A review by babewithabookandabeer
Ripe by Sarah Rose Etter

dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Thank you Scribner for my Netgalley copy of RIPE by Sarah Rose Etter, out now! 

Apologies if this is not the most coherent review as I finished this doped up on pain pills after my breast reduction lmao. Ripe follows a woman named Cassie who is a year into her ‘dream job’ at a cutthroat Silicon Valley start-up, where Ivy League grads complain about their limited snack options in a multi-million dollar building overlooking the bay filled with unhoused people bathing in the sea and setting themselves on fire.

As we follow Cassie through long hours, toxic bosses and unethical projects many look the other way for to nab a paycheck, a literal black hole follows her around as a manifestation of her anxiety and depression. Suddenly, Cassie finds herself pregnant, we witness her life swirl into disarray in the middle of a capitalistic hellscape. 

I liked this book a lot. It’s obscenely readable. The tone is very depressing, eerie and sinister. If you’re looking for a hopeful read, this is not the one lol. I really think the book could have gone more into her pregnancy and how corporate life ignores the strifes of expecting women, often adding boatlads of stress and anxiety to what is supposed to be a happy and exciting time for those wanting a child. There was also a lot of room for more examination of the housing crisis. For what I expected to be a major ‘plot point’ in a semi-plotless book, unhoused people were there for the narrator to bare witness to, but there were no real thoughts on what was happening.

But, the prose of this book is as engaging and enticing as the cover, and if you’re looking for a narrator dredging through the trenches of capitalism with thoughts of emptiness, give this banger a read.