the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and Buzzfeed among other publications. She was a staff writer at the Wall Street Journal where she covered fashion and film. She lives in New York with her husband, son, and dog.
Lauren Mechling is a senior editor at the Guardian US and has written for the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Slate, The New Yorker online, and Vogue, where she wrote a regular book column. She's worked as a crime reporter and metro columnist for the New York Sun and as features editor at the Wall Street Journal. She is also a young adult novelist. A graduate of Harvard College, she lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her husband and two children.
Dodes and Mechling applied the Page 69 Test to their new novel, The Memo, and reported the following:
If book browsers open to page 69 of The Memo, they will find our protagonist Jenny Green at a kickoff party for her 15th college reunion where she is struggling to put the best spin on her lackluster life. A classmate who remembers Jenny as the cool, carefree rebel she used to be, asks her whether she is married (no) or has kids (no). Jenny tells him she has a boyfriend (who is cheating on her, though she doesn't mention that part) and that she works at a feminist nonprofit (a dead-end hellscape overseen by a raving narcissist, but she leaves that out too). She thinks she might be rescued from the awkwardness when class president Allie Dourous, who now goes by Alessandra D'Ouros, elbows her way in and starts babbling about a gala that she is chairing at the Museum of Modern Art. A gala to which everyone–except Jenny–seems to be invited.Visit Lauren Mechling's website and Rachel Dodes's website.
We had never heard of McLuhan's observation about page 69, but when it comes to our book, the test did not disappoint! Page 69 of The Memo is a set piece that is filled with uncomfortable conversations that encapsulate Jenny's powers of observation and emotional state: she definitely missed the memo. However, to understand the Sliding Doors elements of the book–time travel and wormholes and second chances–you'll have to make it to the next chapter, when Jenny actually gets the memo, and the chance to undo her biggest mistakes. On the whole, though, we are on Team Page 69. The Memo's (comedic) tone and (bittersweet, awkward) flavor definitely come through here. It's a nice amuse bouche before the meal that is The Memo.
Because The Memo is essentially a romantic comedy wrapped in a time-travel novel, the plot unfolds in two parallel timelines: One shows Jenny stuck in her real, regret-filled life, while the other reveals what her days and years would have been like had she received a magical Memo. Because of the compare-and-contrast aspect of the book, the Page 69 Test is, of course, limited in its ability to offer the full magic carpet ride of the book, but we feel it does a good job setting the tone and enabling readers to understand Jenny's central conflict. But we urge readers to stick around and skip through a portal or two.
--Marshal Zeringue
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