I loved and hated this book in equal measures. It was difficult to separate the interesting plot from the weight of the reality of being a female that was so well described. I read it in small bites, angered on my way to work on the train in one moment, and validated at having my feelings voiced at another.
These are a couple of quotes that spoke to me:
" We will say this: none of us thought that motherhood and work could exist harmoniously If anything, they were forces, diametrically opposed. We were the prisoners, strapped to the medieval stretching device, having enjoyed the rare privilege of both loving and having chose our torturers."
"Because, whatever happened, we were the defaults, the ones stuck with the task of figuring out what to do about, well, everything."
The characters were not that well fleshed out, nor relatable to me, but they did serve the purpose of standing in for stereotypes that are very real, and their relationships were entertaining and complicated.
There is the type A Sloane who speaks her mind and is the highest ranking female, but still passed over for being female. There is new mother Grace, struggling with post partum depression, who finds work more validating than motherhood. There is Archie, a newly divorced woman struggling to move on as her ex dates a younger woman who overlaps with her friend circles. There is the office cleaner Rosa who works hard, and lives in a class below these other executive women while raising a son on her own. And then in comes Kate, the new hire, who left her previous employment under unclear circumstances, and tries to find her place between the new male boss and the females that stick together.
It was worth the read, and it was speaking to the choir for me! It goes to some pretty dark places that are all too real. If I had a man in my life, I would insist he reads it. It goes a long way to explain how life feels to many of us, and is a real myth-buster for the entitlement many men have no idea they are carrying.
So for the Bianca's who make bigger news and finally have equal pay ($3.85 million at the US Open, just like Rafael!)
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