What is with all of the coming of age in the Y2K era books!? I mean, don’t get me wrong, I am absolutely here for it as someone who was in her 20s during that time and can relate to all of these angsty stories about finding yourself, job stress, hookups, and relationship drama against the backdrop of 9/11 and hardly a cell phone to be found, let alone a smart phone.
Anyway! I could SO relate to the main character because I was completely shunted around as the peon in my office (working in advertising, not publishing). I, too, had the crap lunch break on Fridays and wasn’t able to go out with my friends and it sucked! (The day I found another job and gave my notice was one of the most satisfying moments of my life.) I was living in Chicago in my early 20s and I kept thinking that’s where this novel was set because it just felt so similar to my life then - going to random work event parties, grabbing beers at a hole in the wall, taking the subway everywhere, seeing a show and being jostled in a crowd.. I loved the atmosphere. The story was very sweet, although I would have ditched the guy a lot earlier for the romantic hero for sure. That’s one thing I didn’t relate to with this character: I did not suffer fools for long when I was younger. The romance trope of the girl that can’t bring herself to get out of a bad relationship usually turns me off immediately. But it was somewhat nuanced and everything else was so charming that just I flew through the pages - this is an absolutely perfect summer read.