“Like most company failures, it had happened slowly and then all at once.”
Book: Startup
Author: Doree Shafrir
My Rating: ✯✯✯✯ (4 Stars)
Read: May 3, 2017
Synopsis: From veteran online journalist and BuzzFeed writer Doree Shafrir comes a hilarious debut novel that proves there are some dilemmas that no app can solve.
Mack McAllister has a $600 million dollar idea. His mindfulness app, TakeOff, is already the hottest thing in tech and he's about to launch a new and improved version that promises to bring investors running and may turn his brainchild into a $1 billion dollar business--in startup parlance, an elusive unicorn.
Katya Pasternack is hungry for a scoop that will drive traffic. An ambitious young journalist at a gossipy tech blog, Katya knows that she needs more than another PR friendly puff piece to make her the go-to byline for industry news.
Sabrina Choe Blum just wants to stay afloat. The exhausted mother of two and failed creative writer is trying to escape from her credit card debt and an inattentive husband-who also happens to be Katya's boss-as she rejoins a work force that has gotten younger, hipper, and much more computer literate since she's been away.
Before the ink on Mack's latest round of funding is dry, an errant text message hints that he may be working a bit too closely for comfort with a young social media manager in his office. When Mack's bad behavior collides with Katya's search for a salacious post, Sabrina gets caught in the middle as TakeOff goes viral for all the wrong reasons. As the fallout from Mack's scandal engulfs the lower Manhattan office building where all three work, it's up to Katya and Sabrina to write the story the men in their lives would prefer remain untold.
An assured, observant debut from the veteran online journalist Doree Shafrir, Startup is a sharp, hugely entertaining story of youth, ambition, love, money and technology's inability to hack human nature.
My Review:
Wow, I haven’t written a book review in what seems like forever but that’s because life has a funny way of getting out of control sometimes. It’s unfortunate that because of having a kid I don’t have as much time to read anymore but I’m making the most of it and trying to get in as much reading as I possibly can before the second baby comes in November.
Now, I got this book off of the Book of the Month site and I have to say, I’m liking it so far. I signed up for this book delivery service because I have a bad habit of judging books by their covers and not picking up the ones with covers that don’t appeal to me. I thought this might help me expand my book reading horizons. I would recommend this service to people who are into books definitely, without a doubt.
Now with Startup, I really didn’t know what to expect whatsoever. The synopsis seemed like something I could potentially like but not exactly my cup of tea. And even though I enjoyed this book immensely and liked countless things about it, I was right about it not being my cup of tea. It’s just the whole topic of the book and even the plot itself wasn’t something that I find all that exciting or interesting. I mean, I enjoy technology but purely for enjoyment purposes and nothing beyond that. The entrepreneurial aspect of it was definitely eye opening and taught me some things I didn’t know but I still probably won’t pick up another book on the same subject.
Now, with that being said, I have no more negative things to say about this book because from every other standpoint- this book was completely brilliant. For one, the writing style was very intelligent and not overly simplistic without also being too drawn out and just tedious. This contributed to the flow of the book and even though we were jumping from character to character with each chapter, it was an effortless transition and didn’t make us confused. I mean, being a busy mom and all, it’s quite a miracle that I finished this book in about a month considering the fact that I barely even have time to read. I simply had to make time for this book because I wanted to know what happened next and I also couldn’t stop reading it once I started.
Further on, I really enjoyed all the different characters and felt like I got a good sense of who they were on the inside most importantly. I was even able to picture them as concrete people in my head and that rarely happens because my imagination isn’t all that good- you can probably attribute that to mom brain. Going off that, I loved the way that the characters intertwined in each other’s lives, even if their connections didn’t start off that close at all. They did, however, progress, grow and change as the story developed further and further on.
In summary, I would recommend this book especially to people who’s interest in tech stuff goes beyond mere enjoyment of it or perhaps those who want to expand their knowledge base of it a little and maybe even learn something in the process. Masterfully written and laid out, this book serves as an excellent example of writing done right- in every which way.
Con grande piacere vi annunciamo che oggi pomeriggio avremo in video call da NY Joseph Grima, architect, writer and editor, e fuori programma avremo il piacere di ricevere la gradita incursione di Tamar Shafrir, writer and designer. Sono entrambi co-founder dello studio genovese Space Caviar.
Space Caviar is a design research collaborative operating at the intersection of architecture, technology, politics and the public realm. Based in Genoa, Italy, the studio uses exhibitions, publishing, writing and film to investigate and document the production of space and contemporary modes of habitation as forms of social and political practice.
