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Ambition Monster: A Memoir
A deeply personal memoir about workaholism, the addictive nature of ambition, and the humbling process of picking yourself up when the world lets you down—an anti-girlboss tale for our times for readers of A Love Story and Uncanny Valley.After years of relentlessly racing up the professional ladder, Jennifer Romolini reached the kind of success many a high-profile, C-suite dream job, a book well-received enough that reporters wanted to know the secrets to her success, and a gig traveling around the country giving speeches on “making it.” She had a handsome and clever husband, a precocious child, and a home in a desirable Los Angeles neighborhood. But beneath this shiny surface, Romolini was falling apart. Written with self-deprecation and wit, Ambition Monster is a gutsy and powerful look at workaholism and the addictive nature of achievement, the lingering effect of childhood trauma, and the failures of our modern rat race. This is a Cinderella story of success and a brutal appraisal of the cost of capitalism—perfect for people pleasers, overachievers, and those whose traumas have driven them to strike for “goodness,” no matter the cost. With its timely and resonant deconstructing of the American Dream, Ambition Monster is a singular excavation of selfhood, an essential interrogation about the way we work, and an inspiring and affirming call to always bet on yourself.
303 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 4, 2024
About the author
Jennifer Romolini
2 books122 followersJennifer Romolini is an author and podcast host.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 124 reviews
January 21, 2024
Anyone interested in writing a memoir should read this book. Truly a master class in memoir writing, attention to detail, and reflecting on a past that continues to haunt the future.
Born to teen parents in 1970s Philadelphia, Jennifer Romilini experienced the good, the bad, and the ugly of having young caregivers. Her childhood was one of love mixed with neglect and abuse. There are scenes of little Jennifer witnessing wild parties her parents hold at her childhood home, and I couldn’t help comparing her to Daisy Jones of an alternate universe. Jennifer had a rough go of it, but her mom dispensed some advice that stuck with her forever: always make your own money so you don’t have to rely on a man.
Jennifer worked her ass off indeed, holding down dozens of jobs before breaking into media in her late twenties, entering a field largely built on nepotism, money, and connections. Jennifer made it her own way but dealt with a lot of BS in the process - diva colleagues in the pre-2008 economic collapse media space, directionless managers who did not set her up for success, and a particularly cruel unceremonious firing that made her reevaluate what she spent her life working towards.
There’s so much sadness in these pages. Jennifer dated a lot of horrible men before meeting her husband, but I appreciate that she does not look at that relationship through rose-colored lenses either. She tells all about the toll marriage and babies take on relationships. I cried a lot reading about the abusive relationships she found herself in before marrying her partner. This is a book about the cycle of abuse and how we choose people who hurt us when we have been hurt by family members. There’s pregnancy loss, the end of a doomed marriage before a better one that also loses its shine, and the sad reality that work will never be there for you no matter how much you give.
This is going to be one of the most important books out in 2024. It reminds me of so many other brilliant memoirs - THE GLASS CASTLE, MAID, CLASS - and the upcoming FIRST LOVE by Lilly Dancyger.
Anyone who has worked in online media will feel seen by this book - the shaky nature of Facebook algorithms, pivots to video destroying livelihoods, page views and content coming before quality. I don’t think you need to be in the media world to appreciate the greater message, though: work is not a personality.
Born to teen parents in 1970s Philadelphia, Jennifer Romilini experienced the good, the bad, and the ugly of having young caregivers. Her childhood was one of love mixed with neglect and abuse. There are scenes of little Jennifer witnessing wild parties her parents hold at her childhood home, and I couldn’t help comparing her to Daisy Jones of an alternate universe. Jennifer had a rough go of it, but her mom dispensed some advice that stuck with her forever: always make your own money so you don’t have to rely on a man.
Jennifer worked her ass off indeed, holding down dozens of jobs before breaking into media in her late twenties, entering a field largely built on nepotism, money, and connections. Jennifer made it her own way but dealt with a lot of BS in the process - diva colleagues in the pre-2008 economic collapse media space, directionless managers who did not set her up for success, and a particularly cruel unceremonious firing that made her reevaluate what she spent her life working towards.
There’s so much sadness in these pages. Jennifer dated a lot of horrible men before meeting her husband, but I appreciate that she does not look at that relationship through rose-colored lenses either. She tells all about the toll marriage and babies take on relationships. I cried a lot reading about the abusive relationships she found herself in before marrying her partner. This is a book about the cycle of abuse and how we choose people who hurt us when we have been hurt by family members. There’s pregnancy loss, the end of a doomed marriage before a better one that also loses its shine, and the sad reality that work will never be there for you no matter how much you give.
This is going to be one of the most important books out in 2024. It reminds me of so many other brilliant memoirs - THE GLASS CASTLE, MAID, CLASS - and the upcoming FIRST LOVE by Lilly Dancyger.
Anyone who has worked in online media will feel seen by this book - the shaky nature of Facebook algorithms, pivots to video destroying livelihoods, page views and content coming before quality. I don’t think you need to be in the media world to appreciate the greater message, though: work is not a personality.
February 20, 2024
Thanks NetGalley, Jennifer Romolini & Atria Books for an ARC of this book!
I will say this memoir was refreshing in that Jennifer Romolini doesn’t go out of her way to make herself seem nicer/a better person like so many people do when writing about themselves. With that said, I still found myself force reading this to be able to fully review the arc.
So much of it sounds like a complaining teenager that it grated on my nerves. I understand some of that was necessary for the narrative, but it went past what was needed. I also felt like this could have been broken down into three main sections: young life (growing up with the Romolini Parents, which I would have loved to read more about), young adult life and adult life once having “gotten it together” enough to have a successful career and family. Each section referenced each other giving enough information, but felt like it was also just dipping your toe in the water instead of wading into it. There was so much depth and detail that at times it felt like there was neither.
I will say this memoir was refreshing in that Jennifer Romolini doesn’t go out of her way to make herself seem nicer/a better person like so many people do when writing about themselves. With that said, I still found myself force reading this to be able to fully review the arc.
So much of it sounds like a complaining teenager that it grated on my nerves. I understand some of that was necessary for the narrative, but it went past what was needed. I also felt like this could have been broken down into three main sections: young life (growing up with the Romolini Parents, which I would have loved to read more about), young adult life and adult life once having “gotten it together” enough to have a successful career and family. Each section referenced each other giving enough information, but felt like it was also just dipping your toe in the water instead of wading into it. There was so much depth and detail that at times it felt like there was neither.
June 5, 2024
Happy Pub day! The only non-current events, non-book review podcast I listen to regularly is called Everything Is Fine by Jennifer Romolini and Kim France. I stumbled onto it about a year ago, and since then it has become my go to podcast when the world feels too heavy. I did not really know Romolini or France but for vague name recognition that they were two high profile women who previously worked in magazines and tech. I was thrilled to find their substacks and then learned about this upcoming memoir. Ambition Monster is Romolini's searingly honest attempt to excavate long buried childhood tensions and anxieties, correlate them to her tenacious, difficult but wildly successful accession to the upper echelons of the tech business world, and mine it all for hard-won truths about the nature of work, ambition, and relationships. I have a weakness for well written memoirs charting a woman's path to the top and this one ticked all the boxes. Romolini is a superb wordsmith, a compelling story teller and wise guide. Highly recommend. Thank you Atria and NetGalley for this E-Arc. Highly recommend.
February 5, 2024
I am always impressed when people write memoirs that make them out to be horrible people. It’s an interesting kind of honesty. I think she came by it naturally because her family, particularly her mother, sounded like a trainwreck. It is difficult to read and I would love to read a memoir written by her husband, friend, coworker or family member and see how they saw these events.
I felt like this memoir was somehow both overly detailed and missing some real basic information and depth. That sounds impossible to pull off but she does!
For a book that is about her ambition, I really never felt like she was that ambitious. She kept moving up and bouncing from job to job working bonkers hours but it was never clear that she actually was ambitious. She never seemed to like her jobs very much or want to even do them, much less move up.
It felt like she was compulsively working seemingly without any goal beyond being employed. There was an oddly passive feeling about her work. I never felt like she was passionate or ambitious about any of her jobs which is odd for a book about workplace ambition.
I can see why she would want to avoid being around a husband she barely seems to be able to tolerate and holds in contempt which would explain some of why she spent so much time working despite an apparent lack of interest in the subject matter or later, being a manager.
Part of it might be that she seems to have a fear of poverty but admits she and the husband never think to save any money at all no matter how successful she is which an interesting choice. They both came across as incredibly immature. At least she managed to stay employed most of the time and that kept a roof over their heads during their many impulsive moves, travels and career switches.
Most of the book listed her jobs and what she hated about them and how many hours she worked but I never felt like we got any depth to why she did any of it. Despite all the details of her messy personal life, I never got a good feeling of why she stayed in her marriage, why she had a child or even what exactly did she do outside of working hours day to day.
It is bold to admit you and your sporadically employed husband both neglected your child’s basic needs for eight years despite countless professionals saying he needed help for years and then move on from that little tidbit in about a page.
I did appreciate some of the class issues she talked about—how her fellow employees who were born wealthy were so demanding of the staff at the cafeteria and dirty in the facilities. That is not something I see in books often.
It was hard to read as she sounded like she was miserable all the time and frankly, stayed that way until the end of the book.
I felt like this memoir was somehow both overly detailed and missing some real basic information and depth. That sounds impossible to pull off but she does!
For a book that is about her ambition, I really never felt like she was that ambitious. She kept moving up and bouncing from job to job working bonkers hours but it was never clear that she actually was ambitious. She never seemed to like her jobs very much or want to even do them, much less move up.
It felt like she was compulsively working seemingly without any goal beyond being employed. There was an oddly passive feeling about her work. I never felt like she was passionate or ambitious about any of her jobs which is odd for a book about workplace ambition.
I can see why she would want to avoid being around a husband she barely seems to be able to tolerate and holds in contempt which would explain some of why she spent so much time working despite an apparent lack of interest in the subject matter or later, being a manager.
Part of it might be that she seems to have a fear of poverty but admits she and the husband never think to save any money at all no matter how successful she is which an interesting choice. They both came across as incredibly immature. At least she managed to stay employed most of the time and that kept a roof over their heads during their many impulsive moves, travels and career switches.
Most of the book listed her jobs and what she hated about them and how many hours she worked but I never felt like we got any depth to why she did any of it. Despite all the details of her messy personal life, I never got a good feeling of why she stayed in her marriage, why she had a child or even what exactly did she do outside of working hours day to day.
It is bold to admit you and your sporadically employed husband both neglected your child’s basic needs for eight years despite countless professionals saying he needed help for years and then move on from that little tidbit in about a page.
I did appreciate some of the class issues she talked about—how her fellow employees who were born wealthy were so demanding of the staff at the cafeteria and dirty in the facilities. That is not something I see in books often.
It was hard to read as she sounded like she was miserable all the time and frankly, stayed that way until the end of the book.
January 7, 2024
I'm already picturing friends and family that will need to read Romolini's memoir. Burnout, perfectionism, working non-stop, all the things... she does an excellent job writing about how these factors came to be in her life. I found it interesting and an easy-to-read story. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.
June 29, 2024
This excavation should not work. It’s too in the weeds, too disjointed, too much. But I devoured every word. It is so well-written and linked. I loved her stories and respect her introspection so much. Plus- her podcast series (Stiffed) was excellent!
February 11, 2024
I really enjoyed this memoir, and it turned out to be one of those books that I was sad to finish because I felt like the author was my friend. I think the title is a bit misleading -- I would classify this as more of an autobiography than a memoir about work and ambition. Romolini recounts her life since she was born and the trajectory of her professional career is a part of that but I think it's too reductive to say that this reads strictly as a memoir about ambition (just my two cents). The real winning element here is the author's voice. She has such a strong command of language and I really like her writing style, which is sharp and polished. Overall, I enjoyed it a lot -- it wasn't an enlightening read for me (I don't relate to being overly ambitious) but I think anyone who enjoys reading memoirs will appreciate it.
I received an ARC of this novel through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I received an ARC of this novel through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
June 22, 2024
I heard about this book because its author is a cohost of one of my favorite podcasts, Everything is Fine. This memoir reflects on her relationship with work and ambition and how it basically takes control over her entire understanding of self. As a Gen X woman, so much of what she writes feels familiar. And we were moving through the same parts of NYC at the same time (but definitely not in the same circles), which also makes it feel like home. A great read!
May 14, 2024
Ambition Monster: A Memoir by Jennifer Romolini is a recommended memoir for a select group of readers, especially those who are interested in a detailed, very personal autobiography of the early life and the working marathon taken on the road to success by a now burnt-out professional who had to leave their corporate jobs for their health.
The early life of Romolini most certainly impacted her adult life and that trauma had to leave scars that will need to be dealt with eventually. She shares the early memories she has and then goes on to share lots of other memories of working serving jobs, etc. on her way to try and make a living and a name for herself. This track follows her workaholism on her way to having a high-profile job and success.
As you're reading her life story you instinctively know that something has to break because of the focus of the narrative. Her personal life is not as successful as her work life, even early on when she is doing the working class jobs. The crux of the memoir is sharing all the self-destructive decisions she has made over the years. She is incredibly honest and this can be mind numbing. It will also leave you wanting to talk some sense into her.
Honestly, there were parts where I appreciated her blunt honesty but there were also times I wish she were more focused on the whole rather than the little details. It is also, quite frankly, depressing because she is unhappy much of the time. I kept thinking of the old song admonishing you to accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative. Thanks to Atria for providing me with an advance reader's copy via Edelweiss. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2024/0...
The early life of Romolini most certainly impacted her adult life and that trauma had to leave scars that will need to be dealt with eventually. She shares the early memories she has and then goes on to share lots of other memories of working serving jobs, etc. on her way to try and make a living and a name for herself. This track follows her workaholism on her way to having a high-profile job and success.
As you're reading her life story you instinctively know that something has to break because of the focus of the narrative. Her personal life is not as successful as her work life, even early on when she is doing the working class jobs. The crux of the memoir is sharing all the self-destructive decisions she has made over the years. She is incredibly honest and this can be mind numbing. It will also leave you wanting to talk some sense into her.
Honestly, there were parts where I appreciated her blunt honesty but there were also times I wish she were more focused on the whole rather than the little details. It is also, quite frankly, depressing because she is unhappy much of the time. I kept thinking of the old song admonishing you to accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative. Thanks to Atria for providing me with an advance reader's copy via Edelweiss. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2024/0...
March 25, 2024
I'm a fan of Everything is Fine, a podcast co-hosted by the author, so I feel like I know a good amount about her personality and style of communicating. I loved this tell all career and life memoir, as it illuminated her unique journey to the top levels of consumer magazine/digital content and included her emotional experience on that journey. Having grown up reading fashion magazines and watching the migration to digital content, Jenn's inside story was fascinating to read. She has a completely honest and brave way of telling her story, and I have even greater admiration for her now that I know her history. This book magically found it's way to my mailbox....I don't know how/why, but I'm grateful!
May 20, 2024
This memoir by Jennifer Romolini left me with mixed emotions. Memoirs are so personal and I honestly feel bad rating them less than 5 stars. However, with this one, my overall feeling is that I wanted more. More depth, more details, more of a connection with the author.
In Ambition Monster, Jennifer takes us through her young formative years and does a good job in showing how her childhood left imprints that haunted her throughout her life. Born to very young parents, a theme of a lack of safety was apparent. The author takes us through her failure to launch years and an early difficult first marriage. I was surprised to learn the author got into magazine publishing, with a role at Lucky magazine. She talks about her admiration of Sassy magazine as being the springboard for her desire to succeed in the industry, and she discusses her boss, Kim France, which took me back to my teenage years reading Kim’s letter to the editor musings.
As the memoir moves to the back third, I was clamouring for more insights to understand and connect more emotionally to the author’s struggles and ambitions. Then I felt Ambition Monster came to an abrupt end with not a lot of closure on some outstanding threads. The author does have a podcast co-hosted with her former boss, Kim France, so maybe that would provide an update on where the author is now in her life.
I appreciated the author shared her story, and frankly, most of it was really sad as to how unstable the stages of her life were all the way through.
Thank you to Atria and Netgalley for the advance reader copy in exchange for my honest review.
In Ambition Monster, Jennifer takes us through her young formative years and does a good job in showing how her childhood left imprints that haunted her throughout her life. Born to very young parents, a theme of a lack of safety was apparent. The author takes us through her failure to launch years and an early difficult first marriage. I was surprised to learn the author got into magazine publishing, with a role at Lucky magazine. She talks about her admiration of Sassy magazine as being the springboard for her desire to succeed in the industry, and she discusses her boss, Kim France, which took me back to my teenage years reading Kim’s letter to the editor musings.
As the memoir moves to the back third, I was clamouring for more insights to understand and connect more emotionally to the author’s struggles and ambitions. Then I felt Ambition Monster came to an abrupt end with not a lot of closure on some outstanding threads. The author does have a podcast co-hosted with her former boss, Kim France, so maybe that would provide an update on where the author is now in her life.
I appreciated the author shared her story, and frankly, most of it was really sad as to how unstable the stages of her life were all the way through.
Thank you to Atria and Netgalley for the advance reader copy in exchange for my honest review.
July 9, 2024
I appreciate that Jennifer Romolini doesn't portray herself in an unrealistically positive light in her memoir, Ambition Monster. Because she is unhappy throughout most of the book, it's bleak reading. Romolini goes into great detail about her life. I think parts of it could have easily been eliminated. When Romolini finally decides to prioritize her family and personal life, after seeking therapy, I was engaged. As she relates valuable advice gleaned from her realizations and experience, I yearned for more.
July 2, 2024
Women of a certain age and with a certain media obsession will *love* this (me, I am woman).
May 29, 2024
A BIG THANK YOU to Atria Books and NetGalley for the ARC of Ambition Monster: A Memoir by Jennifer Romolini, detailing her life—from her chaotic childhood as the daughter of young, inexperienced parents to her precarious job hopping through toxic workplaces as she ascends into upper management in the media industry as a young woman with zero work-life balance and equally precarious personal relationships.
Her story feels like my story, like our story. As she writes, the story of every woman in the 80s chasing the perpetuated image of a woman wearing a business skirt suit with a toddler in tow. Or in my case, the story of the 90s too, right on her heels, wearing heels, while climbing the same corporate ladders. The same story retold about having it all, both domestically and professionally, if you just work yourself to death in the process, literally—"a pantsuit-wearing overcorrection."
If you have ever been a workaholic at any point in your life, you will relate to this memoir. The constant people-pleasing, putting out fires, jumping through hoops, working through lunch, working evenings, nights, weekends, and holidays as if on-call around the clock with no additional pay to chase the promise of the next raise or the next promotion that sometimes never comes. Essentially feeling as though you have finally made yourself indispensable, all while being incredibly dispensable because a corporation is not actually your family. As that saying goes, “If you died tonight, your manager would put out a job posting in 48 hours looking for a replacement. Your loved ones will miss you forever. Never become so busy making a living that you forget to make a life.”
I was torn between taking breaks from reading and not being able to put it down. "What does it mean to have value? What determines success? How do we know if we've failed?" Only we can answer these questions for ourselves. This is sure to be one of the best-selling memoirs of the entire year.
From an editorial perspective, the ARC I received could benefit from another pass for common errors still present in the copy. There are still missing articles, missing words, missing punctuation and capitalization, formatting issues still coming across on the page. Basically, a rough copy in need of another thorough edit with a keen eye, as these errors are a disservice to the text and the story being told.
I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
5 of 5 Stars
Pub Date 04 June 2024
#AmbitionMonster #NetGalley
Her story feels like my story, like our story. As she writes, the story of every woman in the 80s chasing the perpetuated image of a woman wearing a business skirt suit with a toddler in tow. Or in my case, the story of the 90s too, right on her heels, wearing heels, while climbing the same corporate ladders. The same story retold about having it all, both domestically and professionally, if you just work yourself to death in the process, literally—"a pantsuit-wearing overcorrection."
If you have ever been a workaholic at any point in your life, you will relate to this memoir. The constant people-pleasing, putting out fires, jumping through hoops, working through lunch, working evenings, nights, weekends, and holidays as if on-call around the clock with no additional pay to chase the promise of the next raise or the next promotion that sometimes never comes. Essentially feeling as though you have finally made yourself indispensable, all while being incredibly dispensable because a corporation is not actually your family. As that saying goes, “If you died tonight, your manager would put out a job posting in 48 hours looking for a replacement. Your loved ones will miss you forever. Never become so busy making a living that you forget to make a life.”
I was torn between taking breaks from reading and not being able to put it down. "What does it mean to have value? What determines success? How do we know if we've failed?" Only we can answer these questions for ourselves. This is sure to be one of the best-selling memoirs of the entire year.
From an editorial perspective, the ARC I received could benefit from another pass for common errors still present in the copy. There are still missing articles, missing words, missing punctuation and capitalization, formatting issues still coming across on the page. Basically, a rough copy in need of another thorough edit with a keen eye, as these errors are a disservice to the text and the story being told.
I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
5 of 5 Stars
Pub Date 04 June 2024
#AmbitionMonster #NetGalley
June 30, 2024
read this all today - made me laugh & cry, truly one of the best memoirs i’ve read in a while
June 10, 2024
I found this memoir to not only be excellently written (an unsurprising feat as we learn more and more about Romolini’s career) but also extremely introspective. While my career journey started closer to the “quiet quitting” era than the #girlboss era, the goal of being an exceptional, successful, and easygoing corporate employee as a woman is one that is still deeply ingrained. Watching Romolini fall prey to this toxic trap and then successfully dismantle it for herself is the exact type of guidance I would point all young working women towards. What she provides in this memoir may come across initially as a cautionary tale, but ultimately lands as a portrait of growth, perseverance, and hope.
I received an ARC of this novel through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I received an ARC of this novel through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
June 16, 2024
Skillfully written. Basically, an example of what happens when you disown your own authentic desires/connections/self in order to mold yourself to others for popularity/fame/external validation. The first part felt so hollow and sad to me, like living in the book "The Sneetches," where status symbols are arbitrarily created and absorb the lives of the Seussian characters. However, the author re-evaluates her choices toward the end and begins living more congruently. Unfortunately, influencer culture is driving up the Sneetch mentality, so I wish more authors communicated this type of message - it is all an illusion at the expense of our most important relationships (my take, not her words).
June 3, 2024
Despite not being the typical target audience for this book, which is clearly aimed at women, I found it engaging and hard to put down. While the memoir offers valuable insights and some research on workaholism, much of it focuses on Romolini's personal struggles with her family and relationships, which was unexpected based on the book's description. These sections are interesting, but I wanted more about her workplace experiences and observations.
Her work addiction highlights how society pressures us to equate worth with productivity. Romolini openly shares the personal costs of ambition, like strained relationships and mental and physical health issues. Overall, it's a well-written, relatable read about balancing personal history, relationships, and making do with the present here and now in a capitalistic world. #GoodreadsGiveaway
Her work addiction highlights how society pressures us to equate worth with productivity. Romolini openly shares the personal costs of ambition, like strained relationships and mental and physical health issues. Overall, it's a well-written, relatable read about balancing personal history, relationships, and making do with the present here and now in a capitalistic world. #GoodreadsGiveaway
April 10, 2024
Ambition Monster was a surprising, engaging, and worthwhile read for anyone who's ever drank work-ahol to excess (or was the loved one of someone who did). Romolini's memoir begins with her losing her voice on her first book tour, then goes back to her childhood as the firstborn of young parents, follows her forays into back-of-house and waitressing work and her own early and brief marriage, briefly chronicles the last days of New York media pre-McKinsey-cuts at Conde Nast publishing and hipster Brooklyn, before bringing us full circle to her lost voice in California in the #girlboss 20-teens. The early chapters on her family's relationship with work, class, and status form a strong foundation for the rest of book's story of a woman avoiding the soul-searching some end up doing in their 20s and 30s (and some never do) about work and its proper place in life. The heat in the kitchen of Romolini's career goes up and up, from waitressing jobs to C-suite positions at tech startups and promoting a book on career tips for weirdos, until Romolini boils over in her mid-40s and finally begins to address herself and her past via therapy. During the "rising heat" chapters, I found myself wondering how it would all come to a head, what price would be paid. Surprisingly, the landing from burnout seemed surprisingly gentle given the years of genuine chaos that precede it. Romolini writes about said chaos of her work addiction and the lessons she's learned in recovery from a mature perspective worth reading. Watching her bind herself to the working stiffs until her promotions to management slowly but surely unravel the author's ethics is harrowing but fascinating as well.
Going into the memoir, I kept waiting for it to take more technical/analytic turns into capitalism in America, the nature of work addiction, and the particular pressures/fears/discrimination women face in the workplace. However, when I got to the end, I realized that all three had been addressed, mostly in the book's back half, and were expertly woven in to the story as it was told. Additionally, the story Ambition Monster tells is suitably trauma-informed and showcases the author's lessons from her emotional growth and healing in therapy.
Ambition Monster also includes a lot of job dysfunction in a somewhat gossip-y way at unnamed startups and companies. I preferred the chapters where companies like Lucky magazine and Conde Nast were mentioned by name to the unnamed companies for ease of reading, but legal needs must.
I highly recommend Ambition Monster, especially for anyone who read Romolini's first book, which she addresses in this one. But mostly for anyone who's ever reaped the outside benefits of work addiction (status, healthcare, connections — Romolini is honest about all of this) while inside they went on missing some deep and real part of life and acceptance, or has loved someone who's walked that path.
Thank you Atria Books for providing this e-book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
Going into the memoir, I kept waiting for it to take more technical/analytic turns into capitalism in America, the nature of work addiction, and the particular pressures/fears/discrimination women face in the workplace. However, when I got to the end, I realized that all three had been addressed, mostly in the book's back half, and were expertly woven in to the story as it was told. Additionally, the story Ambition Monster tells is suitably trauma-informed and showcases the author's lessons from her emotional growth and healing in therapy.
Ambition Monster also includes a lot of job dysfunction in a somewhat gossip-y way at unnamed startups and companies. I preferred the chapters where companies like Lucky magazine and Conde Nast were mentioned by name to the unnamed companies for ease of reading, but legal needs must.
I highly recommend Ambition Monster, especially for anyone who read Romolini's first book, which she addresses in this one. But mostly for anyone who's ever reaped the outside benefits of work addiction (status, healthcare, connections — Romolini is honest about all of this) while inside they went on missing some deep and real part of life and acceptance, or has loved someone who's walked that path.
Thank you Atria Books for providing this e-book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
June 30, 2024
There was a lot of hype around this book! The author comes from an Italian American background. She is a writer. To give you a sense of her age, she is a millennial. I expected something about ambition and a focus on work but didn’t get that. But, if you want to read about any or all of the themes below, this could be a good book.
-a somewhat traumatic childhood with young, unprepared parents and a mother who sacrificed everything to be a mom and wife. You can see this reverberating across the book.
-a string of relationships with men that vary from abusive to dysfunctional
-a series of jobs in publishing, then tech, and a tiny bit of reflection on work and work cultures
-a marriage where she is carrying the mental and financial load. She is fraying.
-a somewhat traumatic childhood with young, unprepared parents and a mother who sacrificed everything to be a mom and wife. You can see this reverberating across the book.
-a string of relationships with men that vary from abusive to dysfunctional
-a series of jobs in publishing, then tech, and a tiny bit of reflection on work and work cultures
-a marriage where she is carrying the mental and financial load. She is fraying.
February 15, 2024
The #girlboss #hustle era is OVER!!! Although it takes Jennifer many many years to come to that conclusion. We watch as she struggles through life in NYC as a wannabe writer, dating a string of unworthy men and yearning for more. When she finally gets to the top, she realizes it's not worth all that she's had to give up for success. This is a memoir about workaholism, capitalism, and people-pleasing, and why none of those things will lead to a happy life. She writes with honest wit and interesting anecdotes, making it an enjoyable story even if you want to scream at her the first 90% to make different decisions.
May 24, 2024
I am always in for a memoir and love learning about people's life stories. The title grabbed me, especially as I think about my own workaholic tendencies. This was really sad. Jennifer Romolini had an intense childhood, and it's incredible that she was able to lift herself up. I found certain sections really repetitive. But, I also felt like I wish there was more time to explore and get deeper. Romolini isn't the most likable and I found myself super frustrated with many of her choices.
3.5 stars, but rounding down to 3.
Thank you Netgalley & Atria Books for the advanced reader copy.
3.5 stars, but rounding down to 3.
Thank you Netgalley & Atria Books for the advanced reader copy.
July 1, 2024
this was a very timely read for me. I love a good memoir and always need people to tell me to chill out.
Last sentence of the book summarizes it best:
“There’s no dream job to chase, no have it all fairy tale, no happy ending in which to escape. The story is never so pretty or so neat. The best is often what’s right in front of you. The hardest, most ambitious goal, is it stop running from yourself.”
Last sentence of the book summarizes it best:
“There’s no dream job to chase, no have it all fairy tale, no happy ending in which to escape. The story is never so pretty or so neat. The best is often what’s right in front of you. The hardest, most ambitious goal, is it stop running from yourself.”
July 11, 2024
3.5 stars rounded up.
Easy listen. Well written. Mostly interesting. I did get a bit bored about halfway through. I would have liked more of her life outside of work, although I guess there wasn’t really much outside of her career.
Easy listen. Well written. Mostly interesting. I did get a bit bored about halfway through. I would have liked more of her life outside of work, although I guess there wasn’t really much outside of her career.
June 10, 2024
I really wanted to love this.
June 19, 2024
Some people who grow up in shitty situations make excellent employees. They thrive in toxic environments and relationships.
I know of these people. I was one of them.
I know of these people. I was one of them.
June 20, 2024
(Audiobook)
July 15, 2024
Honest and unflinching, the tone and voice of the book is excellent. I loved the author at times and really disliked her at others. I think she has some good, if very privileged, things to say about our end stage capitalist country/society. Worthwhile listen.
July 21, 2024
Started reading in the morning and finished in the afternoon. Couldn’t put it down with how well written and relevant it was. What a life
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July 6, 2024main takeaway: get fired
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