Doree Shafrir

I have such mixed feelings about this book. I wanted to like it, because it featured so many of the things I’m interested in and fascinated by: startups, New York, tech, social media, journalism, motherhood - you name it, this book had it. The novel held my attention throughout, and yet, when I turned the last page, I was profoundly disappointed.

There was so much that was right with this book: from the extremely insightful look at Sabrina’s struggle with her identity post-motherhood to the fascinating glimpse into startup culture, there was much to like here. The book was well written and entertaining. The author is clearly familiar with the tech world, and she uses her knowledge to good effect throughout.

But there was so much that was wrong with this book, too:
1) The shallowness of all the characters. All the men were jerks - seriously, ALL of them. Like, 100% of the male cast was somewhere on the uber-jerk end of the jerk-to-nice guy scale. The women weren’t much better, and few had any redeeming qualities at all. That made everyone difficult to like and gave me no one to root for.
2) The plot felt superficial. Most of it revolves around sexual harassment in the workplace, but what’s usually a sensitive and important topic was dealt with in a frivolous way and it just didn’t feel strong enough to carry a nearly 300-page book.
3) The ending is atrocious. It’s ambiguous and doesn’t tie anything up. I thought the book had been misprinted and the last chapter was left off, because I literally turned the page to read the next chapter only to discover there was nothing there. Ambiguous endings are one of my major pet peeves, and this novel right here perfectly illustrates the reason why. So frustrating!… (más)

As soon as I heard about this book I knee I must read it, because despite being a decade younger than Doree I could relate to the subject matter. I thought it started out pretty slowly though, going over her dating life in New York and some work stuff that didn't really go anywhere, but I definitely enjoyed the later part of the book more. Probably because it deals heavily with infertility and writing, and since I am currently pregnant and due any day now, those parts resonated with me. So I liked it, but I feel like it could've delved a bit deeper into what it means to be a late bloomer and stuff, instead of just describing it.… (más)