Ghosting: A Double Life

By Jennie Erdal

Book Overview

When Jennie Erdal was hired to edit a flamboyant London publisher's Russian books in translation, she was happy to be able to commute from her home in Scotland. Soon, however, she was also secretly... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1400079551
• ISBN13: 9781400079551
• Release Date: July 2006
• Publisher: Anchor Books
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.52 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.2" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Charming and genuinely funny, isn't it?

This is one of those novels that continued on in my mind after the last page. I couldn't help wondering what kind of backlash hit Jennie Erdal after revealing her boss, "Tiger" as a zany, time-obsessed megalomaniac. Are she and Tiger still friends? Does he hate her? Is he really that opposed to poo in the loo? I found a lot of Tiger's quirks quite endearing. My favorite being his use of the question, "isn't it?" at the end of his statements. In example, he would say something like, "I start all my girls at 5,000 pounds, isn't it?" This made me laugh every time.

Wit, Poetry, Romance, Travel, Sex, Money & now a Name

This is such a lovely, lyrical book that I finished reading it and immediately started to read it again. The author may shock and amuse her reader, delight and tease her employer, but above all she displays a joy for language and words that is absolutely enchanting for everyone. I hope to read more from her, but please, no more sex scenes! The author is so transparently uncomfortable writing them for her employer that it made you squirm just reading about her imaginative expoits to avoid them. Truly a professional's professional!!

An interesting look at the experience of ghostwriting

Every writer must wonder what it would be like to "ghostwrite" a book. Jennie Erdal shows us how to do it --- how to write reviews, articles, letters, essays, and novels using another's byline. A glutton for punishment, and in need of a paycheck, she agrees to write the memoirs of her employer, an English publisher she calls "Tiger." GHOSTING is a finale to the years she spent writing for and about him. She proves her prowess as a gifted writer, and one to expect more of in the future. Erdal's first meeting with Tiger is a vivid description of a gentleman outfitted with elaborate taste in dress as well as language. She's a writer with credit for the translation from Russian of Boris Pasternak's memoirs. Tiger's purpose in Oxford that day is to purchase a painting from Pasternak's estate, one that depicts scenes from his own childhood. But Josephine Pasternak has stated that none will be sold. Tiger, with the exuberance of a gifted womanizer, replies, "She'll sell to me." And she did. Erdal's home is in Scotland, but her job as ghostwriter takes her to London, Frankfurt and the Dordogne landscape, in France. Much of Tiger's dialogue, or monologue when directing his vast traveling entourage, is italicized in French. At times, the reader may be glad to have a faint knowledge of written French phrases. However, body language and place description are sufficient to orient one to its purposes. These, Erdal pens with ease. Her use of simile and metaphor is an excellent rainbow in the often tumultuous rainstorm of descriptive verbiage. She loves language and is not afraid to demonstrate that fact with colorful detail. Tiger's demands are heavy. He is surrounded by a bevy of young women he employs for his tiniest whims. His eccentricities and phobias are numerous. The author is kind, however, and offers his truly genuine benevolence on the opposite side of the palate. Tiger seeks acclaim in his field as an author in addition to his publishing success. Eventually, he coerces Erdal to write a novel, with his name as author. His propensity for sexual clarity is a roadblock in the authorship process. Erdal's greatest difficulty with the book is to write the sex scenes in the manner he demands. In its final draft, the book is received with mixed, but generally favorable, acclaim. When she is asked for a second novel, Erdal takes stock of her place in Tiger's stable and of her own changed lifestyle, newly remarried. Her second husband is never named but duly noted as a player. Likewise, the publisher is simply "Tiger." Funding of his extravagant lifestyle eventually takes its toll on the eccentric man. Funds are dwindling and tempers are short. His ghostwriter finds herself at opposite viewpoints with her employer and sees that they "began to move against one another. The finely balanced symbiosis was under siege." When Erdal announced her retirement, the publishing empire came to an end. Tiger's long reign as mogul finished with the final close of the Hou

A Real Treasure

The love letter in the first few pages is beautifully breath taking! She writes extremely well. NPR did a stunning interview with her just a few weeks ago. Highly recommended!

Inside Look at Ghostwriting...

This inside look at ghostwriting is fascinating and believable. The author writes extremely well, keeping one's interest throughout the book, and lending credence that she indeed ghostwrote for this famous man.