![]() Rose and Odalie were two separate individuals, first of all. Here's my understanding - and I'm hoping typing it out will help me make sense of it. ![]() Would love to hear reactions from others! The last line of the book "two can play this game" is Rose accepting the challenge and the new game of becoming Odalie. Odalie does the same thing when she sheds her Ginerva persona. She is now "free" to fully become Odalie, the charming, manipulative gal who can get herself out of any sticky situation. She then, manipulates the Lt Detective into kissing her, so she can grab his knife, bob her hair (the last physicall difference between her and Odalie) and fully embrace her "other" self. ![]() The brooch was the realization to Rose, that in order to get out of the mental institution, she would need to let go of the notion she's some innocent victim, and fully embrace her "other"/dark half. "Odalie said you would want it." The brooch is Rose's clue that Odalie knew from the start, that Rose wasn't the perfectly innocent typists she portrayed. Odalie/Ginerva kills Teddy, pins it on Rose, and uses all the info she learned about Rose to give herself a third identity, leaving the real Rose to clean up the pieces.Īt the end, what does the Lt Detective give Rose? The brooch. Notice that Odalie doesn't start earnestly learning exact details of Rose's past until she realizes her identity as Odalie has hit a dead end, with the reappearance of Teddy. She entices Rose with lavish clothes, lifestyle, parties, etc. Rose slowly gets sucked into the web Odalie weaves. ![]() I completely believe Odalie and Ginerva were the same person Ginerva invents Odalie as her escape from life as Ginerva) and that Rose is conned into giving her personality to Odalie/Ginerva, through the course of their relationship. Will the dull typist, Rose, return the brooch (aka do the right thing?) or, keep it (thus exposing a secret desire for the forbidden?) We know Rose makes the choice to keep the brooch, and starts herself down a dangerous path of slow and complete corruption by Odalie. When Odalie shows up at the precinct (the perfect spot to work if you're looking to sweep any legal trouble with your speakeasy under the rug), Odalie intentionally drops her brooch as a test. As the two women navigate between the sparkling underworld of speakeasies by night, and their work at the station by day, Rose is drawn fully into Odalie’s high stakes world and her fascination with Odalie turns into an obsession from which she may never recover.I believe it all comes back to the brooch. But prudish Rose is stuck in the fading light of yesteryear, searching for the nurturing companionship that eluded her childhood and clinging to the Victorian ideal of sisterhood.īut when glamorous Odalie, a new girl, joins the typing pool, despite her best intentions Rose falls under Odalie’s spell. Now women bob their hair short like men, they smoke, they go to speakeasies. Gone are the Victorian standards of what is acceptable. It is a new era for women, and New York City is a confusing time for Rose. And while she may hear about shootings, knifings, and crimes of passion, as soon as she leaves that room she is once again the weaker sex, best suited for making coffee. The criminals admit to their crimes, and like a high priestess, Rose records their every word. Rose Baker is a typist in the New York City Police Department on the lower east side. One of the most fascinating, unreliable narrators you’ll read this year, for fans of The Talented Mr.
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