Erin reviewed Ripe: A Novel by Sarah Rose Etter
Review of 'Ripe' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
3.5 stars rounded up. Definitely content warnings for this one, the depression is real and bleak.
This is the story of a very depressed young woman whose depth of depression is manifested in a black hole that she sees following her around. She works for a tech company that is bleeding her dry, and her personal life is a mess. There are lots of themes here - hustle culture, income and housing inequality, sexism, loneliness, fake vs true self, and depression (as already noted).
I loved the workplace commentary. I have been enjoying books that satirize or critique office work, so this fits into that trend. It’s brutal and demanding, but she’s told she should be grateful to have the job, she just has to work harder to achieve some mythical top tier status. The way she puts her “fake self” on for work is unfortunately relatable, though my office …
3.5 stars rounded up. Definitely content warnings for this one, the depression is real and bleak.
This is the story of a very depressed young woman whose depth of depression is manifested in a black hole that she sees following her around. She works for a tech company that is bleeding her dry, and her personal life is a mess. There are lots of themes here - hustle culture, income and housing inequality, sexism, loneliness, fake vs true self, and depression (as already noted).
I loved the workplace commentary. I have been enjoying books that satirize or critique office work, so this fits into that trend. It’s brutal and demanding, but she’s told she should be grateful to have the job, she just has to work harder to achieve some mythical top tier status. The way she puts her “fake self” on for work is unfortunately relatable, though my office work is nowhere near what her situation is.
I also thought the personal relationships (parents, friends, significant other) were well done and heartbreaking. Her dad’s reiteration that there’s nothing there for her back home, she’s better off where she is, hurts every time.
There’s a slow build, a slow descent. I appreciate a character spiraling, so that works well for me. I wouldn’t say she really behaves very differently until the very end, but you can feel the pressure of everything getting worse.
The reason this gets 3.5 stars from me is for a few reasons:
1. It tried to cover a LOT of themes in a short book. Adding the housing crisis and the pandemic felt like too much. Protest participation is like a blip in the book and it felt too shoehorned in, too on the nose. The workplace stuff was the most interesting for me.
2. The definitions included felt gimmicky and didn’t add anything to the story for me. The black hole as a visible thing also felt unnecessary tbh. I think it would have worked better in a movie version where you could easily take in the size and position of it scene to scene. Alternatively, if it played a more active role in the story, I’d have liked it more.
3. The language was too poetic and metaphor-filled for my taste at times. That kind of thing makes me zone out. I think it worked best at the end, but I don’t want to say anything that might spoil it!
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.
