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3.35 AVERAGE
3.35 AVERAGE
After more than a year of anticipating, waiting, wavering between purchasing it or not, I finally got my hands on this book. Saying hands might be too much, given the ‘untouchable’ times we’re all living in. Anyways, this book, when it came out, had been much applauded as the perfect office novel for the burnout generation. To me, who was reading that applauding article on my work computer on a job I was sick of, that came as an ultimate moment of awaited catharsis. While I was on my hiatus and reading other books about exhausted millennials tired of their jobs, without any direction or enthusiasm about their future, I constantly had this belief that I was missing out by not adding this book to that list as well. For some reason, I thought this book addressed the whole idea of believing that there can be a ‘new’ you that people often delude themselves with, instead of the approach of believing in a ‘better’ you, one that evolves and learns from their mistakes. For some reason, I thought that would be the overarching theme.
I was proven right, as well as wrong.
The protagonist reminded me of sadder times a year ago. I realised how much progress I have made because I could no longer resonate with problems of being in an impasse. I would not go as far as to claim that there aren’t any days where I don’t feel the ennui settling in, but I have found ways of coping with it.
The book had its moments in a few passages that were really well-written. Also in the initial parts of the book where Millie imagines the entire life of a person she sees in front of her. Purely by empathy. As we moved forward, those empathic skills got replaced by shifting narrators, and the book lost its imaginative power. We did get to know how one person’s problematic behaviours affect others around them while the problematic person is blissfully unaware and merely trying to crawl through life. But that didn’t really reach the said person. They were made aware of their patterns, and they probably corrected them too, but we didn’t get to see the journey.
***SPOILER ALERT***
Towards the end, all of her problems seem to disappear ‘with a release’. Even though she is constantly reminded of her privilege by her best friend, how she wrapped her head around to doing a job every day, being sociable, having people skills, being accountable - we never get to know. It does not happen with a ‘disappearing’ panic attack, not in real life. It either takes therapy or a whole lot of introspection, none of which happened before the book ended. We just jumped to see her in a Junior position, where she had stayed for too long and had somehow learnt to ask before leaving early on a Friday.
There are drab aspects of office life really well-described at moments. But the overall writing was completely non-captivating. It didn’t hit the spot like good writing is supposed to. At a lot of places, it felt like unedited footage of a person’s life on a reality show. A person who is doing nothing remarkable. There are a lot of paragraphs, at least four in every chapter, that could have been edited out. My brain did the filtering anyways and kept them away. Maybe I had dived in the book expecting too much from it and hyping it too much in my head. But that just means the marketing team did a good job. More than the lack of exploration of the theme and the lack of a character arc, it was the lack of good writing that disappointed me the most. The only thing this book gave me was a throwback to a very unhappy and helpless phase of my life. That’s all it can offer to anyone else reading it too. It won’t evoke questions about the person in your mind, and it certainly will not give you any answers.
I was proven right, as well as wrong.
The protagonist reminded me of sadder times a year ago. I realised how much progress I have made because I could no longer resonate with problems of being in an impasse. I would not go as far as to claim that there aren’t any days where I don’t feel the ennui settling in, but I have found ways of coping with it.
The book had its moments in a few passages that were really well-written. Also in the initial parts of the book where Millie imagines the entire life of a person she sees in front of her. Purely by empathy. As we moved forward, those empathic skills got replaced by shifting narrators, and the book lost its imaginative power. We did get to know how one person’s problematic behaviours affect others around them while the problematic person is blissfully unaware and merely trying to crawl through life. But that didn’t really reach the said person. They were made aware of their patterns, and they probably corrected them too, but we didn’t get to see the journey.
***SPOILER ALERT***
Towards the end, all of her problems seem to disappear ‘with a release’. Even though she is constantly reminded of her privilege by her best friend, how she wrapped her head around to doing a job every day, being sociable, having people skills, being accountable - we never get to know. It does not happen with a ‘disappearing’ panic attack, not in real life. It either takes therapy or a whole lot of introspection, none of which happened before the book ended. We just jumped to see her in a Junior position, where she had stayed for too long and had somehow learnt to ask before leaving early on a Friday.
There are drab aspects of office life really well-described at moments. But the overall writing was completely non-captivating. It didn’t hit the spot like good writing is supposed to. At a lot of places, it felt like unedited footage of a person’s life on a reality show. A person who is doing nothing remarkable. There are a lot of paragraphs, at least four in every chapter, that could have been edited out. My brain did the filtering anyways and kept them away. Maybe I had dived in the book expecting too much from it and hyping it too much in my head. But that just means the marketing team did a good job. More than the lack of exploration of the theme and the lack of a character arc, it was the lack of good writing that disappointed me the most. The only thing this book gave me was a throwback to a very unhappy and helpless phase of my life. That’s all it can offer to anyone else reading it too. It won’t evoke questions about the person in your mind, and it certainly will not give you any answers.
"...the understanding that the defining moment of her life has come and passed and had nothing to do with her, not really, not directly..." (p. 121)
"I try to cry and think about the things that I'll be grateful for in the future, once I have my life together a little bit more." (p. 123)
"John had spent the day at work and was having some minor conflict with a coworker, which was transforming into a drama that shaped not only his days but the entire narrative of his life." (p. 149)
"I try to cry and think about the things that I'll be grateful for in the future, once I have my life together a little bit more." (p. 123)
"John had spent the day at work and was having some minor conflict with a coworker, which was transforming into a drama that shaped not only his days but the entire narrative of his life." (p. 149)
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Solid 2 star but may change in the future. Probably lower. I've listened to this and Jillian and I find Halle Butler's narration to be quite grating and just overwhelmingly negative. She reads in such a way that every line is dry and poisonous. I need to try physically reading another of her books to tell if it is just the narration putting me off. Overall, a bland read of people who hate going to work. No takeaway from this, and the main character seemingly gets a happy ever after that comes completely out of the blue and we see no payoff, no character development that results in her getting there. There's also a bunch of other character perspectives which I think would have made the book more powerful and twists of she had just left those out.
dark
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Re-read :
This is Kurt Vonnegut, without the goofiness of Kurt Vonnegut.
I'm just not sure what the point was. But i liked the journey
Several months later, I'm still thinking about this and want to re-read it. That is a testament to its depth.
-------
A year later I did re-read it, and it was just as good if not better.
---------
3rd year- just as full of nihilism. Just as fabulous.
This is Kurt Vonnegut, without the goofiness of Kurt Vonnegut.
I'm just not sure what the point was. But i liked the journey
Several months later, I'm still thinking about this and want to re-read it. That is a testament to its depth.
-------
A year later I did re-read it, and it was just as good if not better.
---------
3rd year- just as full of nihilism. Just as fabulous.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Mental illness
Minor: Bullying
I was excited about this book’s theme (the false promise of reinvention) and unfortunately that is where my excitement ended. Nothing to recommend about this book - no real plot, characters, ideas, or anything to engage with or enjoy.
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
"I cry for a second, but I'm faking it. Waaaaaahhhhhh. Poor me, poor me, who cares. This is what I wanted. To sit here and not have someone judging me. I'm fat, I smell, no one likes me, my clothes suck. I'll never amount to anything, everyone around me is an idiot, self-involved, judgemental, stupid, too dumb to know the harm they're doing, too dumb to know they're not happy inside, not like me, I know. Ha-ha-ha."
Halle Butler's protagonist's hilariously cynical inner dialogue is the driving force of "The New Me." A title known perhaps too well in internet and millennial culture, "The New Me" encompasses the melodramatic and pompous feelings that younger people - including myself - express towards growing up, becoming an adult, and living day-to-day, often times showcased through the internet. We follow a 30-year old woman working a temp job in Chicago and all the dull tasks associated with life itself. Butler's novel is nothing extraordinary in it's events and plot. We simply follow Millie to work, back home, then to work again. It is her protagonist that is exceptionally crafted. Narrative voice is a huge component to this novel's structure and Millie certainly carries that weight fully. Her tone is dry yet raging and desperate yet humorous. If you love characters more than plot and enjoy reading a painfully realistic setting, give this book a try.
(also: It's important for me to add that I love this book especially for giving this type of profane, unapologetic, ridiculous, and hilarious voice to a female character).
Halle Butler's protagonist's hilariously cynical inner dialogue is the driving force of "The New Me." A title known perhaps too well in internet and millennial culture, "The New Me" encompasses the melodramatic and pompous feelings that younger people - including myself - express towards growing up, becoming an adult, and living day-to-day, often times showcased through the internet. We follow a 30-year old woman working a temp job in Chicago and all the dull tasks associated with life itself. Butler's novel is nothing extraordinary in it's events and plot. We simply follow Millie to work, back home, then to work again. It is her protagonist that is exceptionally crafted. Narrative voice is a huge component to this novel's structure and Millie certainly carries that weight fully. Her tone is dry yet raging and desperate yet humorous. If you love characters more than plot and enjoy reading a painfully realistic setting, give this book a try.
(also: It's important for me to add that I love this book especially for giving this type of profane, unapologetic, ridiculous, and hilarious voice to a female character).
Livro cheio de nada. Não me lembro de não ter gostado assim tanto de um livro com este.
dark
funny
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Pick this up if you liked Eileen, My Year of Rest and Relaxation or Worry.