Reviews with content warning for Panic attacks/disorders - A Hundred Other Girls

I don’t dislike this audiobook. I found the narrator enjoyable. The story could’ve been great. However, the author is so unnecessarily focused on the character’s pronouns. Randomly bringing it up throughout the novel, it causes you to forget the main storyline. You are reading about a typical entitled, overly woke, generation that works at a fashion magazine, complaining about rights. They (as in more than 2 people) say they don’t want to be “labeled” but in the book when they decide to use a label (because then it’s okay) it’s “symbolic”. Sigh - maybe I’m getting too old. Moderate swearing and sexual content.

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darcy_clark's review against another edition

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lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I really wanted to love this but it was so cheesy it just made me cringe. Character development was lackluster and the plot was both over the top crazy and underwhelming at the same time. Love the idea of the premise but it needed some additional editing to really be a worthwhile read.

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rrubin97's review against another edition

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lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No

3.25

Fast read - a workplace comedy. I appreciated how
The romance plot blew up in Nooras face - refreshing to see a man bad in bed and looking out for himself instead of being the romance trope it appeared to be t
She dropped some plots mainly around the sister which o didn’t appreciate

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literarywreck's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

2.0

I absolutely couldn’t be more excited for this book. Stay tuned to watch me get on my hands and knees to beg for an ARC—because I will.

xxxxxxxxx several months later xxxxxxxxx

I received an eARC of this book months ago and enthusiastically dove in. In the end, I finished this book months later only because I ended up stuck on a long subway ride, and this was the only book I had downloaded on my phone.

Let’s talk about the good, the bad & the ugly aspects of this book.

The Good:

-The Iranian-American MC offers a perspective I will be grateful for the opportunity to have read for a very, very long time. Hariri-Kia writes eloquently about the experiences of Middle Eastern immigrants in a post-9/11 New York. I particularly appreciated the conversation around theSpoilerarticle from the perspective of the MC on the politicization of beauty trends and body hair.

-There really is some great diversity in the cast of characters. I appreciated that queer characters were just allowed to exist in this book; they weren’t expected to live out or tell a coming out story or act as a written defense of LGBTQ+ rights–they were just allowed to be characters. The diverse backgrounds, ethnicities and identities of the characters were an accurate picture of New York in so many ways and the strong racial/class/identity divide between the print & online segments of the magazine was well-executed.

-The rather hilarious repeated use of voting for Hillary Clinton as a verbal defense for bad behavior by white men

-This book really is what it promises to be. If you want a shockingly similar plot to the Devil Wears Prada peppered with all the cringe-factor, zillennial buzzwords and socially conscious plot points of the Bold Type, then this is the book for you. (And, truly, the similarities to the Devil Wears Prada are endless: there’s the plucky wannabe journalist stuck as an assistant to the old guard EIC; the alluring workplace drama she can't help but get wrapped up in; the unsupportive friends, or, in this case, Spoilerthe unsupportive sister, because the MC has no friends,; and the love interest who charms the MC with his good looks and truly slimy pick-up lines, but Spoiler whose amoral, no-holds-barred ambition eventually scares the MC into the obligatory “empowering breakup monologue”. Even the MC’s final decision Spoilerto leave the magazine over the same divisive internal politics that had her so enthralled with the job in the first place, showing that she has *learned her lesson* seems to echo tDWP.)

The Bad:

-my personal pet peeve: incorrect french. I understand that “comme des fuck down” is supposed to be a cheeky reference to Comme des Garçons… but I hate it.

-“Ladies, gentlemen, and nonbinary honeys”

-A clip of a fictitious news article completely seriously referring to the subject of the article as “the hypebeast”

-A few more words I never want to read or hear again in my life: “Major Atticus Finch zaddy vibes”

The Ugly:

-For a book that concerns itself so much with the morality and performativity of “wokeness,” it has some significant issues of its own. Perhaps the most irksome of these issues lies in this conversation:

“She’s a psycho,” I finally spit out. Kelsea claps her hands excitedly.
“She’s totally bipolar, right?!”
“Well, I wouldn’t say that.” As much as I can’t stand Loretta, I don’t want to go around diagnosing people with a real mental illness. I don’t fuck with that.

As it turns out, the MC does absolutely fuck with that, as she goes on to then agree about the boss' bipolarity in every other way, highlighting her sometimes kind and sometimes excessively rude or downright cruel behavior in the workplace as traits of bipolar mood swings. (Added for clarity: these behaviors she cites are absolutely not indicative of bipolar mood swings; they are indicative of her boss being a manipulative person. This comparison is reductive and stigmatizing.)

Or, in another ugly mental health/abuse-related moment…

“Of course, Loretta gaslights me for this mishap.”

And, of course, this is followed by no actual gaslighting.

-This quote: “You have an empty JUUL pod where your heart used to be.”

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mallory10100's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

man i LOVED this!! i really enjoyed reading a book about a main character who is an assistant editor because i’m starting as an assistant editor at my university’s newspaper in september 🥰 i loved Noora and really loved all the side characters ✨also i’m a HUGE fan of the bold type and kept making connections haha

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nataliegray's review against another edition

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funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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hollowspine's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring tense medium-paced

4.0

The comparison to the Devil Wears Prada, but for the literary set, is pretty accurate. As a reader I was 100% behind Noora as she gets her foot in the door at Vinyl magazine and tries to fulfil her dream to be a writer and voice for future generations to turn to as they navigate the world. I was on edge as I read her dream felt like nothing but as she dealt with her over-demanding and demeaning boss, rumor spreading co-workers and self-interested love-interest. Other characters in the book also demand reader attention, especially the caring Saffron who offers Noora support and friendship early in the book. This novel will definitely appeal to young readers as they face hurdles as they go for their dreams and hope that they'll have the courage, support and love for the world that Noora exemplifies.

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