---
product_id: 21501224
title: "My Salinger Year: A Memoir"
price: "$970"
currency: MXN
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 9
url: https://www.desertcart.mx/products/21501224-my-salinger-year-a-memoir
store_origin: MX
region: Mexico
---

# My Salinger Year: A Memoir

**Price:** $970
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

## Quick Answers

- **What is this?** My Salinger Year: A Memoir
- **How much does it cost?** $970 with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.mx](https://www.desertcart.mx/products/21501224-my-salinger-year-a-memoir)

## Best For

- Customers looking for quality international products

## Why This Product

- Free international shipping included
- Worldwide delivery with tracking
- 15-day hassle-free returns

## Description

My Salinger Year: A Memoir [Rakoff, Joanna] on desertcart.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. My Salinger Year: A Memoir

Review: My Favorite Memoir of the Year - Though the title mentions Salinger, he is not the main focus of My Salinger Year. Sure, he makes appearances, but this is more of a coming of age story about a young girl trying to make it in NYC and a company trying to adjust to the modern world. You do not have to be a Salinger fan to enjoy this book. I was pleasantly surprised by this and ended up loving this book...enough to push it onto my upcoming Best Books of 2014 List and my Holiday Gift Guide! At first, I kept thinking Rakoff was living in the 1950's rather than the 1990's. The smoking in the office, the typewriters (and accompanying lack of computers), and the huge Dictaphone contraptions all confounded me until I read this quote from Joanna's friend, Jenny... "But really the Agency is like something out of Dickens. You step inside, and it's like you've time traveled back a hundred years." Then, I realized I was supposed to have been Jedi mind tricked into thinking I was watching an episode of "Mad Men"! However, this element was the source of a lot of the story's humor and eccentricity. What really made me love My Salinger Year was Rakoff's tone and writing style (hence the number of quotes in this review!). She writes with humor, irony, and an appreciation for the ridiculous. On her increasingly irrelevant boss: "My boss, as far as I knew, had no children, and she - like a certain breed of adult - appeared to have never been a child herself, but rather to have materialized on earth fully formed, in a taupe-hued pantsuit, cigarette in hand." I especially loved her commentary on Don, her Communist boyfriend who tries so hard to be "authentic" that he ends up just being ridiculous. "He surrounded himself with fools - the broken, the failed or failing, the sad and confused - so that he might be their king. Which, obviously, made him nothing but the king of fools." "Don had refused to come home with me for my grandmother's birthday, citing his opposition to the tradition, but - here again - I suspected that this alleged ideological stance might be simply a smoke screen for either poverty or cheapness, that he didn't want to spend the money on a bus ticket, not to mention a gift for my grandmother." Though I'm not a devoted Salinger fan and the only thing of his that I've read is The Catcher in the Rye (and I've only read that once...in high school), I did enjoy his eccentricity and found the humor in all the intricate rules that surrounded the Agency's "handling" of him. I also enjoyed learning some of the history behind his writing and am now more likely to reread The Catcher in the Rye at some point. Rakoff's writing and the coming-of-age element to her story made this one of my favorite books of the year and my favorite memoir of the year. Check out my blog, Sarah's Book Shelves, for more reviews.
Review: Well written, insightful book - This was an enjoyable coming of age book about a recent college grad trying to find her path. Although I attended a Texas school and began my career there versus NYC, I found the story relatable. I remember the feeling of 'now what?,' the shock of paying my own bills on a low salary and trying to determine if my college boyfriend was 'the one.' I could also relate to her love for literature, sadness over changing friendships and shifting priorities. I had also re-read Salinger ( and several other favorite authors) as an adult and, like the author, saw the books differently each phase of my life. My only complaint was that I never really understood what motivated her to leave College Boyfriend or Husband in the first place. While the main focus of the book was her life while working at The Agency, I still would have liked a couple sentences on the topic. It seemed like she was just kind of floating along wherever life took her without a lot of consideration. Maybe she was unsure why herself? Other than that small issue,it was a very well written, insightful book.

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Best Sellers Rank | #910,271 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #198 in Journalist Biographies #1,791 in Women's Biographies #7,126 in Memoirs (Books) |
| Customer Reviews | 4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars (1,299) |
| Dimensions  | 5.2 x 0.59 x 7.9 inches |
| Edition  | Reprint |
| ISBN-10  | 030794798X |
| ISBN-13  | 978-0307947987 |
| Item Weight  | 7.2 ounces |
| Language  | English |
| Print length  | 272 pages |
| Publication date  | May 12, 2015 |
| Publisher  | Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group |

## Images

![My Salinger Year: A Memoir - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71fIrI3uKJL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ My Favorite Memoir of the Year
*by S***S on November 20, 2014*

Though the title mentions Salinger, he is not the main focus of My Salinger Year. Sure, he makes appearances, but this is more of a coming of age story about a young girl trying to make it in NYC and a company trying to adjust to the modern world. You do not have to be a Salinger fan to enjoy this book. I was pleasantly surprised by this and ended up loving this book...enough to push it onto my upcoming Best Books of 2014 List and my Holiday Gift Guide! At first, I kept thinking Rakoff was living in the 1950's rather than the 1990's. The smoking in the office, the typewriters (and accompanying lack of computers), and the huge Dictaphone contraptions all confounded me until I read this quote from Joanna's friend, Jenny... "But really the Agency is like something out of Dickens. You step inside, and it's like you've time traveled back a hundred years." Then, I realized I was supposed to have been Jedi mind tricked into thinking I was watching an episode of "Mad Men"! However, this element was the source of a lot of the story's humor and eccentricity. What really made me love My Salinger Year was Rakoff's tone and writing style (hence the number of quotes in this review!). She writes with humor, irony, and an appreciation for the ridiculous. On her increasingly irrelevant boss: "My boss, as far as I knew, had no children, and she - like a certain breed of adult - appeared to have never been a child herself, but rather to have materialized on earth fully formed, in a taupe-hued pantsuit, cigarette in hand." I especially loved her commentary on Don, her Communist boyfriend who tries so hard to be "authentic" that he ends up just being ridiculous. "He surrounded himself with fools - the broken, the failed or failing, the sad and confused - so that he might be their king. Which, obviously, made him nothing but the king of fools." "Don had refused to come home with me for my grandmother's birthday, citing his opposition to the tradition, but - here again - I suspected that this alleged ideological stance might be simply a smoke screen for either poverty or cheapness, that he didn't want to spend the money on a bus ticket, not to mention a gift for my grandmother." Though I'm not a devoted Salinger fan and the only thing of his that I've read is The Catcher in the Rye (and I've only read that once...in high school), I did enjoy his eccentricity and found the humor in all the intricate rules that surrounded the Agency's "handling" of him. I also enjoyed learning some of the history behind his writing and am now more likely to reread The Catcher in the Rye at some point. Rakoff's writing and the coming-of-age element to her story made this one of my favorite books of the year and my favorite memoir of the year. Check out my blog, Sarah's Book Shelves, for more reviews.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Well written, insightful book
*by R***R on June 22, 2014*

This was an enjoyable coming of age book about a recent college grad trying to find her path. Although I attended a Texas school and began my career there versus NYC, I found the story relatable. I remember the feeling of 'now what?,' the shock of paying my own bills on a low salary and trying to determine if my college boyfriend was 'the one.' I could also relate to her love for literature, sadness over changing friendships and shifting priorities. I had also re-read Salinger ( and several other favorite authors) as an adult and, like the author, saw the books differently each phase of my life. My only complaint was that I never really understood what motivated her to leave College Boyfriend or Husband in the first place. While the main focus of the book was her life while working at The Agency, I still would have liked a couple sentences on the topic. It seemed like she was just kind of floating along wherever life took her without a lot of consideration. Maybe she was unsure why herself? Other than that small issue,it was a very well written, insightful book.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Thoroughly enjoyable, for readers who cherish reading.
*by C***P on December 5, 2024*

So good I read it in 2014 and again in 2024. It’s the 90s, Rakoff, a young, aspiring writer, an eager new editorial assistant to an aloof agent at a prestigious Manhattan literary agency with all the trappings of an old school office as in typewriters and Dictaphones, not a computer in sight. Her stern boss isn’t the sort to take her new associate under her wings, rather, she assigns her task with strict orders. One of the agency’s long-term clients, the one and only J.D. Salinger, who calls the office frequently (they handle his mail, queries for appearances, from fans) and the reclusive author isn’t to be bothered with any minutia, put straight through to her boss, no questions asked, no chit chat. If she happened to be awestruck, forget about it. But that’s not how things went down. Rakoff and Salinger developed their own rapport over the phone and simultaneously, she took it upon herself, instead of simply writing polite standard form thank you letters to his admirers, typically young fans whose work had in various ways changed their lives, she wrote back thoughtful exchanges, knowing how meaningful it would be to them. Rakoff’s memoir isn’t solely dedicated to Salinger, although if that’s what you’re looking for, you’ll be plenty satisfied with her tender, colorful, stories about the literary legend. She also regales readers in this coming of age as she navigates life in NYC post-college; working for a feisty boss, controlling boyfriend, writers who influenced her.

---

## Why Shop on Desertcart?

- 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016
- 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories
- 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price
- 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members)
- 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection
- ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews

**Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.mx/products/21501224-my-salinger-year-a-memoir](https://www.desertcart.mx/products/21501224-my-salinger-year-a-memoir)

---

*Product available on Desertcart Mexico*
*Store origin: MX*
*Last updated: 2026-02-13*