Kathleen Rooney
Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk by Kathleen Rooney celebrates the life and achievements of Margaret Fishbank, a 1930s highly successful advertising copywriter known for quirky, offbeat, and humorous poems. In the Author’s Note, Rooney describes how delving into Fishbank’s archives inspired her to create her fictional character, Lillian Boxfish.
It is 1984 on New Year’s Eve. Eighty-five-year-old Lillian Boxfish decides to walk along the streets of her beloved Manhattan to have dinner at her favorite restaurant as she has done every New Year’s Eve for decades. Wearing her mink coat, brightly colored lipstick, and with a hat perched on her head, Lillian heads out undeterred by the seamy streets of Manhattan or the possible dangers lurking around each corner.
As she strolls, she reminisces about her life—her arrival in Manhattan, her success at R. H. Macy’s which eventually led to her being the highest paid advertising woman in America, marriage, motherhood, divorce, and subsequent nervous breakdown. Her journey back in time includes some of the historical highlights of twentieth century America, including prohibition, AIDS, and rap music.
Lillian’s eye for detail is commendable. She observes various landmarks along the way, decrying some of the changes in her once familiar environment. She pauses in front of buildings, recalling their significance. Here is the first apartment she shared with her good friend, Helen. This is the restaurant where she has celebrated New Year’s Eve for decades. And here is where she and her husband ate their last meal together while finalizing their divorce.
Lillian does more than just walk and reminisce. She interacts with strangers, engaging them in conversations prompted by her insatiable appetite to learn about people and their experiences. Strangers reciprocate with a solicitous concern for her welfare as an elderly woman traipsing alone at night on the streets of Manhattan. Her eye for detail enables her to home in on their personalities. That same eye for detail knows the nooks and crannies of Manhattan, its past and present, its good and bad. Through Lillian’s eyes, the city comes alive, basking in her love.
Unfolding in the first-person point of view, Lillian’s voice is delightful, funny, energetic, piercingly honest, and sparkling with an acerbic wit tempered with generosity and kindness toward those in need. She is charismatic, charming, entertaining, and can talk herself out of almost any sticky situation. But she is not without flaws, which renders her a more believable character.
What makes Lillian Boxfish such a delight is her appetite for life, and her sheer determination to walk the streets of her beloved city, undaunted and unafraid. Eighty-five-year-old Lillian Boxfish will not let anyone or anything deter her from doing what she loves best. And for that she deserves our praise. And for crafting an endearing portrait of an unforgettable octogenarian, Kathleen Rooney deserves even greater praise.
Highly recommended.