A review by nina_rod
Who Thought This Was a Good Idea?: And Other Questions You Should Have Answers to When You Work in the White House by Lauren Oyler, Alyssa Mastromonaco

3.0

I bought this book in 2018 because I love Obama. He’s on the cover and the woman writing the book worked with Obama first in the US Senate then his campaign for President and finally at the White House. It took many years (6) to finally read it! What took so long? During the Trump years, did this book even seem relevant? Would the nostalgia make me cry? 

I finally picked it up to read because of the Extreme Reader Challenge. I needed a category that in the title had one of the 5 Ws: Who, What, When, Where or Why. I looked through my bookshelves and saw this book! 

The political operative and I had the same path. We both studied political science and interned in Congress, her for Bernie Sanders and me for my local Hawaii Congressman at the time. And no, I didn’t fuck hum. Smile. We also both  started college in 1994. 

Early on, I found I didn’t have what it takes to work in politics. But I always wondered. Well, enter this book. She says her hair turned all white from the stress. I still have my natural hair color. She also grinded her teeth so much from the stress she cracked a tooth in the middle of the night and woke up with a mouthful of blood. She also couldn’t sleep unless it was with Ambien or Tylenol PM. Yikes! I’m good! 

The book was confusing because it was a collection of stories not in a timeline but skipping around to her time in the White House, working on his campaign, interning for Bernie, working for Senator Kerry, working for Senator Obama, etc.