Two Book Reviews and the Return of Stoop Books!
Two book reviews coming in hot! The first I bought with my own money, the second I found on someone’s stoop.
Breathe In, Cash Out by Madeleine Henry
I wanted to read a light and fluffy book, but this seriously lacked substance.
When we meet our protagonist Allegra Cobb, she's a high-achieving analyst who's also an avid yogi and, oh also, just accidentally had a one night stand with her boss. When an Instagram-famous yoga teacher reaches out to her and basically offers to be her personal guru, she thinks her life is finally about to change. Over the course of the book, it becomes clear that the online yogi is as toxic as her job and Allegra needs to find her own way to get the life she desires.
Okay, so you know the adage that if you're a writer you have to drag your characters through hell? Allegra definitely gets dragged, but her actions have no meaningful consequences. You find out she slept with her boss literally on page one and I waited an entire book for the other shoe to drop on that plot line, and nope! No one ever finds out! It basically never comes up again aside from a little very harmless office flirting (i.e. just being nice to each other?? Is being nice flirting in the finance industry?). Later, while doing a very ill-advised 48 hour fast at the suggestion of Skyler, the aforementioned yoga teacher, Allegra seriously messes up at work, her coworker/love interest Tripp takes the fall for her, and not only does Tripp still get to keep his job, but they still get together at the end?!?! And he only briefly brings up how she put both their careers in jeopardy, and then just moves past it!??!!?
This lack of consequences extends to other characters in the book as well. Skyler (the Insta yogi/demonic presence) literally seriously injures Allegra by purposefully manipulating her spine in a dangerous way during a yoga class. Allegra leaves the HOSPITAL with just back pain and doesn't like... sue Skyler? Or tell literally anyone? After being HOSPITALIZED BY AN INSTAGRAM FAMOUS YOGI?!?!?!
Anyway, actions should have consequences, don't read this book, there isn't even a steamy sex scene to make up for the lack of anything else fun about it. Next!
Who Thought This Was a Good Idea? by Alyssa Mastromonaco
I feel like I need to say upfront that I was not the target audience for the book. The whole time I was reading it something felt off, and then in the second to last chapter Mastromonaco (who was Obama's deputy chief of staff, among other roles) shares that the book is intended for 15-25 year old women interested in a career in politics. I am 25, but I would argue that this book slants towards the younger end of that age group, and I am not interested in a career in politics.
This is not a memoir, but rather a book about being a woman in a leadership role, and thus rather than being organized chronologically the chapters are organized by leadership traits (preparedness, humility, kindness, etc) and within the chapter she shares relevant experiences for those traits. I did not love this format and actually found it rather confusing. I didn't pay attention to politics during either of Obama's campaigns or for most of his presidency (my personal philosophy was cause I couldn't vote I didn't have to care, and I apologize to any Gen Z-ers reading this, but that's my millennial truth), so I found it difficult to place the stories in historical (lol) context.
Additionally, in most memoirs, writers are advised to condense their characters to make it less confusing. They combine all their friends into one or two people for simplicity's sake, basically. Because all the characters in this book are people in the public eye and are easily google-able, this was not the case, and because of the lack of timeline I found it especially confusing how many people are in this book. Obviously it's not Mastromonaco's fault that a gazillion people work in the White House and they're all important, but she also nicknames a lot of them, which is very endearing and makes Obama's White House feel like the setting of a workplace sitcom, but I had no idea who anyone was.
Okay here are some highlights in case there's a 15-18 year old young woman in your life and you think they might like this book:
Mastromonaco almost shitting her pants (her IBS is a big part of the book, which I love), when they couldn't find her a bathroom at the Vatican before they needed to be ready to meet the Pope.
Obama surprising her by bringing her to a dinner with Queen Elizabeth even though she wasn't supposed to go, so she was super underdressed and met the Queen in jeans.
Her story about getting a tampon machine installed in the West Wing! Feminism! Progress!
Her cat getting sick coinciding with Nelson Mandela's death, and her venting to George Bush on Air Force One on the way to his funeral in South Africa.
Years later when she no longer worked for the administration, Obama still called her personally from AF1 somewhere over Alaska when he found out her cat died and said ‘he felt her spirit somewhere over Denali.’ I mean, come on. What a guy!
So while this book wasn't my fave (like I said, not the intended audience), it was nice to read a book about politicians who are actual human beings with souls! 'Twas quite refreshing.
Thanks for reading my little book blurbs of the day. I got the year off to a really strong start with reading and I’m trying to carry that momentum forward. Tomorrow I should be back with more Golden Globes coverage, I’ve had a few posts on the back burner for a while now, so you’ll have ideas of what to watch this snowy weekend. Wherever you are, I hope you’re staying warm and cozy, and thanks for reading!