Citizen Girl

Citizen Girl is the sophomore effort from Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus, whose Nanny Diaries sent Park Avenue mothers running for cover and catapulted the duo to cult-like status amongst gossip literature's elite. This time around, our heroine is Girl, a twentysomething women's studies major whose liberal arts education led her to believe that saving women from worldwide oppression was as easy as reporting for duty at her local feminist non-profit. As Girl soon learns, no job is ever as it seems, and even the director of the Center for Equity in Community is not free from manipulating her staff in order to get ahead. As we follow Girl through unemployment and an eventual position as the Director of Rebranding Knowledge Acquisition for My Company, McLaughlin and Kraus invite readers on a raucous journey though the ups and downs of early 21st Century corporate life.

While at times disjointed and overly crass, Citizen Girl certainly has its moments. Most post-grad women will be able to identify with Girl on at least some level, whether it be returning to Career Services with her tail between her legs or forgiving her boyfriend for hiring a stripper at his best friend's bachelor party. ("I turn to find Buster slumped on my front stoop, soaked to the skin behind a proffered bouquet of hopeful white tulips.")

Some readers may tire of Girl's particular combination of naiveté and idealism after the first 50 pages, and the blatant stereotypes may wear thin after a while (Girl's boss at My Company is named Guy, and the woman they hire to turn things around is called Manley). Still, Girl's story is intriguing enough that by the end of the book, most of us will be rooting for her as she negotiates her way through the tumultuous battlefield that often is corporate America. --Gisele Toueg


Genre: General Fiction