NATIONAL BESTSELLER * Named a Best Book of the Year by Time, HuffPost, Kirkus Reviews, and more * A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice * A Roxane Gay Audacious Book Club Selection * A Marie Claire Book Club Pick
A surreal literary fiction novel with "a dark, delicious edge" (Time) about a woman in Silicon Valley who must decide how much she's willing to give up for success-from an award-winning writer whose work Roxane Gay calls "utterly unique and remarkable."
A year into her dream job at a cutthroat Silicon Valley start-up, Cassie finds herself trapped in a toxic workplace that turns into a corporate nightmare. Between the long hours, toxic bosses, and unethical projects, she also struggles to reconcile the glittering promise of a city shaped by late-stage capitalism where obscene wealth lives alongside abject poverty and suffering. Ivy League grads complain about the snack selection from a conference room with a view of unhoused people bathing in the bay. Start-up burnouts leap into the paths of commuter trains, and men literally set themselves on fire in the streets.
Though isolated, Cassie is never alone. From her earliest memory, a miniature black hole has been her constant companion. It feeds on her depression and anxiety, growing or shrinking in relation to her distress. The black hole watches, but it also waits. Its relentless pull draws Cassie ever closer as the world around her unravels.
When she ends up unexpectedly pregnant at the same time her CEO's demands cross into illegal territory, Cassie must decide whether the tempting fruits of Silicon Valley are really worth it. "Lurid, tense, and compelling" (Kirkus Reviews, starred review), Ripe portrays one millennial woman's journey through our late-stage capitalist hellscape and offers a brilliantly incisive look at the absurdities of modern life. Sarah Rose Etter is the author of the chapbook Tongue Party and The Book of X, winner of a Shirley Jackson Award for best novel. Her work has appeared in Time, Guernica, BOMB, the Bennington Review, The Cut, VICE, and elsewhere. She has been awarded residences at the Jack Kerouac House, the Disquiet International program in Portugal, and the Gullkistan in Iceland. She earned her BA in English from Pennsylvania State University and her MFA in fiction from Rosemont College. She lives in Los Angeles. For more info, visit SarahRoseEtter.com. "Laurel Lefkow's narration evokes the dark tone of this literary novel about a millennial tech worker. Stuck in a toxic Silicon Valley workplace and struggling with depression and anxiety, 33-year-old Cassie feels like she's falling into a black hole. Things worsen when she discovers that an affair has resulted in an unplanned pregnancy at the same time that a deadly virus is taking over the world. Lefkow's performance enhances the novel's bleak mood, building tension as Cassie unravels."
