Name: The Glow
Rating: 3.125 (4 reviews)
ISBN: 9780593729724

Jessie Gaynor

The Glow

Revna

'It wasn't mine.' As if that ever mattered to anyone. As if desire could be reasoned with, and hunger a matter of whose name was written on the lunch bag. Tom found something he wanted more, that was all.

A desperate young PR manager tries to save her career by turning the charismatic leader of a grungy retreat center into the hot new self-care brand in this rollicking debut novel. Jane Dorner, account manager at a flashy New York public relations firm, has two modes: PR Jane, twenty-five, chummy, and eager to sell you a feminist vibrator or a self-care-slash-bereavement subscription box; and Actual Jane, twenty-nine, drifting through mediocre workdays and lackluster dates while paralyzed by her crushing mountain of medical debt. When her job performance is called into question, Jane's last-ditch effort to keep her livelihood and pay off her debt is to land a white whale of a client. Enter the impossibly gorgeous Cass, whom Jane discovers scrolling through Instagram, and her unassuming husband, Tom, the proprietors of a “wellness retreat” based out of a ramshackle house in the New Jersey countryside that may or may not be giving off cult vibes. Suddenly, Jane realizes she might have found the one ladder she can climb—if she can convince them that transforming Cass herself into a high-end wellness brand is the key to all three of their futures. Magnetic yet mysterious, Cass is primed to be an influencer: she speaks exclusively in what sounds like a mix of inspirational quotes and Zen koans, only eats zucchini (the most spiritually nourishing vegetable), and has baby-perfect skin. Despite Tom’s reticence about selling out, Jane sets about molding Cass into the kind of guru who can bring you inner peace and make your skin glow—all for a hefty price, of course. As she reckons with her own long-dormant ambitions and the trade-offs that come with power and influence, she wonders: Are helping people and making money mutually exclusive? And once you become a girlboss, can you ever go back? Sparklingly plotted, deliciously deadpan, and irresistibly entertaining, The Glow is a razor-sharp sendup of an industry built on the peculiar intersection of money and wellness, where health is a commodity and self-care a luxury.

A Novel

It started off so well and had such potential to be a sharp, witty comment on wellness brands and then it had such a nothing ending(?!) Honestly, I would recommend it because the first ⅔ is funny, and the author has a brilliant way with words, precisely - and at times poetically - making a serious observation in a humourous way, but just don't expect much from the ending. It honestly might as well have been a 'they lived happily ever after' and it just doesn't strike me as that kind of story.

This is a book of missed opportunities, is what it is. There were moments that made me wonder whether the book was not intended at satire. But the static proganist, poor pacing and ineffective climax that is meant to represent the main character's "catharsis" strongly suggests the opposite. Which is a shame because that is about the only way the tone of the book - as the prose currently reads - would have excelled.

It was easy to read, I will give the novel that. But I guess it at the end it is just another entry of the Millennial(tm) Novel(tm) that makes it sound like, damn, we millennials must really be 

 annoying and self-absorbed, unapologetically and ironically and without an ounce of desire to improve (/neg).

This is a book of missed opportunities, is what it is. There were moments that made me wonder whether the book was not intended at satire. But the static proganist, poor pacing and ineffective climax that is meant to represent the main character's "catharsis" strongly suggests the opposite. Which is a shame because that is about the only way the tone of the book - as the prose currently reads - would have excelled.

It was easy to read, I will give the novel that. But I guess it at the end it is just another entry of the Millennial(tm) Novel(tm) that makes it sound like, damn, we millennials must really be that annoying and self-absorbed, unapologetically and ironically and without an ounce of desire to improve (/neg).

Jane works for a PR firm, and although she's not the best employee, she sets out to find 'the client' who will put her back in her boss' good graces and continue to help pay off her mounds of medical debt. She finds FortPath, the wellness retreat centered around the ethereal albeit enigmatic Cass. Even with a warning that the treat has cult-like tendencies, Jane is sure that this is the ticket to success, so long as she can convince the partners of the retreat to let her take them on as a client. 

This was an interesting read about the nature of the influencer world and follows the story of the influencee becoming the influencer. There were aspects of Jane that I felt were very relatable to the average mid-twenties woman floating around trying to find her place both in the real world and the online version. There were other parts of Jane that I felt were so incredibly shallow and superficial that I couldn't fathom how I was supposed to relate to this character. I got lost a little bit throughout the middle of the book as it just seemed to drag on for a good bit and really only picked up at the end. I really loved Tom's character and I did enjoy that we slowly unveiled layers of him as Jane spent more time at FortPath.

I didn't really pick up on any commentary about the topic other than the obvious and written out for us to see. That even though Jane has been on the side of the screen desperately getting influenced by any and everything around her, she just can't help the power that comes with being on the other side of it. I'm not sure if there was supposed to be more to the conversation than that. Overall, it was a fair read.

Jess

Jane works for a PR firm, and although she's not the best employee, she sets out to find 'the client' who will put her back in her boss' good graces and continue to help pay off her mounds of medical debt. She finds FortPath, the wellness retreat centered around the ethereal albeit enigmatic Cass. Even with a warning that the treat has cult-like tendencies, Jane is sure that this is the ticket to success, so long as she can convince the partners of the retreat to let her take them on as a client. 

This was an interesting read about the nature of the influencer world and follows the story of the influencee becoming the influencer. There were aspects of Jane that I felt were very relatable to the average mid-twenties woman floating around trying to find her place both in the real world and the online version. There were other parts of Jane that I felt were so incredibly shallow and superficial that I couldn't fathom how I was supposed to relate to this character. I got lost a little bit throughout the middle of the book as it just seemed to drag on for a good bit and really only picked up at the end. I really loved Tom's character and I did enjoy that we slowly unveiled layers of him as Jane spent more time at FortPath.

I didn't really pick up on any commentary about the topic other than the obvious and written out for us to see. That even though Jane has been on the side of the screen desperately getting influenced by any and everything around her, she just can't help the power that comes with being on the other side of it. I'm not sure if there was supposed to be more to the conversation than that. Overall, it was a fair read.

The Glow

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