Read: Yes
Difficulty: II
Length: III
Genre: Fiction – Novel
Quick Review: The CEO of a wearable tech company, Shelley Stone, is a workaholic Type A mom, who is unsure if she’s having a mental break or her identity has been stolen.
Happy publication day to Elisabeth Cohen and her debut novel, The Glitch! It is a witty and provocative look into the pressures of being a mom who’s broken the glass ceiling. Literally the pinkest book I have ever seen, it is going to be the perfect beach read this summer.
Shelley Stone is the CEO of Conch, a wearable tech company, in Silicon Valley. After a tragic accident in her teens, Shelley decided to climb the corporate ladder as high as she could by working longer, harder, and more than anyone else. Married with two kids, she’s almost forty and totally unsure if she has lost her mind. A young woman comes into her life with the same name and the same memories.
Shelley takes her “me time” at 3:30 in the morning. An extreme multi tasker, she never does one thing at a time. She checks emails waiting for the hot water to warm, spends time with her daughter while working, and schedules sex at a convenient and efficient hour. She is in a constant battle for a place in a male dominated field. Traveling constantly, people are always asking her how she balances it all. As much as I would love to believe this is a satire, I have a feeling it is all too accurate for some women.
It’s hard to relate to the lavish lifestyle a tech CEO lives, Cohen makes the trials and tribulations completely relatable because they are issues women face every day on varying levels: mommy guilt, busy lives, work, relationships, sex, and more. Shelley is an intensely strong character, although not necessarily likeable. As a mom, she is trying to be strong and loving and supportive while also fostering an environment of gender equality and tearing down gender walls.
Cohen creates a world vastly different from my own. A tech world. Shelley is a believable tech CEO because everything from snack time to peeing to sex is quantifiable. Every moment she is awake she is working even when she doesn’t own up to it.
Cohen’s writing style is odd and engaging. Told from Shelley’s perspective it reads as an uncensored inner dialogue spotlighting her type A personality, flaws, and attributes without being apologetic. The first person narrative is fascinating in this book. She can go on tangents or monologues starting out with purpose and drive as her statement begins to unravel as she explains herself over and over. It’s a really good look into the thought process of many women, or at least, I saw a lot of my thought process in hers.
I would love to say the mystery is super mysterious, but it’s pretty guessable – or it was for me. This book is wickedly funny and pointed. I really enjoyed reading it, and finished it in a weekend. I highly suggest it for your summer vacation reads.
Title: The Glitch
Author: Elisabeth Cohen
Publisher: DoubleDay (Penguin Random House)
Copyright: 2018
ISBN: 9780385542784