Promising Young Women is a semi-gothic semi-allegory about women and men and work and power, written in exactly the voice of someone who works for The Pool. I almost feel too distant from this novel's intended readership to be capable of giving it a fair go - that said, I'm a millennial woman, and this is definitely meant to be Relatable for millennial women, so maybe I'm actually just bored of novels about straight women which flirt with occasional very mild homophobia, which I suppose is my problem. Anyway. This is much more likely to be your sort of thing if you have patience with Feminist Literature about the Present Moment which makes a lot of Statements about power dynamics between men and women (none of which I question ideologically at all, but I think the novel does a good enough job showing how insidious they are without stopping to explain for those of us at the back). The Fleabag comparison is rather more apt than those to Conversations With Friends or Sweetbitter, both of which I think did what Promising Young Women is trying to with more grace, if that helps anyone decide whether or not to chance it.

Promising Young Women is a cautionary tale. It reminds us, should we need reminding, that a woman should never be defined in relation to, or obligated to, a man.
There is a scene where our hero, Jane, takes a wrong turn. I was mentally screaming at Jane not to do what she does. She knows it is wrong, and she does it anyway. From this point on, much of what happens to her is beyond her control.
This book is a great examination of women in the workplace. There is no sisterhood. Some women may stick together, others will want to tear each other down. Having said that, it also tells us that a woman is much better off having a good friend than a man.
The men in this book are all weak, and some of them are very cruel. The most cruel character in the story is a woman. In an extraordinary scene, Jane is taken aback by the evil shown by a woman called Renata.
Promising Young Women is an essential read that is at once very funny, and a stare into the abyss. What happens to Jane after she makes her mistake is horrifying, and all too realistic. The ending of the book is hugely cathartic and oddly triumphant. It is about the time Jane screwed up and lived to tell the tale.