Heartbreak for Hire by Sonia Hartl
THIS INCREDIBLE BOOK COMES OUT JULY 27, 2021 by @gallerybooks!
This book is a doozy and, I suspect, going to spark some conversations! I’ll start! (SO MANY SPOILERS AHEAD)
Let’s talk about toxic feminism because that’s the real lady-boner killer of this book. Brinkley works for a secret service called Heartbreak for Hire, where women hire women to get revenge on men who have wronged them. Example: Brinkley works in the Ego department and her clients are women who’ve had their work ideas stolen by men, been publicly shamed or insulted at work by their bosses, etc. Brinkley was hired by Margo who watched Brinkley’s toxic boyfriend break up with her in a restaurant.
Margo is a real piece of work. I would argue she’s the antagonist of this story, even though she’s Brinkley’s female boss. Firstly, Margo is manipulative. You see her manipulations peek out with every interaction she has with her employees: calling them into her office, having the tea already ready under the guise of friendship/sisterhood, and while they sit there sipping tea, she reminds these women (all the Heartbreak for Hire employees are women she poached when they were at their lowest) of how they felt when X men were stepping all over them, how weak and helpless they felt, how they are fixing themselves by getting revenge for other women- helping other women- and telling them that they aren’t there yet, that they haven’t fixed themselves all the way. That they still need her and Heartbreak for Hire.
PRO TIP: If some is telling you that you’re not ready for something, ignore them, and decide for yourself what you are ready for. Because, babe, they are gaslighting you. Get out. Run.
I ran through the gamut of emotions reading this book because sometimes I was cheering what Brinkley was doing and then realizing it was actually really terrible. Brinkley comes to that conclusion as well, but it really put me in check about where the lines are between toxic feminism, revenge on the patriarchy, and just a good time. And boy if you’re not looking, you might miss them. I get really riled up about feminist issues and can slide down a bad slope very fast. So I love this book for making me check in with myself and take stock of my toxic behaviors.
Some bits I disagree with:
One of Brinkley’s jobs is to humiliate a boss for making an employee dress up as the Statue of Liberty and stand outside their building when that is not her job. Brinkley gets this man to confess to his mermaid fetish, while on camera, and that he wants her to finger his anus. This leads to many of the man’s co-workers chanting, “Finger in the ass” at him. This man has a very specific kink and shaming him publicly for it is just poor taste. The fact that Brinkley revels in this just rubbed me the wrong way.
At the end of the book, all of Brinkley’s problems are solved by with a monetary windfall. Doesn’t that defeat the whole purpose of her finally striking out on her own, severing herself from a toxic job, and now having to deal with the real life consequences? I would have much rather seen Brinkley solve her monetary problems on her own, rather than the deus ex machina of the windfall - it undermined her new-found power.
Lastly, Brinkley’s love interest Markus, obviously does a shitty thing for the Black Moment of the story, he admits that he was using the women at Heartbreak for Hire as an experiment to gain him a tenured professorship at a prestigious school. Even though, in the end, he withdraws his experiment article and quits the job, Brinkley NEVER calls him out for using women, without their knowledge, exploiting them anonymously, for his own personal gain. Literally the shit this whole book has been railing against. She never makes him explain himself, vow to correct his toxic behavior, she just takes him back. End of book. It’s infuriating that this moment wasn’t used as a teachable moment between two trusting adults. Have an honest conversation here about insidious patriarchal behavior. Because of this lack of true conclusion, I have to give this a Stephen King Four Stars: would have been five stars until the end ruined it.
I loved this book but it also made me SO MAD. Isn’t that the best feeling ever? -Ford
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Firstly, CW: gaslighting, neglectful parent, abusive relationship, abuse of power, hate of a specific group of people
I have not been this angry with a book in a long time. It has made me so mad that articulating my thoughts about it is really hard.
Brinkley and Markus are thrown together into an unusual work situation, where they humiliate “mean guys” after Mark was one of Brinkley’s marks. As far as awkward meet-cutes go, this one is the strangest. She thinks he’s the scum of the earth, he thinks her name is Anna. But they overcome their “differences” and finger-blast like bunnies because he is so hot.
There are so many “bad guys” in this book. Some of them are intentional, but others are insidious mentions that are hard to discern as the feeling of the character or the author herself. There is toxicity in Brinkley’s previous romantic relationship. Her absolute lack of communication and abuse cycle with her mother and her Bond-villain-level bad-bitch-boss are just the tips of the turd mountain that is the backdrop of this romantic comedy? (Is that even possible?)
There is judgment and shame in pursuing the arts, in choosing a career that is not academically driven, there is also a dumpster fire’s worth of hate on Academia (academics are not without faults, but maybe not so blanketly bad?), there is gaslighting from everyone!
I had hoped to escape into a fun world and instead ended up screaming in frustration at the harm I think this book can cause if someone is not careful in how they read it. -Sky
