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A review by soozn
The Heart of the Deal by Lindsay MacMillan
Did not finish book. Stopped at 28%.
Could not connect with this material. I think I am not the target audience for this so take this review as you will.
I couldn’t get into this at all. I was bored by the characters, the relationships, and the inner monologue of the MC. It felt privileged and pretentious. It was also filled with corporate/financial industry references which I didn’t find particularly funny or relatable. A lot of pages (of the first 30% anyway) were dedicated to Rae’s mind numbing Wall Street job, sentimental descriptions of New York, and her sad dating life. I had a hard time sticking with it. It just wasn’t for me. The writing was okay but the story wasn’t what I was looking for.
I enjoyed the feminist viewpoint and how often the author would make a point to talk about all the ways sexism is still so prevalent. Rae’s friend group was a little underwhelming though. Not a single character was interesting to me. I just didn’t care about them or the relationships. I couldn’t muster any sympathy for these people.
I also didn’t find the book to be terribly diverse. It’s set in Manhattan, present(ish) day, and it’s mostly populated with privileged white cishet characters. Seriously? (There was one token lesbian in the friend group who got very little page time.) It felt a little SATC. Yawn.
So nothing really grabbed me and made me want to keep turning pages. I tried. I can see this appealing to other readers but I couldn’t take it. It didn’t feel like it was going anywhere and what I did read was a big yawn. I didn’t even get very far into the whole depression thing so I can’t comment on that.
I couldn’t get into this at all. I was bored by the characters, the relationships, and the inner monologue of the MC. It felt privileged and pretentious. It was also filled with corporate/financial industry references which I didn’t find particularly funny or relatable. A lot of pages (of the first 30% anyway) were dedicated to Rae’s mind numbing Wall Street job, sentimental descriptions of New York, and her sad dating life. I had a hard time sticking with it. It just wasn’t for me. The writing was okay but the story wasn’t what I was looking for.
I enjoyed the feminist viewpoint and how often the author would make a point to talk about all the ways sexism is still so prevalent. Rae’s friend group was a little underwhelming though. Not a single character was interesting to me. I just didn’t care about them or the relationships. I couldn’t muster any sympathy for these people.
I also didn’t find the book to be terribly diverse. It’s set in Manhattan, present(ish) day, and it’s mostly populated with privileged white cishet characters. Seriously? (There was one token lesbian in the friend group who got very little page time.) It felt a little SATC. Yawn.
So nothing really grabbed me and made me want to keep turning pages. I tried. I can see this appealing to other readers but I couldn’t take it. It didn’t feel like it was going anywhere and what I did read was a big yawn. I didn’t even get very far into the whole depression thing so I can’t comment on that.