Jessica Grose

I can't recall where I first heard about Jessica Grose's "Sad Desk Salad", or who recommended it. The title alone is intriguing and I’ve wanted to read it for a while. The copy I checked out had the feel of having been read in a bathtub, or in some other watery, steamy place.

The first chapter, where Alex describes her morning routine of waking to coffee followed by searching the internet for new stories to post on the women's website she writes for, almost wore me out from reading it. She is under considerable pressure to research and post her stories before another site picks them up, so I knew this would be a quickly-paced sort of novel. And the website, Chick Habit, catered to readers looking more for gossip than for substance, which bothered Alex even though she did like the excitement of it all.

After chapter one, I decided to skim ahead a bit, didn’t follow the plot well, and ended up quickly at the final chapter, "Nine Month's Later." That chapter was interesting enough to make me want to find out some of the things it mentioned. What was this website, BTCH, that wanted to undermine Chick Habit and especially Alex? What happened between Alex and her boyfriend, Peter, between her and her mother? Who was Cassandra?

I found answers to all those questions here and there, and had a good, if non-linear and non-exhaustive read of this interesting novel.… (mere)

I listen to the Slate podcasts so Jessica Grose was a familiar name to me and while I am not a particular fan of the Double X podcast or of Jessica's work on that show, I felt like I wanted to support her efforts as a novelist so I picked up this book.

It's a total page turner about the behind the scenes machinations at a small gossippy web site called Chick Habit. A scandal involving cocaine and some pseudo-celebrities, drama between catty co-workers who interact almost exclusively via IM, and a rocky week with her live-in boyfriend make for a fast romp through a week in our main character's life.

There's nothing spectacular here but it feels very true to life. I enjoyed it for the bit of fluff that it is. I'd read another of her books and I think she's better at chick lit than feminist ranting on the podcast.

Also, had to laugh when she crammed in YET another plug for the "End of Men". Listeners of Slate and Double X will totally get that reference!… (mere)

Dana, an attorney who is on the partner track working 90 hours a week discovers her estranged husband and his girlfriend have been found in what the police believe to be a murder-suicide in a remote area of the desert. She does not believe her husband is capable of murder or suicide and begins to investigate. This is possibly the most believable part of the story as it begins to unravel around Dana’s estranged husband’s involvement in a cult. The characters are stereotypical and lack depth, the ending left me wondering if it was intended to be sinister or a cliffhanger, either way, it missed the mark.… (mere)