Review: A Hundred Other Girl by Iman Hariri-Kia
Thank you Sourcebooks Landmark for my copy! All thoughts are my own.
If you love The Devil Wears Prada, The Bold Type, or Younger, you must read this book. If you loved magazines and sleepovers and advice columns, you need to read this book. If you are passionate about representation in books, beautiful prose and also irreverent pop culture references, you need to read this book. It is fun, desperately relatable, important, and messily glamourous.
Synopsis:
“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.” —Storygraph
What I Liked:
The Concept—I was a magazine girlie when I was young. Seventeen, Teen Vogue, all of them. It was the best day of the month when I could get the new issues and lay on a lounge chair in my parents’ backyard. I loved how that nostalgia, passion, and gratitude leapt off the page.
The Fun, Relevant Tone—Paper vs. Digital feels like such a relevant topic in so many industries these days!
The Cast of Characters—I loved these characters. They’re as diverse as NYC (which is a character in and of itself). I would like Saffron’s book next please, Iman. I loved them so much.
What Didn’t Work:
Pop Culture References—I don’t know if it’s that they didn’t work, it’s just something I’m super aware of dating a release. But also, it was the point of the entire book. And there were so many, you can tell the author really committed to it. I don’t mind them but I know some readers are quite picky about it.
Character Authenticity: 5/5
Steam Rating: 0/5
Overall Rating: 4/5
Content Warnings:
panic attacks/panic attacks disorder, xenophobia, islamophobia, racism, toxic relationship