Sophia of Silicon Valley

Paperback, 368 pages

Published April 30, 2019 by William Morrow Paperbacks.

ISBN:: 978-0-06-267302-2

(1 review)

"During the heady years of the tech boom, incorrigibly frank Sophia Young lucks into a job that puts her directly in the path of Scott Kraft, the eccentric CEO of Treehouse, a studio whose animated films are transforming movies forever. Overnight, Sophia becomes an unlikely nerd whisperer. As Scott Kraft's right-hand woman, whip-smart Sophia is in the eye of the storm, sometimes floundering, sometimes nearly losing relationships and her health, but ultimately learning what it means to take charge of her own future the way the men around her do. But when engineer/inventor Andre Stark hires her to run his company's investor relations, Sophia discovers that the big paycheck and high-status career she's created for herself may not be worth living in the toxic environment of a boys-club gone bad"--

5 editions

jokususa reviewed Sophia of Silicon Valley by Anna Yen

None

3 stars

I have conflicted feelings about this one.

On one end, I don't think it's much of a feel-good book, which was the category it was in in the audiobook app. It's not what I expected of chick lit, either. But it's a book about a woman, written by a woman, for women. And it's not grim or especially dark, so I guess that settles it for marketing. But it's not that fun, you know?

The back cover failed me this time, half of it was me rushing through it, though. If I properly read the cover I probably wouldn't have read this at all. When the book started with a caption of a disaster boss she had to drive through city like she was a rally driver, I thought that sure, I can enjoy a good, fast-paced brains-off chick lit like this.
But then the caption ends.
That wasn't the …

I have conflicted feelings about this one.

On one end, I don't think it's much of a feel-good book, which was the category it was in in the audiobook app. It's not what I expected of chick lit, either. But it's a book about a woman, written by a woman, for women. And it's not grim or especially dark, so I guess that settles it for marketing. But it's not that fun, you know?

The back cover failed me this time, half of it was me rushing through it, though. If I properly read the cover I probably wouldn't have read this at all. When the book started with a caption of a disaster boss she had to drive through city like she was a rally driver, I thought that sure, I can enjoy a good, fast-paced brains-off chick lit like this.
But then the caption ends.
That wasn't the beginning.
We take half, I think over the half of the book to get to the point we caught a glimpse of in the beginning. Didn't like that. Marketing-wise, I can kind of figure out why it could have been done like that - but reading it, it was really, really annoying. Besides, the back cover spoils pretty much the whole book - which, mind you, I don't think they usually do so I think I wasn't too far off thinking we'd start with the caption as our whole set-up for the actual story. The story I thought it was going to be never begun.

Instead, I get this story about a woman's succesful career. I don't know if it's realistic - I think not, but I wouldn't know. What I sure know is I did not ever expect to read a "--a lightly fictionalized retelling of working under Steve Jobs at Pixar and Elon Musk at Tesla." But it's.. oddly refreshing. A whole book about a woman building her career! The main character's upbringing, thirst for challenges and overall character were something new to me. Working with difficult people in big companies, investor relations... (what the heck is that? Well I guess I know a little better now) dealing with change and thriving to build up one's legacy... I think I needed to be Sophia Young for a while. And I hope I learned something about it.

I think it's an inspirational career book for women, if I'd have to describe this. And I'm just so happy such a thing exists.

But there's also that thing of idolizing he-who-shall-not-be-named. Sure, a genious and a good person in his own way. I'm not saying he doesn't deserve to be a role model, but at what point does she forget he's also kind of a jerk? There's something iffy about this. The epilogue just underlines it. What's with the epilogues that completely ruin the mood...