The Long-Winded Lady: Notes from the New Yorker

Maeve Brennan was an astonishing observer of a moment of mid-century Manhattan. Broadway will never smell the same after reading her evocative profiles from The New Yorker. I wish this book would have been long-winded. I could have read a thousand of these happily.

This exquisite book of short essays is for you. She captures New York of the `60s in her highly focused vignettes. A long-time writer for The New Yorker, these sketches were featured in the "Talk of the Town" section of the magazine always beginning with "Our friend, the long-winded lady, has written us as follows:" I always looked forward to them and vaguely thought the author was likely to be a well-heeled matron of impressive family lineage with a flair for turning words. My impression was totally incorrect. Ms. Brennan emigrated from Ireland at age 17, never had much money or security and viewed herself as "a traveler in residence."She gave personalities to streets, buildings, and stores as well as people. " Sixth Avenue possesses a quality that some people acquire, sometimes quite suddenly, which dooms it and them to be loved only at the moment they are being looked at for the very last time." Her focus is keen and unblinking, but she sometimes infuses the scene and the people with the magic of her imagination. Her word portraits are so incisive, I often felt that I was sitting beside her seeing a man "morose and dignified, as though humiliation had taken him unawares, but not unprepared."There is a certain sadness and loneliness in Ms. Brennan's peripheral outsider remarks, but you never feel pity only admiration for an author that always looks outward to keep from looking inward.

Maeve Brennan's book is a collection of perfectly polished little gems. Writing just doesn't get any better than what you'll find here. "Howard's Apartment" is a piece that you won't just read; you'll also see, hear and feel it. Follow this wonderful writer as she leads you through a New York City that no longer exists.

She is a marvel, a gem. Each of these little expositions is so rich... You're walking down a street, when suddenly, gracefully, she turns a corner and glances into a window of our common soul, and describes what is reflected therein. Her observations are touching, without maudlin sentiment, dead-on accurate, and her language clear and hard. It is more a book about New Yorkers than New York; what I mean is that there is a certain approach to life that is genuinely cosmopolitan without being especially clever or reckless or cute, and we who love reading have a deep affinity for the well-tempered, understated observation that Maeve Brennan perfected. This is one of the two or three best reading experiences I've had all year.

I am so impressed with this book. Brennan's eye for detail, her descriptions of New York, her own loneliness are written in prose that any writer would envy. I have recommended this book to a couple of friends and also will suggest it for my bookclub. Brennan's writing sometimes reminds me of an Edward Hopper painting-the way she captures the light from a room across the way, her observations of situations in restaurants, hotel lobbies, and subways. I read somewhere that she had a terrible breakdown and her last column was written in the early 80's. After that she was seen wandering the streets of NY. I bought this book on a recommendation and never expected to be so moved. Also the book brings the reader back to the 60's.