This book kept me interested from the beginning. Vivian is a small town telephone operator whose claim to fame is knowing everything that's going on in her town. This is because she listens in on the calls she connects at the switchboard. One day her life is turned upside down when she overhears something that concerns her. There are many twists and turns, along with another side story/mystery, that kept me reading long into the night. It is a funny, charming and redemptive story.

This is like Mrs. Kravitz from Bewitched in book form. Vivian is a telephone operator in her small Ohio town and she takes pride in listening in on other people's conversations until one day she hears a rumor about herself that turns out to be true. I wish Vivian spent more time just talking things out with her husband and daughter instead of taking on the role of detective. Parts were funny but overall I just got more irritated by Vivian's actions.

The Operator is a fun and quick read, perfect for a day at the beach or a rainy day stuck inside. The book is about a woman that works for the phone company as an operator. Will connecting a call one day she overhears a rumor that directly impacts her and her family. Then she is off to find out the truth. The main character is quirky and very relatable. While enjoyable, there was something not complete about it.

I am not too familiar with the switchboard operator but I was excited to learn more from this book. In the beginning, it felt like Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Vivian Dalton seems very nosy but pretty so it really doesn’t matter if she is smart or not. I wanted to love one character at least in this book, but it didn’t seem anyone is likable. Well, maybe Vivian’s daughter is the only person that I would love to be friends with because she has goals in her life and somewhat independent. I struggled to enjoy the story because there were too many scandals that distracted the main ones. I dragged myself to read until the end because I was curious about how the author would end this chaos.

Vivian Dalton is a telephone operator in Wooster, Ohio in the early 50’s. She enjoys her job and, especially, the fact that she can eavesdrop on people’s phone calls. All is good until she overhears a conversation about herself, with information that could change her life or, at the very least, bring embarrassment to her and her family.

The Operator has such an appealing premise for me. The 1950’s are part of my childhood and I grew up in a small town. We had our share of characters and, I’m sure, gossip. So, I hoped the characters in this book would be well-developed and interesting, the setting lively, and the plot engaging. Instead, the characters are shallow and vindictive, and much of the plot revolves around petty and inconsequential issues. Surely not everyone in a small mid-western town is petty and superficial, are they? Although the author touches on some serious matters, such as bigotry, it is only a glancing blow. And, throughout the book the storyline seems to wander and even stalls, there are random recipes and poetry that seem to come out of thin air, and the main character becomes increasingly annoying.

I think the book would see a big improvement if the storyline was a bit tighter and sharper, with better-developed characters that are interesting and multi-dimensional. With this said, the author appears to have a talent for writing and there are moments that the book could be interesting and entertaining. For that reason, I have given The Operator 3 stars.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a copy of this book for review.

The Operator is Set in 1950s in Wooster, Ohio.
The Operator is a about eavesdropping.
Vivian Dalton is a switchboard operator and uses her position to spy on callers in the neighborhood.

Mostly harmless until Vivian hears something she shouldn't and her life is forever changed.

I loved Vivian's character and the pace of the novel was perfect.

A quite enjoyable debut novel.

Occasionally you read a description of a book and it just sounds too juicy to pass up. That was this book for me. A telephone operator in the 1950s listens in on the conversations of the townspeople. Vivian Dalton prides herself on "knowing" people. But what happens when the bit of gossip she overhears one day involves her own family and she discovers that she doesn't really know people at all?

I really loved that this novel kept me guessing. I wasn't sure, at any given moment, if this was going to become a psychological thriller, an example of a great unreliable narrator, or a demonstration of character development.

Berg's The Operator is one that will be best read without knowing too much going in. However, this much I can tell you - if you are into more fast paced books with a lot of action, this one may not be for you. If you enjoy books that are slow to develop, but totally worth the wait, then pick this one up!

Thank you to the Book Club Girl Early Read Program, HaperCollinsPublishers, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review!

The Operator had a lot going on – but what small town doesn’t have its share of drama and scandal and gossip?

I picked this one up because of the description: Nobody knows the people of Wooster, Ohio, better than switchboard operator Vivian Dalton, and she’d be the first to tell you that. She calls it intuition. Her teenage daughter, Charlotte, calls it eavesdropping. But as Vivian is about to be reminded, in a small town like Wooster, one secret usually leads to another. . . .

Unfortunately, for the first third of the book, I felt lost – like I missed some part of the plot that was important, but no matter how much I kept backing up chapters and re-reading sections, I never felt like I was making heads or tails out of the story.

Vivian and her husband are dating, then married, then in upstate New York, and then more than a decade has passed and they are back in Wooster, Ohio. Plus, somewhere in there, Vivian listens in on a call between the town busybody, Betty Miller and an unknown caller and her life turns upside down. Unfortunately for the reader, all we find out about the call is that there’s scandal – and drama. It takes until almost half-way through the book to know what the scandal is that will propel the book forward.

However, what really kept my interest, the short chapters of intriguing story were about the Wayne Building & Loan bank robbers, Flora and Gilbert. Something about them were fascinating from the beginning and the more I learned about them in the tiny bits revealed slowly, made their story all that more interesting.

The Operator by Gretchen Berg isn’t a book I would typically choose to read; it isn’t dark and twisty, and nothing horrifying happens. However, I’m glad I received a free e-copy from NetGalley and HarperCollins Publishers via The Book Club Girls in exchange for my review.

The operator in question is Vivian Dalton, who likes to listen in on the phone calls she connects at work, a habit that nearly proves to be her undoing when she hears a conversation that turns her world upside down and makes her question everything. As she searches for the truth, the story winds its way through the past and present, revealing secrets a little bit at a time, until the end. Watching Vivian learn about not only the people in her life but about herself through the course of this novel was very satisfying and by the end, I found myself kind of in love with all of the characters, even most of the unlikeable ones. I especially liked the incorporation of recipes to the story as Vivian baked her way through her emotions!

Thanks to publisher HarperCollins and Book Club Girl Early Read program for an electronic copy of this book. My thoughts and opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed this book about a woman living in a small town in the early 1950's. The story centers on Vivian Dalton: wife, mother, sister, and telephone operator. Her hobby is gossip so her job in the small town of Wooster, Ohio is perfect. This debut novel was well-written and cleverly plotted - all the pieces fit together, most of the characters are not stereotypes, and motivations are slowly revealed as the story progresses. Put this book on your "to-read" list!

I received this e galley as a part of Book Club Girl Early Read program. I loved every part of this book.
The setting of the 1950's and the small town of Wooster really pulled me in. The details of Vivian's life, her childhood, her family dynamic, and her love interests all worked together to pull me in. While I believed her life to be settled and somewhat boring with her husband, Edward, and daughter and her work, nothing could be farther from the truth. Listening in on phone calls was somewhat of a habit and perk of being an operator. Knowing a little too much of other people's business was a real hazard, and often left Vivian speechless, until it left her steaming!
The way to story comes together it leaves you with a feeling of all of us being connected with very view steps apart, no matter the location or family ties.
Gretchen Berg wrote with such detail and emotion I loved this book. This is so much more than a gossipy small town tale, it's one of love and family and ultimately forgiveness.
I highly recommend this book.

I am very thankful to Harper Collins and Gretchen Berg for the advanced copy of this book for my honest opinion. This is definitely not a book I would have normally picked up, and I am so glad that I requested it on Netgalley. The detail of the history within the alternating timelines is fantastic. I kept wanting to read more and find out what the secret was about Vivian Dalton. This leading to her finding out about other secrets was such an intriguing story line.

Vivian Dalton is a telephone operator who uses her job to eavesdrop on the residents of her small town in Ohio. Until one day, she overhears a secret that turns her life upside down.

This book had an incredibly interesting premise, but was a bit flawed in its execution. While humorous at times, there were too many characters and too many twists and turns to keep up with. And in the end, everything was resolved without actually reaching a resolution, and there were several one-line references that alluded to future plot lines that added nothing and only served to frustrate the reader.

However, I do think this author has a knack for storytelling and will definitely her next book a chance, seeing as this was her debut novel.

I enjoyed this debut novel by Gretchen Berg. Living in a small town I can totally relate to the town with everyone knowing eveyone else's business. I loved the characters and loved envisioning the nosy switchboard operators. The story was the perfect blend of mystery combined with a bit of gossip and humor.

From my blog: Always With a Book:

It's no surprise that I love coming across debut novels and this one was such a delightfully fun look back a time when we didn't all have our own individual phones glued to our hands. I grew up in a house with nine people and remember not even having call waiting, so it was fun reliving this time when switchboard operators were still in existence.

I have lived in small towns all my life and so of course I was intrigued by this book and found it delivered on that end all the way. Add in the idea of eavesdropping and gossip, especially from nosy switchboard operators and I was even more intrigued. This book just pulled me in more and more and I loved the way little bits were dangled over us to keep us reading...I found this to not only build the suspense, but also it kept me frantically flipping those pages to find out just what had happened.

I loved the characters in this book, even the ones that weren't so nice. In a small town, everyone thinks they should know everyone else's business - that's one of the things my husband most despises about small-town living - but it's all fun and games until you are the subject of such gossip. And it was fun finding out that even the high and mighty aren't so immune to the gossip after all.

This story was fun to read and quite cleverly crafted. It went back and forth in time to lay out all the pieces and ensure we had the foundation in place so that as the layers started to be peeled back, we understood just what we were learning. It was just the perfect balance of mystery with equal parts humor and gossip and I found I couldn't read it fast enough. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and will certainly be keeping an eye out for what Gretchen Berg writes next!

This book was a historical fiction read about Vivian who is a phone operator who one day listens into conversations she connects and she hears some gossip about her own family. It's about her reactions and her development in the storyline that keeps you reading. It's fun interesting read that kept me turning the pages. Enjoyable and light. I would read this author again.

Thank you to the Book Club Girl Early Read program and to Harper Collins for the advanced copy; all opinions are my own.

The Operator by Gretchen Berg is a lighthearted historical novel about gossip, eavesdropping and scandal. Vivian Dalton works as a telephone operator at Ohio Bell. She began eavesdropping on conversations at an earlier age and working at the telephone company allowed her to continue this hobby. Late one December evening, Vivian overhears a conversation between the hoity toity Betty Miller and a stranger. The stranger tells Betty a secret about Vivian’s family which, if it gets out, will embarrass Vivian. After getting over her anger, Vivian sets out to learn if the information is accurate. While the story plays out in the present, we get to learn about Vivian’s growing up years and her relationship with her family. We also learn about Betty Miller’s family and the robbery of the bank managed by Betty’s father, J. Ellis Reed. This side story does not make sense until the end of the book. I had a hard time getting into The Operator. The first chapter did not pull me in (it was a turn off). I found The Operator easier to read as I got further into the story. I also think I had trouble because it is hard to like the main character (or any of them for that matter). I felt the author captured the time period with the fashions, vehicles, the language, and events. I like how Gretchen Berg included Orson Welles’s “War of the Worlds’ Martian invasion broadcast. She captured the panic it created beautifully. I did feel The Operator was too long. It could have benefited from some judicious editing. This is Gretchen Berg’s debut novel which is loosely based on her grandmother (author’s note at end explains about newspaper articles and poems included). There are some recipes included in The Operator. The Operator is a blithe story about rampant rumormongering, endless eavesdropping, superior standards, and harmful hearsay.

I felt this book was so-so. It took me a while to get into the flow of it - I spent most of the book feeling disconnected from the characters. I will however be giving the author another shot seeing as this is a debut novel. 3 stars

Although the premise seemed interesting this book fell short for me. I didn't really connect with any of the characters and I felt the story was a little jumbled. What I did like was Vivian's character growth. Being a debut novel by this author I feel like she has potential and I look forward to her future work.

The Operator by Gretchen Berg was mostly the musings of a woman dissatisfied with her life, her job as a telephone operator, and with her marriage. There were several story threads in the book and there were some surprises along the way. If you love stories about unhappy people in small towns, this is the book for you. I found it depressing and kind of a waste of time, if you want to know the truth.

Vivian grew up in the 1950s and had to leave school after eighth grade in order to help support her family. He parents were an odd match of a semi-depressed German mother and an Irish father who drank too much, but was a loving father. She eventually married a nice guy who was interested in a traditional small town life and they moved away for his job. After a few years they came back home and Vivian went back to being a phone operator. She was full of envy directed at people she took to be her betters and her main pastime was listening in on phone calls and collecting gossip, until one day the gossip was about her and her marriage.

I received a free ARC of The Operator from Netgalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions and interpretations contained herein are solely my own. #theoperator #netgalley