toryhallelujah's review
2.0
A bunch of boring, whiny, selfish corporate jagoffs all afflicted with middle-class malaise. Lucy's footnotes and Leo's /insane/ use of /italics/ became nails on a chalkboard REALLY quickly.
Please tell me that people weren't really so obsessed with custom computer tones in 2010. Smartphones existed by then. Wtf.
Please tell me that people weren't really so obsessed with custom computer tones in 2010. Smartphones existed by then. Wtf.
heathereads's review
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? No
2.75
The footnotes are distracting and did not add any substance to this book. It’s like the author tried to be funny but it was unnecessary. While the author does nicely capture a work dynamic, none of the characters are likable, except for maybe one. When the men narrate, they always think of their female coworkers in a sexual manner and judge them by their appearance. This was uncomfortable, but sadly, realistic I guess. I had to put the book down a few times because I got bored.
smc15's review against another edition
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
bearforester's review
I enjoyed this. She does a good job balancing a story with a number of characters.
pyrrhicspondee's review
4.0
I didn't think I was THAT into this book or that this book was THAT special. But then, about halfway through, I realized how beautifully Medoff was able to capture the dynamics of a work family. She really got that strange limbo land of not-quite-friends but definitely friends and also maybe kind of family that is unique to people who spend 40-50 hours a week together in a small space working on a shared project.
dundermifflin's review
2.0
Ignore description w/author profile to right of post about the book. Neither hilarious nor blistering.
rosseroo's review
2.0
As someone who has often puzzled at the general absence of office life in contemporary fiction, I was really looking forward to this novel set in a corporate Human Resources office. Especially so because in my own job I deal with HR quite a bit, and take on certain HR functions myself. The problem is, the book is just not as engaging as I wanted it to be. The approach isn't satirical, it isn't really comic, nor realist -- although it contains elements of all of these. It's got a kind of middle-of-the road approach that means that the plot and/or characters really have to pop for it to succeed, and they never really do in any sustained way.
The company at the heart of the story is a consumer research firm of about four-hundred people or so. Different chapters and sections highlight different members of the HR team: the beating heart of it all is Rosa, the 60ish HR director who wants everyone to succeed; there's sad sack married middle-age Rob who works in recruiting; there's kind of jerkish Kenny whose Wharton MBA endows him with a sense of entitlement, there's the unhappily gay Leo, there's ambitious Lucy, all of whom teeter on the border between being a type and being a plausibly realistic character. The story is set roughly a decade ago, during the 2008-10 recession, and the potential for downsizing is one narrative driver, with the other becoming the failing health of Rosa and the impact of that on the team. To be sure, everyone has their own little narrative subplots, but they felt more engineered than organic. The character who transforms most drastically is Lucy, but there's so little substance to her character that it's hard to understand what's driving this change. Instead of being pulled into their worlds, I felt more like I was being dragged into a long and convoluted conversation at a happy hour about people I didn't care about.
At the end of the day, I just didn't find the book to be funny, or sharp, or much of anything notable. I finished it just to see where it would all land, but there are no surprises to be found. I think I was hoping for something a lot more biting and savage and satirical -- which this simply isn't. It's about upper middle-class New Yorkers muddling along with upper middle-class New York problems.
The company at the heart of the story is a consumer research firm of about four-hundred people or so. Different chapters and sections highlight different members of the HR team: the beating heart of it all is Rosa, the 60ish HR director who wants everyone to succeed; there's sad sack married middle-age Rob who works in recruiting; there's kind of jerkish Kenny whose Wharton MBA endows him with a sense of entitlement, there's the unhappily gay Leo, there's ambitious Lucy, all of whom teeter on the border between being a type and being a plausibly realistic character. The story is set roughly a decade ago, during the 2008-10 recession, and the potential for downsizing is one narrative driver, with the other becoming the failing health of Rosa and the impact of that on the team. To be sure, everyone has their own little narrative subplots, but they felt more engineered than organic. The character who transforms most drastically is Lucy, but there's so little substance to her character that it's hard to understand what's driving this change. Instead of being pulled into their worlds, I felt more like I was being dragged into a long and convoluted conversation at a happy hour about people I didn't care about.
At the end of the day, I just didn't find the book to be funny, or sharp, or much of anything notable. I finished it just to see where it would all land, but there are no surprises to be found. I think I was hoping for something a lot more biting and savage and satirical -- which this simply isn't. It's about upper middle-class New Yorkers muddling along with upper middle-class New York problems.
ebgwa's review
4.0
1/3 of the way through but already know I'm going to read it too fast and wish I'd slowed down. Ah well. A good book's a good book--can't stop.
jessiek's review
2.0
I had to stop reading this book because it was just not doing it for me. I didn't find any of the characters interesting. I wanted to like it... maybe will try again another time when I am in a different mindset.