Isabel Kaplan - Not Safe For Work
3 ⭐
Genre: Fiction, Contemporary, Feminism, Literary Fiction
Pages: 262
Format: eARC on NetGalley
Publisher: Penguin Michael Joseph
Date Published: 4th August 2022
Huge thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Michael Joseph for giving me a chance to read and review this book on NetGalley.
Book Blurb:
To climb the ranks, you do whatever it takes:
- Pull all-nighters
- Lean on your powerful mother's contacts
- Stay in shape at cult-like fitness classes
- Secretly wear your boss's Fitbit to improve his stepcount - and his temper
You know the rules of this world. When someone senior tells you how pretty you look, you smile and thank him - and make a mental note never to wear that dress alone with him again.
When whispers start to circle that your office might have 'a bit of a rape problem,' and your close friend confesses her own unsettling encounter, you know there is plenty to gain from staying silent, and all too much to lose through speaking out.
And of course, you know your own boss is one of the good guys . . . don't you?
With blisteringly sharp prose and a darkly humorous voice, Not Safe For Work is an unflinching exploration of the grey area between empowerment and complicity, and a searing, unforgettable portrait of what success costs in a patriarchal world.
My Review:
I was so looking forward to
reading this book as the blurb of it was so captivating and interesting.
However, it didn’t live up to my expectations. It was an interesting read about
very important topics and some realities of a still very patriarchal society.
However, I felt that this book was missing the connection with the main protagonist
since she was unnamed, therefore it was hard to relate to her or get to know
her as a character. Additionally, the rest of the characters were not explored
in depth and their personalities were only displayed from the viewpoint of the
main protagonist.
This story is about an unnamed protagonist
and her search for a job in Hollywood, especially her struggles to move up in
the company and show that she is just as worthy as her male co-workers. The
story also explored the protagonist sometimes rather a toxic relationship with
her mother and barely existing relationships with her brother and father. Additionally,
topics of eating disorders, weight and self-abuse were also discussed, especially
how females in Hollywood try to look as good as possible with the help of
diets, starvation, gym, medication and of course Botox, makeup, etc, in hope that
it will help them to impress their bosses and move up in their jobs.
I think the topics discussed in
this book are very important, especially sexism, privilege and still very much
male domination in society, as well as toxic parenting and mental health issues.
I loved reading all about that, but the book really dragged until about the
last 20%. Some of the dialogue and scenes were not adding anything to the plot
and sometimes the main protagonist just seemed whinny and childish when dealing
with simple tasks and conversations.
The ending left me very surprised.
I expected something more and it just flopped flatly…just abruptly stopped. Thus,
the story just felt unfinished to me. I even checked a few times if my file wasn’t
corrupted and it is the actual ending.
Overall: This book explores so
many important topics, such as sexism, toxic relationships, abuse, mental
health and eating disorders, but it fell flat with the execution. This storyline
and plot had so much potential that was not executed well and the story itself just
felt a bit weak, especially in comparison to the other books that explore
similar themes as NSFW. At times it felt that the toxic relationship storyline
between the protagonist and her mother took the front seat, whereas the main storyline
about sexism, male power and abuse took a backseat. Most of the time, however,
I just couldn’t connect with the main protagonist and her story.
The review was first published on NetGalley:
https://www.netgalley.co.uk/book/251858/review/959200
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