Name: Self Care
ISBN: 9780143135197

Leigh Stein

Maren is on a digital detox. She tweeted something terrible about the President's daughter, and as the COO of a wellness brand, it's a PR nightmare. Meanwhile, employee Khadijah Walker has been keeping a secret that will reveal just how feminist the brand's values actually are, and a former Bachelorette contestant and board member is about to be embroiled in a sex scandal. Wellness is all well and good, but Self Care dives into the lives and psyches of these Instagram-famous influencers to expose the world behind the filter.

A Novel

Self Care

(Bre)anne✨

Leaving New York was always a reminder of the millions of people who would never choose your life or your lifestyle, the one you fought so hard to have, to prove how special you were.

"Highbrow, brilliant." --The Approval Matrix, New York magazine One of Cosmopolitan's 12 Books You'll Be Dying to Read This Summer A Publishers Weekly Best Book of Summer 2020 A Vulture Best Book of Summer 2020 One of Refinery29's 25 Books You'll Want to Read This Summer An Esquire Must-Read Book of Summer 2020 A Book Riot Best Book of 2020 *so far The female cofounders of a wellness start-up struggle to find balance between being good people and doing good business, while trying to stay BFFs. Maren Gelb is on a company-imposed digital detox. She tweeted something terrible about the President's daughter, and as the COO of Richual, “the most inclusive online community platform for women to cultivate the practice of self-care and change the world by changing ourselves,” it's a PR nightmare. Not only is CEO Devin Avery counting on Maren to be fully present for their next round of funding, but indispensable employee Khadijah Walker has been keeping a secret that will reveal just how feminist Richual’s values actually are, and former Bachelorette contestant and Richual board member Evan Wiley is about to be embroiled in a sexual misconduct scandal that could destroy the company forever. Have you ever scrolled through Instagram and seen countless influencers who seem like experts at caring for themselves—from their yoga crop tops to their well-lit clean meals to their serumed skin and erudite-but-color-coded reading stack? Self Care delves into the lives and psyches of people working in the wellness industry and exposes the world behind the filter.

Honestly reading other reviews on other sites, have people forgotten this is a satire? You're not meant to like the characters. It definitely tackles white feminism/liberalism very well, and how the self-care/wellness/start-up culture upholds it. And then at the end, instead of everyone else taking responsibility for their own actions and privilege, it all falls onto the character who has been the most 

 problematic (seeing as how Evan never took any accountability for what he did, publicly, and denies the allegations). The privileged pinned their problems on one of their own, who had to fight to get to get to that level of privilege in the first place (and she forgot her own beginnings in this process as well). Obviously Khadijah got promoted in the end (amazing!!!), but the company's ousting of Maren was just a coverup and the cycle is going to continue again (as we see happen time and time and time again) because the main problems in the company were glossed over and put onto scapegoat (who def did have her own problems!). Feels similar to the first season of White Lotus! Had to rant with this review because the reviews on Goodreads had me wondering if people 

 read the book and thought about it orrrrrr not.

TW to be added later

Honestly reading other reviews on other sites, have people forgotten this is a satire? You're not meant to like the characters. It definitely tackles white feminism/liberalism very well, and how the self-care/wellness/start-up culture upholds it. And then at the end, instead of everyone else taking responsibility for their own actions and privilege, it all falls onto the character who has been the most openly problematic (seeing as how Evan never took any accountability for what he did, publicly, and denies the allegations). The privileged pinned their problems on one of their own, who had to fight to get to get to that level of privilege in the first place (and she forgot her own beginnings in this process as well). Obviously Khadijah got promoted in the end (amazing!!!), but the company's ousting of Maren was just a coverup and the cycle is going to continue again (as we see happen time and time and time again) because the main problems in the company were glossed over and put onto scapegoat (who def did have her own problems!). Feels similar to the first season of White Lotus! Had to rant with this review because the reviews on Goodreads had me wondering if people actually read the book and thought about it orrrrrr not.

Katie Chua

exceedingly smart satire ... wonder how it's going to age, but for now, incredibly relevant and at the end of the day a takedown of CAPITALISM (so naturally, I enjoyed it)

Amelia

I LOVED this book. Such a smart, funny take on wellness (hellness) culture. Richual is the best kind of satire that makes you want it and hate it at the same time. Bravo!

Self Care A Novel

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Highlights