Jillian Medoff

Jillian Medoff puts corporate America under a microscope in "This Could Hurt," a smart and satirical novel set, for the most part, from 2009 to 2010 (they still used Blackberrys). Rosa Guerrero, chief of Human Resources at Ellery Consumer Research, is tough, ambitious, and self-confident, but she also cares about her employees. Unfortunately, with the economy is in free-fall, layoffs are inevitable. As she observes, "being chief at Ellery in 2099 was like running air traffic control during a show more typhoon." Rosa and her boss, CEO Rutherford Beaumont, have tough decisions to make if Ellery is to remain viable.

The wonderful cover is worth mentioning. It shows the picture of an employee termination form with check boxes. Each box is next to one word of the title. The background color, orange, is cheery and upbeat, but the form, which is white with blue letters, is stark. This design tells its own eloquent story: Even when life seems to be going well, your job may go up in smoke. All of a sudden, you are unemployed and back in the rat race. You find out what you already know--that job hunting can be exhausting and demoralizing.

Thanks to Medoff's terrific descriptive writing and the time she takes to delve into each person's psyche, we grow to care about the characters, even those who are not particularly likeable. Rob Hirsch is happily married with two daughters, but he is underperforming at Ellery and in danger of being let go. Leo Smalls is a lonely gay man who puts in long hours and is devoted to helping Rosa. Lucy Bender, an upwardly mobile young woman, is bright, capable, and like Leo, unsuccessful in love. Kenny Verville, a black man with an MBA from Wharton, has been coasting at Ellery until something better comes along. When a crisis changes the situation at HR, Rosa, Leo, Lucy, Rob, and Kenny will all face formidable challenges.

This book is brilliantly constructed, with organizational charts that speak volumes; subplots about romances and relationships that flourish and fail; emotional meltdowns and visits to therapists; infighting; internal politics; tragedy; comedy; rejection; old friendships ended and new ones begun; and unexpected acts of kindness. The people in "This Could Hurt" are in process of defining who they are and where they want to be five or ten years from now. While they struggle with existential issues, we are caught up in their personal and professional dramas that continue to play out until the very end. A clever epilogue wraps everything up in style in this excellent and original work of fiction by the gifted, compassionate, and insightful Ms. Medoff. show less

What a ride! When her brother's ex accuses him of rape, Cassie knows it's not true. Her wealthy, somewhat dysfunctional family summons her home to present a united front. But the rape investigation forces Cassie to face some uncomfortable truths about her own past. Her affair with a much older married man may not be as innocent as she desperately tries to make it.

Much of this book centers on a night in March when Billy and Diana drunkenly leave a party. However, since the narrator, Cassie, show more was not present for most of the key events, the reader discovers the twists, turns and conflicting evidence about Diana and Billy's relationship through courtroom testimony.

The reader quickly discovers that Cassie's not the most truthful of narrators, fully comfortable with rewriting history to serve her narrative. As she breezily introduces the readers to the glitzy world of trust fund millionaires, and her sometimes contentious relationship with her adopted parents and brothers, the story beneath the story starts to peek through. Cassie's a complicated character, fierce yet vulnerable and damaged, manipulative yet loving, and a fighter for what she wants and perceives as truth. The more you get to know her, the more she tugs at your heartstrings.

A profound take on the Me Too movement set amidst a world of wealth and privilege. show less

Brilliant, funny, real and honest. I love longish, intricately plotted, character-driven stories, so this was perfect for me. Masterfully done, each character got their own arc that dovetailed with the larger plot. shows people in and out of offices, which I've never seen before. I also loved the way you see office life from different points of view--demographics, gender, etc. Aging in the office, male-female relationships, sexual politics, etc. Bravo!

Frannie Hunter is a mess. Her mother is constantly worried about her weight (and by extension, her daughters') and may be having an affair with a man at her work, her father is quiet and barely speaks up for himself, and her sister Shelley is brilliant, pretty, and successful. Frannie can't get a boyfriend, can't get a job, and feels like a failure for living with her parents when she's twenty-six.

But Frannie realizes that her sister isn't perfect when Shelley commits herself to a mental show more hospital for an eating disorder.

Frannie isn't the next Holden Caufield, as so many reviewers claim - for one, I'm not certain where this idea that all troubled young women are compulsive liars came from, but I wish it would stop - but she is relatable, perhaps now more than ever. For women who feel constantly locked in a battle with food, for college graduates who are stuck waitressing when they know they're capable of more, and for anyone who has ever felt like their family isn't perfect.

She's witty, fun, and while sometimes she can veer too much toward the Sex and the City (having catty fights with her friend, boozing it up every night, and talking about what a slut she is), she remains true and honest to a twenty-six-year-old who feels her life is stuck in a rut.

Shelley's story is equally complex, with no freely given answers. Frannie is constantly left wondering why and unable to come up with a satisfactory explanation. Shelley's disorder aren't used as a tawdry one-note trick to hold the story aloft, either; it's part of the story, true, but in a complicated way that affects Frannie. And Frannie, and her entire family, comes across as very real: she sometimes feels annoyed with Shelley for always being the center of attention, then guilt because she loves her sister and wants her to be happy and healthy. Her parents want to help her sister, but falter when it comes to the best way of doing that.

Above all, the story felt real. It wasn't a pat, easy answer or the tale of a heroic martyr - the edition I read proudly proclaims that it will be turned into a Lifetime movie, and one shudders to think at what they'll do to it - but a very believable account of a young woman who feels lost in a world where not everything is perfect. show less