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Reviews tagging 'Racism'
Glossy: Ambition, Beauty, and the Inside Story of Emily Weiss's Glossier by Marisa Meltzer
6 reviews
alanabenjamin's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
4.0
Although I found the narrative a bit repetition, this was an engaging read if you are into this type of business nonfiction or this moment in East Coast pop culture history.
I feel like this book was a balanced analysis of the culture around 'girlboss' CEOs and in particular Emily Weiss.
I personally like a few Glossier products so learning more of the back story that I didn't know was so fascinating.
Chaos to Emily Weiss for being famously anonymous because there is quite the feat for a 'girlboss' in the IG era.
I'm not sure if this would be an inciting read if you don't care about Glossier, beauty industry and/or 'girlboss' era but if you are, you are in for a treat!
I feel like this book was a balanced analysis of the culture around 'girlboss' CEOs and in particular Emily Weiss.
I personally like a few Glossier products so learning more of the back story that I didn't know was so fascinating.
Chaos to Emily Weiss for being famously anonymous because there is quite the feat for a 'girlboss' in the IG era.
I'm not sure if this would be an inciting read if you don't care about Glossier, beauty industry and/or 'girlboss' era but if you are, you are in for a treat!
Content Warnings
Minor: Racism
pmhandley's review against another edition
reflective
medium-paced
2.5
This book is purposeless with just enough mildly interesting tidbits included to stop it from being a total flop. It seems like the author spent a lot of time on it and needed something to show for it rather than admit there's nothing particularly noteworthy happening, and that's why this book exists. Glossier's story as a company is not particularly interesting. Emily Weiss, as a person, is also not particularly interesting. The author even discusses how hard it is to get useful interviews out of her. In the world of DTC, "girlboss" and venture capital backed startups, Glossier isn't that infamous and if anything, seems to be doing okay. The author sets the book up to be about several different things but then it ends up being about none of them. It looks like it's going to be a bigger examination of the toxic "girlboss" and how female CEOs of startups are held to different standards than men, but it doesn't do that. It looks like it's going to get into how Glossier may have botched its response to the 2020 George Floyd murder and its aftermath, but it doesn't really do that either. (The shade range criticisms are only briefly mentioned with little elaboration.) Then maybe we're going to get into how Glossier fell into being grossly overvalued by venture capital while failing to be profitable but oh, wait, that's not really a thing here either, turns out. Instead we just meander around a history of Glossier and one that's not all that juicy at that. It's fine.
Content Warnings
Minor: Racism
46jjsg's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.75
I've been waiting to read this for months and when I finally got my hands on this book it was a endless cycle of "It's Over to We're Back to It's SO Over." Literally my mental rating of this novel went from 2.0 to 3.0 to finally 4.0 to back down to 3.75
Part 1: I can't help but pause reading the first section because it does seem like the author/journalist has a bias towards Emily Weiss. It cautiously toes between the lines of admiration and adoration. Tentatively, I would almost say this is like a loser girl writing about the popular girl she always wanted to either be or be with... later I felt like every other sentence feel like oh Emily wasn't like other girls like she's soooo cool and sophisticated !!! She has such a drive like idk what it is (bruh it's bc she has money!!!) Like seriously is the author just trying to blow Emily every 2 paragraphs???
Part 2: This is when it gets good. Seriously you have to wait for 50% of the novel for it to really hold your attention and then the rest is a breeze to fly through. We get interesting interviews and intersections of not only Glossier, but how the beauty industry and Glossier's target demographic was changing. The sociology aspects of this part are really interesting- nothing was too surprising (I'm gen z and lived through this!! I'm a primary source so I can speak on that on the vibes of that era) but it was still shocking to see someone published mention the move to authenticism and bimboism. Wish the book dived down to topics like being the spectacle, but that would be asking too much from the book. It briefly mentions parasocial relationships, but even that was very surface level.
Part 3: Again, a super interesting section; however, I think it ends on a lackluster note. Racism, both macro and micro, is a serious issue that is talked about in part 2 but we have no mentions or attempt to question Weiss in part 3? Like the book mentions that you can't pin it all on Weiss and that it's a industry (and societal) problem; however, didn't Weiss create that environment? The whole concept of Glossier reaks of white feminism and the whole "You can sit with us" mentality is a basic "insider vs outsider" group mentality. Sure you can't blame Everything on Weiss, but both the statement that Weiss had it dificult in the buisness world as a women and Weiss facilitated racist ideals can co-exist. This book tries to uwu-ify Weiss and it's quite laughable and not at all surprising. Just like Weiss giving jargon tech bro bs in her last interview with the author, the book also ends on a jargon bs note with "Weiss is not a villainous figure, but she is also not the philosopher-genius she aspired to be. Rather, she is a women who was learning on the job, who was calling the shots from the beginning of Into the Gloss until she stepped down as CEO of Glossier. She built a company that will last, and she deserves all the credit for that. So who is she? Weiss is a complicated women who is admired more than she is liked."
Cringe oof
Part 1: I can't help but pause reading the first section because it does seem like the author/journalist has a bias towards Emily Weiss. It cautiously toes between the lines of admiration and adoration. Tentatively, I would almost say this is like a loser girl writing about the popular girl she always wanted to either be or be with... later I felt like every other sentence feel like oh Emily wasn't like other girls like she's soooo cool and sophisticated !!! She has such a drive like idk what it is (bruh it's bc she has money!!!) Like seriously is the author just trying to blow Emily every 2 paragraphs???
Part 2: This is when it gets good. Seriously you have to wait for 50% of the novel for it to really hold your attention and then the rest is a breeze to fly through. We get interesting interviews and intersections of not only Glossier, but how the beauty industry and Glossier's target demographic was changing. The sociology aspects of this part are really interesting- nothing was too surprising (I'm gen z and lived through this!! I'm a primary source so I can speak on that on the vibes of that era) but it was still shocking to see someone published mention the move to authenticism and bimboism. Wish the book dived down to topics like being the spectacle, but that would be asking too much from the book. It briefly mentions parasocial relationships, but even that was very surface level.
Part 3: Again, a super interesting section; however, I think it ends on a lackluster note. Racism, both macro and micro, is a serious issue that is talked about in part 2 but we have no mentions or attempt to question Weiss in part 3? Like the book mentions that you can't pin it all on Weiss and that it's a industry (and societal) problem; however, didn't Weiss create that environment? The whole concept of Glossier reaks of white feminism and the whole "You can sit with us" mentality is a basic "insider vs outsider" group mentality. Sure you can't blame Everything on Weiss, but both the statement that Weiss had it dificult in the buisness world as a women and Weiss facilitated racist ideals can co-exist. This book tries to uwu-ify Weiss and it's quite laughable and not at all surprising. Just like Weiss giving jargon tech bro bs in her last interview with the author, the book also ends on a jargon bs note with "Weiss is not a villainous figure, but she is also not the philosopher-genius she aspired to be. Rather, she is a women who was learning on the job, who was calling the shots from the beginning of Into the Gloss until she stepped down as CEO of Glossier. She built a company that will last, and she deserves all the credit for that. So who is she? Weiss is a complicated women who is admired more than she is liked."
Cringe oof
Content Warnings
Moderate: Classism, Racism, Misogyny, and Sexism
Minor: Homophobia
jessereadsthings's review
informative
fast-paced
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Misogyny, Classism, Racism, and Sexism
Minor: Sexual harassment, Homophobia, Sexual assault, and Body shaming
alisonfaith426's review
informative
medium-paced
2.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism, Classism, and Misogyny
Moderate: Cursing, Body shaming, Bullying, Racism, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Homophobia, Pandemic/Epidemic, Pregnancy, and Transphobia
caseythereader's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
3.5
Thanks Atria Books for the free copy of this book.
- I feel like I need to preface this review by saying I am a Glossier fan, which is why I sought this book out. Therefore, I found it quite a fascinating read. I'm not sure what mileage you'll get out of it if you aren't into Glossier or the beauty industry in general.
- That said, I think this was quite good, if maybe told a little too early. Weiss has always been a bit of a standoffish CEO, and that comes across even when she agrees to be interviewed for this book - it's not a completely fawning extended profile.
- Much of the story of the company is one we're now familiar with for startups of the 2000s, but Meltzer is right in her assertion that Glossier is different almost solely because of Weiss and her place in the "girlboss" boom, and seeing that all laid out in the larger context of startup culture was so interesting.
- I feel like I need to preface this review by saying I am a Glossier fan, which is why I sought this book out. Therefore, I found it quite a fascinating read. I'm not sure what mileage you'll get out of it if you aren't into Glossier or the beauty industry in general.
- That said, I think this was quite good, if maybe told a little too early. Weiss has always been a bit of a standoffish CEO, and that comes across even when she agrees to be interviewed for this book - it's not a completely fawning extended profile.
- Much of the story of the company is one we're now familiar with for startups of the 2000s, but Meltzer is right in her assertion that Glossier is different almost solely because of Weiss and her place in the "girlboss" boom, and seeing that all laid out in the larger context of startup culture was so interesting.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Pregnancy and Racism
Minor: Eating disorder
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