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3.56 AVERAGE
3.56 AVERAGE
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I loved this book! It really resonated with me, as a member of the older end of the millennials. Excellent read.
Meet Imogene, the editor in chief of Glossy magazine, a smart woman with a british accent and impeccable taste and manners, great fashion contacts and a sexy attorney husband. The only thing Imogene Tate does not have is any freaking clue on anything that has apparently happened in the digital age. When she comes back to Glossy after a brush with breast cancer, her former assistant, Eve, is waiting for her as Glossy’s new Digital Executive.
Eve is a techbitch. Eve is young, motivated and fresh out of Harvard Business School, and she has a plan to turn Glossy magazine into an app. Eve is everything Imogene is not. She is loud, brassy and forward. As the book makes apparent, she lacks both manners and taste, and apparently any sort of heart. Forcing her employees to work around the clock is bad enough, but Eve also forces them to befriend her, or face her wrath. It becomes quickly apparent that there is only room for one at Glossy: either Imogene or Eve. The two simply cannot co-exist. Where Imogene still has to print out her emails and sign up for Twitter, Eve is practically an Internet celebrity already. Where Eve pushes her way in front of major designers without fear of offending fashion’s old guard, Imogene demurely and adeptly sweeps in to save the day with her sometimes the old way is the best way style.
If it’s not already apparent, despite devouring the book in less than 12 hours, I had major issues with the dichotomy between Imogene and Eve. I adored Imogene, I hated Eve. I actively rooted for Eve’s downfall from the second page. But why? Eve emphasizes the bitch in techbitch, something that began to chafe about halfway through the book. She makes a great antagonist, but not an entirely believable one. It just made no sense to me why Eve had absolutely no redeeming qualities. We get a few glimpses into Eve’s thinking throughout the novel, but they’re almost there to purposefully make her seem even more awful than she is, and quite frankly, to make her seem dumb despite her credentials. As someone who identifies more with Eve (a millennial who does a pretty good job of keeping up with whatever new Internet craze is going on this week) I found absolutely nothing to relate to her on. At the same time, while I cheered for Imogene, a nagging part of me couldn’t put aside the fact that she was so clueless about anything tech related. My grandfather used eBay, my parents are super fluent in the Internet, and Imogene is only 40 something!
Don’t get me wrong, this book is close to everything you might want from a fun summer beach read, which is why it gets three stars and not two, but it has some major flaws that keep it from delivering the really great on-point commentary about print vs. tech that I was hoping for.
Eve is a techbitch. Eve is young, motivated and fresh out of Harvard Business School, and she has a plan to turn Glossy magazine into an app. Eve is everything Imogene is not. She is loud, brassy and forward. As the book makes apparent, she lacks both manners and taste, and apparently any sort of heart. Forcing her employees to work around the clock is bad enough, but Eve also forces them to befriend her, or face her wrath. It becomes quickly apparent that there is only room for one at Glossy: either Imogene or Eve. The two simply cannot co-exist. Where Imogene still has to print out her emails and sign up for Twitter, Eve is practically an Internet celebrity already. Where Eve pushes her way in front of major designers without fear of offending fashion’s old guard, Imogene demurely and adeptly sweeps in to save the day with her sometimes the old way is the best way style.
If it’s not already apparent, despite devouring the book in less than 12 hours, I had major issues with the dichotomy between Imogene and Eve. I adored Imogene, I hated Eve. I actively rooted for Eve’s downfall from the second page. But why? Eve emphasizes the bitch in techbitch, something that began to chafe about halfway through the book. She makes a great antagonist, but not an entirely believable one. It just made no sense to me why Eve had absolutely no redeeming qualities. We get a few glimpses into Eve’s thinking throughout the novel, but they’re almost there to purposefully make her seem even more awful than she is, and quite frankly, to make her seem dumb despite her credentials. As someone who identifies more with Eve (a millennial who does a pretty good job of keeping up with whatever new Internet craze is going on this week) I found absolutely nothing to relate to her on. At the same time, while I cheered for Imogene, a nagging part of me couldn’t put aside the fact that she was so clueless about anything tech related. My grandfather used eBay, my parents are super fluent in the Internet, and Imogene is only 40 something!
Don’t get me wrong, this book is close to everything you might want from a fun summer beach read, which is why it gets three stars and not two, but it has some major flaws that keep it from delivering the really great on-point commentary about print vs. tech that I was hoping for.
Fine book. I couldn’t get into it. Did not finish. Did not like narrator.
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
The description of this book makes it sound a lot better than it actually was. I could see the "plot twists" coming from 500 miles away and yet I kept reading this because it was kind of like a Sophie Kinsella book - even though it wasn't intellectually engaging or stimulating - it was still kind of fun. But really Sophie Kinsella is much better. Really 2.5 stars - but I'm rounding up.
Was this really a 4-star? Well, yes and no. No in terms of "deep, thought-provoking read that illuminates the human condition" but yes in terms of "perfect rainy day or beach read". And who doesn't need one of those every now and then?
The authors definitely know the fashion and magazine worlds, which keeps the froth quotient pretty high. That this is a real hommage to "All About Eve" means that the world can take a more important role since we all know what's going to happen next. My biggest quibble is that Imogen is in her 40s, yet at times acts as though she's in her 50s or later: yes, fashion and technology move very quickly, but her attitude and m.o. seem to be from the 80s not 90s. An even bigger quibble is why she never goes to HR about Eve's antics - surely that would have happened, or they would have reached out to her?
ARC provided by publisher.
The authors definitely know the fashion and magazine worlds, which keeps the froth quotient pretty high. That this is a real hommage to "All About Eve" means that the world can take a more important role since we all know what's going to happen next. My biggest quibble is that Imogen is in her 40s, yet at times acts as though she's in her 50s or later: yes, fashion and technology move very quickly, but her attitude and m.o. seem to be from the 80s not 90s. An even bigger quibble is why she never goes to HR about Eve's antics - surely that would have happened, or they would have reached out to her?
ARC provided by publisher.