Starred review from April 6, 2020
In this sharp satire, Stein (The Fallback Plan) revels in wellness culture gone toxic. Devin Avery and Maren Gelb are cofounders of Richual, a Goop-like lifestyle company seeking to “catalyze women to be global changemakers through the simple act of self-care.” (That the company doesn’t have a maternity leave policy is a particularly juicy irony.) Richual uses sponsored content, paid influencers, confessional blog postings, and merchandise like “Believe Victims” beach towels to attract and monetize its user base. Devin, rich and devoted to a strenuous dietary and beauty regimen, is the face of the company, while Maren, who got her start working for a nonprofit feminist organization and has a mountain of student loan debt, ensures Richual runs “like a well-moisturized machine.” That machine hits a rough patch after a woman publishes an essay about the problematic sexual predilections of Evan, a former Bachelorette contestant and prominent male investor in Richual, threatening the company’s feminist bona fides and driving a wedge between its cofounders. The plot flies by, but the real appeal lies in Stein’s merciless skewering of startup culture, bloviating entrepreneurs, fatuous trends, and woker-than-thou internet denizens, a vanity fair of 20-somethings who are at once conspicuously privileged yet vulnerable, earnest yet hypocritical, navel-gazing yet engaged, independent-minded yet tribal. Stein’s sharp writing separates her from the pack in this exquisite, Machiavellian morality tale about the ethics of looking out for oneself. Agent: Erin Hosier, Dunow, Carlson & Lerner.
April 15, 2020
Tensions grow between the co-founders of a hot, womencentric startup in this hyper-timely--and unexpectedly heartfelt--satire of #girlboss culture and the wellness industrial complex. Maren and Devin are the co-founders of Richual, a social network for women. In addition to tracking your self-care habits--minutes meditated, REM sleep slept, water consumed--it was, Maren explains, the "digital sanctuary where you went to unload your pain," mostly in the form of yoga selfies. In the unofficial org chart of Richual, it is Maren's job to be competent and Devin's job to be rich, charismatic, and thin. "More than work wives," Maren muses, "Devin and I were sisters." And the company is a perfect mashup of their comparative ideologies, Maren's commitment to global social justice paired with Devin's passion for self-care. But as the company comes under a series of extremely 2020 stresses--the novel opens with a PR disaster brought on by one of Maren's ill-conceived tweets and culminates in a distinctly #MeToo-era crisis--their visions of what a feminist company can and should be become increasingly incompatible. Richual is a stand-in for any number of real women-led companies that sell female empowerment as an affordable luxury, and Stein sets up both the dream and the failings of this breed of corporate feminism with admirable nuance. But the book is smarter than its characters, who are exactly who you expect them to be, right down to the details meant to complicate them. This hardly takes away from the fun of the novel, which is compulsively readable, occasionally brilliant (a Vogue slideshow about their office is titled "Workplace as Vulva--And Why Not?"), and studded with genuine insight into the relationship between modern wellness and dormant rage. But the book--which leans heavily on references in lieu of precise observations--is ultimately too broad to have much bite. It's rich territory, if not entirely mined.
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May 1, 2020
Richual is more than an app and social-media platform; it's a place for women and nonbinary folk to digitally gather and share stories of trauma (particularly of the Trump-era variety), as well as swap luxurious but realistic tips for self-care. Or at least that's what cofounders Maren and Devin originally intended. The site has recently become little more than a constant flex of white privilege and cultural appropriation. Maren and Devin are facing serious backlash, especially after Maren tweets something nasty about the president's daughter, and after Evan Wiley, former Bachelor contestant and major Richual financial backer, is accused of serious sexual misconduct. Maren and Devin must separate these fatal public stains from the brand or risk losing their hard-earned fortunes. The book is timely and playful, offering a juicy glimpse into the pathos and ethos of the wellness industry and the influencers who make it all appear so shiny and bright. Perfect for fans of Such a Fun Age (2020) by Kiley Reid and The Assistants (2016) by Camille Perri.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)