Review: A Hundred Other Girls

A Hundred Other Girls by Iman Hariri-Kia
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

Okay, why the heck was this book advertised as General Fiction (Adult) | Women's Fiction. This was clearly, except for one graphic scene, a young adult novel. And I do mean YOUNG. Was this satire? I admit I was the wrong audience for this book, but nothing in the book's description really made me understand that the author was ageist. I received this as an ARC and am told to give an honest review-well here goes:

Bigotry abounds. And just in case you want to jump on me for this opinion, this is the meaning of bigotry: "
big·ot·ry
/ˈbiɡətrē/
noun
obstinate or unreasonable attachment to a belief, opinion, or faction; in particular, prejudice against a person or people on the basis of their membership of a particular group.
"the difficulties of combating prejudice and bigotry""

Okay, I got that out of the way. It wasn't just the age slurs that were bigoted, but I won't discuss the other biases here.

The usage of every pop culture reference known to man/woman/it kind just made my skin crawl. And yes, I did understand most of them.

All of the characters were unlikeable throughout the entire book. There was very little at the end of the book that redeem even our protagonist, Noora.

This is the perfect book for those who are ultra woke, ultra Liberal, and a Democrat (it surprised me that no negative comments were made about Trump!)

I admit I did read this until the end, hoping for some redeeming value for my time-I found none. However, you may. 

View all my reviews

Description

"For fans of The Devil Wears Prada and The Bold Type comes a smart, modern story about the shifting media landscape and one Middle Eastern-American writer finding her place in it.

How far would you go to keep the job a hundred other girls are ready to take?

Noora's life is a little off track. She's an aspiring writer and amateur blogger in New York—which is a nice way of saying that she tutors rich Upper East Side kids and is currently crashing on her sister's couch. But that's okay. Noora has Leila, who has always been her rock, and now she has another major influence to lean on: Vinyl magazine. The pages of Vinyl practically raised Noora, teaching her everything from how to properly insert a tampon to which political ideology she subscribes to.

So when she lands a highly coveted job as assistant to Loretta James, Vinyl's iconic editor-in-chief, Noora can't believe her luck. Her only dream is to write for Vinyl, and now with her foot firmly in the door and the Loretta James as her mentor, Noora is finally on the right path... or so she thinks.

Loretta is an unhinged nightmare, insecure and desperate to remain relevant in an evolving media landscape she doesn't understand. Noora's phone buzzes constantly with Loretta's bizarre demands, particularly with tasks Loretta hopes will undermine the success of Vinyl's wunderkind digital director Jade Aki. The reality of Noora's job is nothing like she expected, and a misguided crush on the hot IT guy only threatens to complicate things even more. But as Loretta and the old-school print team enter into a turf war with Jade and the woke-for-the-wrong-reasons digital team, Noora soon finds herself caught in the middle. And with her dream job on the line, she'll need to either choose a side or form her own.

Clever, incisive, and thoroughly fun, A Hundred Other Girls is an insider's take on the changing media industry, an ode to sisterhood, and a profound exploration of what it means to chase your dreams."