Woof. This book. I loved it, and I loved the narrator’s voice. Darkly funny + biting at times. There are content warnings for sexual assault and sexual harassment, and if you are an old millennial and started your career in the late nineties/early aughts you might be a little bit triggered regardless. I was. Our unnamed protagonist graduated from Harvard and has moved back to Los Angeles, hoping to get a job in television. She lands an entry-level position at a major TV network “XBC.” She is smart, hard working, resourceful… the daughter of a feminist attorney. At first, she loves her work environment. But as time goes on there are allegations of sexual harassment and abuse. At one point she experiences her own assault. The book is all to real; an exploration of the true cost of being a woman in a male-dominated workplace. The toll it takes to be successful. The idea that you can speak up (as we are so often told to do) and ruin your career or stay silent, be complicit, and move up the ranks. Is it ever worth it? This was at times very hard to read, but overall I really loved it. A spot on look at the me-too era, extremely sharp observations… the sort of book you think about for weeks after you put it down.
Author: Isabel Kaplan
