And even though my book launch had been a success, I was still struggling with questions of identity. Hanging over everything was the fact that I still wasn’t pregnant. Turning 40 was a real maelstrom of mixed emotions. It struck me that I was still struggling, at nearly 40 years old, with the same issues I’d had for so long: Where did I belong in the world, and what contributions was I going to make to it? Who was I to think that I could just swoop in and write a novel? But no, I had to remind myself, I had worked really hard on the book. Even though my book was being published by a major publisher, even though it had already gotten positive early reviews, I still felt like an interloper in the fiction world. (Apr.She was right, of course, but it was hard for me to wrap my head around. Nevertheless, this is an enjoyable send-up that, unlike so many of the characters it portrays, doesn’t take itself too seriously. Also, in a novel that seems in part intended to highlight sexism in the tech industry, the object of the sexual harassment incident remains largely voiceless. Shafrir’s satirical observations, about such topics as the nonstop snacking in startup offices, are often astute unfortunately, they’re also often made multiple times. When a potential sexual harassment scandal threatens to make Katya’s career and break Mack’s chances at a billion-dollar valuation, the ensuing commotion reveals not only personal conflicts but also the not-so-hidden hypocrisies at the heart of the tech boom. Caught in the middle is Katya’s boss’s wife Sabrina, a newly hired (and, at 36, downright old) social media “ninja” at TakeOff. Elsewhere in the building, ambitious millennial journalist Katya Pasternack has been given a mandate by her employer, the blog TechScene, to report real tech news, not just regurgitate influencers’ tweets. TakeOff, a mindfulness app, is on the verge of revolutionizing the world-or of failing miserably, depending on whether founder Mack McAllister can secure the next round of funding. The story, told from three alternating perspectives, focuses on two companies renting space in a Manhattan office building. In her debut, BuzzFeed culture writer Shafrir skewers a world she knows well-startup culture and the outlets assigned to cover it.
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