Alyssa Mastromonaco

I'll grant you, I listened to this audiobook at double speed, which might explain why I was deeply confused by the chronology. Or maybe there was something wrong with the audiobook? I don't know. What I did understand was a genial sort of coming of age story, albeit by someone who's been doing high-profile jobs, like being an assistant to President Obama, after working on his campaign. Lots of interesting vignettes, interspersed with random, ordinary moments in a not-very-ordinary life. For me there was TMI on some personal matters and too much profanity. I would say it's for millenials, but the author isn't a millenial. Who's it for? Not sure. Mildly interesting, ok for a car journey.… (meer)

Found this while looking for a non-fiction beach read, that is, something light with funny anecdotes.

The last political bio I read was John Bolton’s which was like the continuous dysfunction of Veep without the humor. (I recommend it anyway.) This book also promised to be about the White House but with competence and humor. Needless to say, this book paints a very different picture from Bolton’s - more like a mix of The West Wing, ER, and some Sex and the City. All the integrity was a nice change of pace - especially now that I’ve survived the Trump years.

I was surprised how much I enjoyed this book. I’m probably not the author’s target audience - although I voted for Obama, I didn’t place him on a pedestal the way she did. Yet her writing style was exactly what I like. The anecdotes were unknown to me and complemented my other political knowledge of that era. I like bios in general and she wrote well about almost everything. The politics, trips, teamwork - all under high pressure - was good stuff and were littered with significant quotes.

Coincidentally, I listen to Pod Save The World so from that I know some of her colleagues which made many of the people easier to understand and remember. And I now recall that she came on the show but I have no memory of her saying anything particularly noteworthy (sorry) and am wondering if I should revisit the episode(s).

My only nits: The last two chapters were very weak and not a good way to end. In the final chapter, she left unclear why she took such a hard turn out of politics to a totally unrelated business that she doesn’t even mention by name or any other way. And she spent far too much time on her cat. I respect her life choices but I didn’t need to hear her cat was such an obsession for her. The cat was mentioned in many chapters finally becoming an entire chapter. TMI.

I give this book 4 stars - a very high rating for me. Alas, I don’t see myself recommending it to friends, rereading it, any other things that would make it a 5 star read. I suppose I might have recommended it to my daughter because it paints a good portrait of how women have to navigate challenging waters - except that anecdotes age quickly and I’m afraid its day has a passed so I can’t imagine I’ll ever cite a passage from it or recommend it to a friend. But I do appreciate her effort both writing the book and her time in politics. The political world is worse for her departure. I see she’s written more books so I will take a look at them.… (meer)