BOOK REVIEW: The Assistants by Camille Perri @CamillePerri @penguinrandom #theassistants #bookreview #camilleperri

Our country is failing to live up to its promise of opportunity and fairness. It used to be true that if you went to college and you worked hard, you could count on having a decent middle-class life – but that’s just not true anymore. Economic and political changes that have occurred over the past three decades have made the middle-class American dream for today’s twenty- and thirty-somethings far less possible than it was for their parents’ generation. It’s not that we’re lazy, that we have no work ethic, or that we have outrageous spending habits. It’s that we’ve been screwed.

Camille Perri, The Assistants

I’ve had a copy of The Assistants by Camille Perri that I bought over a year ago and haven’t had a chance to read yet. Lately I just feel a bit burnt out with heavier reads that I’ve had and student loans and feeling down that I haven’t made enough progress on my dissertation. So, I was sitting in bed getting ready for my first vacation of 2019, and this book felt like a beacon from my bookshelves telling me to drop everything on my schedule and read it.

It was the best pick-me-up! I found it to be funny in that not-taking-itself-too-seriously-way, relatable in the themes it touched on, and edgy in the social commentary that underlay a fun contemporary fiction novel with a dash of romance. I loved it!

About the Book

A wry and astute debut about a young Manhattanite whose embezzlement scam turns her into an unlikely advocate for the leagues of overeducated and underpaid assistants across the city. 
 
Tina Fontana is the hapless but brazen thirty-year-old executive assistant to Robert Barlow, the all-powerful and commanding CEO of Titan Corp., a multinational media conglomerate. She’s excellent at her job and beloved by her famous boss—but after six years of making his reservations for restaurants she’d never get into on her own and pouring his drinks from bottles that cost more than her rent, she’s bored, broke, and just a bit over it all.
 
When a technical error with Robert’s travel-and-expenses report presents Tina with the opportunity to pay off the entire balance of her student loan debt with what would essentially be pocket change for her boss, she struggles with the decision: She’s always played by the rules. But it’s such a relatively small amount of money for the Titan Corporation—and for her it would be a life-changer . . .
 
The Assistants speaks directly to a new generation of women who feel stuck and unable to get ahead playing by the rules. It will appeal to all of those who have ever asked themselves, “How is it that after all these years, we are still assistants?”

Reflection

Where do I begin? Tina really resonated with me, and I felt connected to her instantly. She is a 30 year-old assistant to one of the richest and most powerful men in the world. She holds access to his calendar, his credit cards, his entire life. And, she makes about $40,000 per year in New York City. Tina can’t afford to pay off her student loans. She can’t afford to save to buy her own place. She can’t afford the cocktails her boss serves regularly to the higher-level colleagues that Tina is forced to cut the limes for.

And one thing I loved about Tina was her self-awareness. As Tina points out, she is actually one of the lucky ones. She has a job and a paycheck and benefits. She might not make enough to move out of where she is or get recognized in her male-dominated workforce, but she is lucky to have her degree even with the loans, and to have her job even with the debt.

Tina’s running commentary on the men in her workplace made me laugh. She knew who her boss was calling for based on the tone of his voice, for instance. I found Tina so easy to relate to in part because she actually does like her job. She sees the good parts of her boss Robert Barlow. The ways in which he has a code of ethics he abides to that feels at times old-fashioned. The way he never yells at her. Not even once, despite his reputation externally. Richard could have been a villain, but Perri wrote him as a character I actually liked, even though I saw some obvious problems with him.

The part where Tina makes the move—the one that kicks off the whole chain of events in this novel—was so expertly written. Because I could complete understand the way it would feel having that check, knowing it was a nominal sum (literal pocket change) to her boss, but one that would change her life. Looking at it, day in and out. Knowing it was yours to take if you wanted. Knowing the panic I’d feel if I did take it.

I enjoyed the other characters involved in the scheme too. They were so fun, and they were almost caricatures in how diverse they were. But that worked, in my opinion. They were each so different but were experiencing they same set back in life. They represented so many millennial women, trying to make it after our generation was dealt a bad hand. Trying to be loyal to a company that treats them poorly. Trying to remember how lucky they are even when they can’t afford groceries one week.

I also loved Tina’s romance in this book. I don’t want to say too much about it, but I found it fun and refreshing! A connection amidst the madness Tina landed in.

And finally, I want to briefly comment on how this fun, laugh-out-loud book also resonated with me on so many levels. Themes of how women are still treated and compensated, despite the progress we’ve made. Themes of socioeconomic status and the opportunities that are and aren’t available. Themes of how even with doing everything right, sometimes you aren’t taken seriously because of your race, gender, accent, or where you went to college.

I loved this book! I can’t recommend it enough!