I received an advanced digital copy of this book from the author, publisher and NetGalley.com. Thanks to all for the opportunity to read and review. The opinions expressed in this review are my own.

The Operator was a good read, engaging and entertaining. Pacing was a bit slow, but I could see how the author wanted to build the intensity of the moment.

4 out of 5 stars.

This book has a really promising premise, and I loved reading about the operators listening into calls and gossiping. The book lost momentum really quickly though, and it didn't really pick up. The pacing didn't work for me.

I read this book a while back (as you can see the 2020 Archival date. However this book did not catch me, and never stuck with me. I eventually DNF'd the book. The characters were not memorable and although it had it's niche audience, I was not one of them..

Gretchen Berg’s The Operator is set in a small town in 1950s Ohio, where a telephone operator listens in on a phone call that will change her life. The main character reminded me of Elizabeth Strout’s Olive Kitteridge, and it has been recommended for fans of TV’s The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange of an honest review.

I was disappointed when I finished reading this book and that made me sad. I wanted to like the book since it has such a good premise,but unfortunately there were too many characters that sometimes felt disconnected one to another. Most of them i couldn't relate to and so.e were unlikable. I couldn’t symphatize much with Vivian the protagonist of the story..

Vivian Dalton is a switch operator in the 1950s in Wooster Ohio, she likes to evesdrop ontje conversation that come thru the switchboard until she hears a shocking secret that involves her family and will change her whole life.

Even though the whole story ties up at the end of the book it wasn’t enough for me to be able.to give it more than two stars.

I did enjoy reading this book, however there were some parts where it was too slow. I sometimes got confused as to which character was which, therefore had to keep going back to reread parts of the book.

This is an excellent book. It brings up a lot of feelings - a lot of reactions to what happens to the characters. You really feel for Vivian and Charlotte. A lot happens in that town and everyone knows it! Great writing and plot. Great characters.

I grew up in a small town with a party line so I enjoyed this book as it took me back to that time - I had a lady listening to us all the time to get some good ole gossip. So this book with Vivian, the operator, was very entertaining for me to read. Parts were funny, parts were surprising, and there are recipes inserted etc. which makes it a bit fun and different. Good read!

In the early 50s, the switchboard operators in Wooster, Ohio, love nothing more than to eavesdrop on their neighbors' conversations and gossip about what they learn. Vivian Dalton is no different and always longs to hear something scandalous. But on the night of December 15th, she wishes she hadn't. The secret that's shared by a stranger on the line threatens to rip the rug of Vivian's life from under her.

The Operator describes life in the 50s in a fun way that makes it interesting to read. The story builds up to revealing Vivian's secret, which is quite scandalous for a small Ohio town in the 50s. I didn't care for Vivian; she was too vain and petty. This made it hard for me to have any empathy for her predicaments and, ultimately, when she discovered the details of the life-altering secret. The Operator is an okay read, but I didn’t enjoy this book as much as I wanted.

This started out as a fun read, but the characters were all so unlikable it made it hard to stick with the story.

This small town tale of a woman working as a telephone operator originally attracted me for its comparisons to a 1950's Mrs Maisel which I enjoy. I would have liked to see more character development in order to make them come to life. Not a bad story overall but not one that stays with you.

All of us have played the classic children's game Telephone growing up. One person whispers a secret to another, and the secret grows and evolves as it is passed down the "telephone line." Gretchen Berg's debut novel The Operator plays on this concept with a 1950's telephone operator lurking on the line and hearing something that she shouldn't. The unraveling of this secret turns her small Ohio town into a minefield, with secrets popping off here and there, and entire lives being upended.

For a debut novel, The Operator is a solid entry into the women's fiction genre, with an intriguing premise and memorable setting. Where it falls short is in its execution - I was disconnected from The Operator's plot and characters, and often felt often like too much information was thrown at me subversively throughout the book. This often made it difficult for me to stay engaged with the plot and keep track of what was going on. I would have preferred a simpler, intimate novel that showcased more of what life was like in the 50's for women, especially working women, such as the main character Vivian, as well as the daily ins and outs of being a telephone operator - an antiquated job in today's day and age, and one that most readers are likely to be unfamiliar with.

With that being said, The Operator is gossipy and scandalous (by 1950's standards) and really showcases the worst that people have to offer. Filled with despicable characters and exposing the dark side of some people's attraction to pettiness, jealousy, and drama, The Operator encapsulates small town spectacles in one dirty little package.

I really liked this book. It was very fun to read about times past & about the gossiping that ensued.

I enjoyed this book and reading a story about the time of life when the phone service was so different than it is now. I was invested in the plot to want to keep reading to find out how everything turned out in the lives of the characters . Gretchen berg took a part of the history of the phone service and made it into a captivating read. I will read more books by this author!

"The Operator" was a disappointing read. There were too many characters going in too many directions. The Flora and Gilbert storyline was absurd. And Edward just "made my ass tired."

I really enjoyed the hidden suspense in the story. Eventually it’s revealed to you but you get to enjoy a lot of back story on the way. Really liked the character development so much like a small town.

"The Operator" appealed to me with it's setting and context. I read a lot of historical fiction but I've not read much about this era or profession and found both to be interesting. Vivian, the title character, is quirky and trying to belong in a society of women who know everyone's business. She overhears a conversation at the switchboard, however, that impacts her own life, and that turns things on it's head. Vivian becomes obsessed with this news and if consumes her, except when the book jumps over the resolution and discusses it in hindsight with daughter Charlotte rather than as it happens. From then on it was hard to stick with the book as the priorities seemed out of whack. The connections of many characters involved in the shocking revelation (as revealed in the final chapters) was confusing and hard to follow. The topics of sister relationships, societal roles, and even life in the '50s all had great potential, but fell short in the end.

I was personally not a huge fan of this book. The way it went back and forth in the narrative was not easy to follow, and it just didn't meet my expectations. I think the writing was good. I just don't think the story line was as exciting as I would have liked.

If you've ever found the culture of the 1950s and 60s switchboard operator particularly fascinating, this book will hit all the marks.
Vivian, an operator for a small Ohio telephone company, enjoys listening in on the calls of the people in her teeny town. But what she doesn't anticipate is what it means to be at the center of juicy town gossip, and that is exactly what happens when one day she listens to a conversation between the town's richest busybodys and a woman she doesn't recognize, that directly involves her and her husband.
What follows is a quasi comedy tangled up with drama and tragedy as Vivian attempts to get to he bottom of who made the call and how to quickly perform some kind of damage control.
Berg's novel is chock-full of colorful characters and small town pecadillos which make The Operator a page-turning read.

I enjoyed this book and gave it 3 stars. I usually don't read a lot of general fiction because I like to be guessing about what is going to happen. This book did surprise me on that because it did you give you some guessing elements. The reason for the rating is because it was confusing in parts and it jumped around. I liked the ending if you just left out the epilogue. There were a lot of secrets and no communication between the character's. I did like the story line. It kind of had a historical fiction element to it and this I enjoyed.