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A review by julesthebookdragon417
Startup by Doree Shafrir
3.0
I was so excited for this book and it had its moments, but it left me wanting something meatier.
The surface level is entertaining. In a nutshell this book presents a satirical - but probably not *too* satirical - look at startup culture, along with the millennial generation that fuels it. It's worth noting that I'm (begrudgingly) considered a millennial myself, and I found the picture painted hilarious and fascinating in equal turns. I also enjoyed the look at the contradiction between the attitudes that dominate the culture the author shows us ("The ultimate goal is to better the world." "Bosses are in the trenches right along with us." "People are individuals and deserve to be made happy.") and the realities of sexism, racism, and egocentrism that very much exist in the industry, no matter how many shiny platitudes are pasted on top.
What I found lacking was the actual story. There were a couple twists, maybe, but mostly it felt like we were looking into the window of a world, watching some fairly linear events play out, and then were left without much depth or character development to speak of. Maybe satire isn't a genre where I should be looking for those things, but in general I found the book to be a lovely, shiny surface that didn't go very deep. The ending was also a little off-putting. It felt like things just stopped, without any kind of real resolution or indication of what the characters would do next. And since we didn't see much character development, there wasn't much suggestion of what direction they would take. Enjoyable overall, but left me feeling like I had just spent three days hanging out in the kiddie pool, when I had been ready to dive in and get wet.
The surface level is entertaining. In a nutshell this book presents a satirical - but probably not *too* satirical - look at startup culture, along with the millennial generation that fuels it. It's worth noting that I'm (begrudgingly) considered a millennial myself, and I found the picture painted hilarious and fascinating in equal turns. I also enjoyed the look at the contradiction between the attitudes that dominate the culture the author shows us ("The ultimate goal is to better the world." "Bosses are in the trenches right along with us." "People are individuals and deserve to be made happy.") and the realities of sexism, racism, and egocentrism that very much exist in the industry, no matter how many shiny platitudes are pasted on top.
What I found lacking was the actual story. There were a couple twists, maybe, but mostly it felt like we were looking into the window of a world, watching some fairly linear events play out, and then were left without much depth or character development to speak of. Maybe satire isn't a genre where I should be looking for those things, but in general I found the book to be a lovely, shiny surface that didn't go very deep. The ending was also a little off-putting. It felt like things just stopped, without any kind of real resolution or indication of what the characters would do next. And since we didn't see much character development, there wasn't much suggestion of what direction they would take. Enjoyable overall, but left me feeling like I had just spent three days hanging out in the kiddie pool, when I had been ready to dive in and get wet.