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3.38 AVERAGE
3.38 AVERAGE
I did not see ANY of that coming. Way to grow a pair, Tina.
So cheeky!
Genuinely loved reading this. Quick and light hearted read that caused me to actually laugh out loud a few times. I need more books like this in my library!
Genuinely loved reading this. Quick and light hearted read that caused me to actually laugh out loud a few times. I need more books like this in my library!
2.5
This was a very satisfying read. However, it wasn't very believable and often somewhat ridiculous. But, I do love a good robinhood story so I can't really complain.
This was a very satisfying read. However, it wasn't very believable and often somewhat ridiculous. But, I do love a good robinhood story so I can't really complain.
Tina Fontana is a thirty-year-old executive assistant who doesnt appear to be aware that the billionaire boss she adores could at any moment triple her salary into something worth living off of.
There is a sense, reading this book, that the author forgot that those numbers are chosen by people, not just handed down from on high. Tina constantly frets over how she's stealing from her boss (which she is not doing (though she could be); she's embezzling from his company), with whom she has a friendly and caring relationship despite the fact that he sometimes calls her at 6AM to tell her to buy her a donut on the way in, while seeming completely unaware that he is robbing her every moment she spends in that office on a dismal salary of (extrapolated) 40k a year, not even enough to get the landlord of her barely-affording-it apartment to fix the rain bubble in the plaster directly over her bed.
On top of the laughable unawareness of the causes of the debt and systemic inequality (a term Tina drops as a meaningless buzzword while frantically trying to avoid telling her lawyer boyfriend that her nonprofit is actually an embezzlement scheme, certain to inform the reader that she heard it in college and that she apparently has no idea that it even applies to her situation) and the total disdain for activism and activists (who Tina thinks are annoying and smelly, a portrayal which the book supports with its daughter-of-activists Margie, who is fat and smelly and gross, and a portrayal which the book wears without any hint of irony for its very premise), the pages are rank with sexism.
Tina disdains other women for their feminine traits, and disdains men when they aren't manly enough. She hates Emily's girly love of fashion, Ginger's huge boobs and desire to cut the dick off her serial-sexual-harrasser boss, she refers to the other women in her office as "unimportant women" with as little irony as humanly possible, and she hates the wives of their bosses for not talking much (cannot blame them) and for not wanting to learn to shoot a gun (an activity which they were not invited to, a fact which did not stop her from feeling superior for having been). She disdains her boyfriend's use of emoticons as "girly", and secretly thinks less of him as a man for living in an apartment his parents own because he can't afford not too (Emily living with her parents got a single line of comment, and another joking line when she moved in with Tina about how she does't pay rent).
For a book about female solidarity, Tina doesn't seem to even fully be aware of the concept of sexism as she perpetuates it and mentally levies her own internalized misoginy against the women in her life. For a book about stealing from the rich to give to the poor, The Assistants has quite an obsession with sympathizing with the conservative billionaire they aren't even directly robbing. For a book about systemic inequality, The Assistants is shockingly unaware of what the term even means, and appears to have no interest in learning.
I cannot stress enough that a good third of this book so far is Tina fretting about stealing from her conservative billionaire boss who pays her 40k annual and calls her at 6AM for donuts when she very explicitly is not stealing directly from him even though it would probably be easier and less suspicious if she was.
There is a sense, reading this book, that the author forgot that those numbers are chosen by people, not just handed down from on high. Tina constantly frets over how she's stealing from her boss (which she is not doing (though she could be); she's embezzling from his company), with whom she has a friendly and caring relationship despite the fact that he sometimes calls her at 6AM to tell her to buy her a donut on the way in, while seeming completely unaware that he is robbing her every moment she spends in that office on a dismal salary of (extrapolated) 40k a year, not even enough to get the landlord of her barely-affording-it apartment to fix the rain bubble in the plaster directly over her bed.
On top of the laughable unawareness of the causes of the debt and systemic inequality (a term Tina drops as a meaningless buzzword while frantically trying to avoid telling her lawyer boyfriend that her nonprofit is actually an embezzlement scheme, certain to inform the reader that she heard it in college and that she apparently has no idea that it even applies to her situation) and the total disdain for activism and activists (who Tina thinks are annoying and smelly, a portrayal which the book supports with its daughter-of-activists Margie, who is fat and smelly and gross, and a portrayal which the book wears without any hint of irony for its very premise), the pages are rank with sexism.
Tina disdains other women for their feminine traits, and disdains men when they aren't manly enough. She hates Emily's girly love of fashion, Ginger's huge boobs and desire to cut the dick off her serial-sexual-harrasser boss, she refers to the other women in her office as "unimportant women" with as little irony as humanly possible, and she hates the wives of their bosses for not talking much (cannot blame them) and for not wanting to learn to shoot a gun (an activity which they were not invited to, a fact which did not stop her from feeling superior for having been). She disdains her boyfriend's use of emoticons as "girly", and secretly thinks less of him as a man for living in an apartment his parents own because he can't afford not too (Emily living with her parents got a single line of comment, and another joking line when she moved in with Tina about how she does't pay rent).
For a book about female solidarity, Tina doesn't seem to even fully be aware of the concept of sexism as she perpetuates it and mentally levies her own internalized misoginy against the women in her life. For a book about stealing from the rich to give to the poor, The Assistants has quite an obsession with sympathizing with the conservative billionaire they aren't even directly robbing. For a book about systemic inequality, The Assistants is shockingly unaware of what the term even means, and appears to have no interest in learning.
I cannot stress enough that a good third of this book so far is Tina fretting about stealing from her conservative billionaire boss who pays her 40k annual and calls her at 6AM for donuts when she very explicitly is not stealing directly from him even though it would probably be easier and less suspicious if she was.
2.5 stars, but I'm rounding down because it really doesn't deserve 3 from me. Overall, pretty vapid story about a small group of personal assistants that end up defrauding their company. The characters were all pretty unlikeable and it was hard to try and be sympathetic towards any of them, other than maybe handsome Kevin. I just wanted to tell him to run.
I enjoyed reading this book. Fun, easy, quick read. Loved the story and the characters.
Quick read about some frustrated, underpaid assistants at a giant corporation who, at first, accidentally embezzle money and then realize how easy it would be to do it for real. The scheme takes an unexpected turn before things come to final resolution.
This is not rocket science but it's good fun about a nerdy assistant turning into a powerful woman while finding herself in an unexpected romance.
I think this would be perfect for the beach or a plane ride.
This is not rocket science but it's good fun about a nerdy assistant turning into a powerful woman while finding herself in an unexpected romance.
I think this would be perfect for the beach or a plane ride.
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
As a person with large student loans this book was a really interesting concept. It also has a lot to do with rooting for the under dog to rise to the top. It was nice seeing the character development of Tina, the main character and how she really comes into her own, finds her people, as well as, her voice.
Content Warnings
Minor: Alcohol