readable, relatable and interesting story.
Quotes I liked:
From now on, every article, movie review, book review, illustration and cartoon will appeal to our girl readers. I’m talking about making her life better. Yummier and sexier.”
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