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I thought this book did a nice job of portraying the soul-destroying effects of capitalism for a woman living and working in Silicon Valley. I liked how Sarah Rose Etter portrayed some of the complicated dynamics of our protagonist’s work life, such as how her female boss treats her so awfully (exemplifying that women can be horrible to women) and how the protagonist is complicit in making a new hire move 15 hours away from his family (highlighting how we can all commit cruel actions for a paycheck). It all felt a bit millennial malaise which I think may resonate with some folks.

Unfortunately I didn’t find the writing that compelling in Ripe. I think there’s a lot of overdrawn sentences and images that to me, felt too obvious in their attempts to elicit emotion. For example, Etter constantly used the image of a “black hole� to represent the protagonist’s depression/mental anguish as well as her “fake self� to show the protagonist’s disembodiment/performance for other people. I felt the writing would have been more effective if she had found more subtle or specific ways to phrase her main character’s emotional experience. Etter also included so many different sources of anguish � an oppressive workplace environment, an unintended pregnancy, conflict-ridden friendships, abusive/cruel parents, a dissatisfying romantic relationship � and it was disappointing to me that none of these, aside from maybe the oppressive workplace environment, had time to really develop and have a full story arc.

So, I can see why this book has amassed some popularity even though I didn’t love it. Onto the next!