Ripe has all the signs of a good lit fic, with some surrealist elements and an interesting structure. I would say that it's a personal preference to not read reads that books that are about COVID or are COVID-adjacent, and if it was in the synopsis, I'm not sure I would have been as keen to read it.

The setting was very dystopic although it really was just a reflection of times we've lived through and are still living through, which I thought was really effective, but other than that I really grappled to visualise cassie and care for her in any way.

This covers a lot of ground and will be very relatable to people in their 20s who feel rudderless and adrift in their lives. A well executed critique on modern capitalism that is also compelling.

This was good! I enjoyed it and would recommend it to others. The story was interesting and kept me wanting to come back to it

The workplace is a kind of parallel universe. We find a fulfilment there that is separate from our personal lives. But we also prune ourselves, speaking in a different register, and dressing in a certain way. We have a ‘work self’.

This duality is what Sarah Rose Etter zeroes in on in her new novel Ripe, a nightmarish depiction of the life of a Silicon Valley worker. Cassie, the protagonist, is oppressed by a perennial dark mood that is aggravated by work stress, her climbing rent bill, and the horrors of a fraying San Francisco. But whenever she is called upon to interact at the office, a persona she calls her “false self” takes over, a caricature of corporate allegiance. To thank a colleague for a gift, she visualises, “the gratitude of another woman, a vegan woman who does hot yoga and embraces technology and start-ups and wears the logo with pride”...

Full review: https://thelondonmagazine.org/alys-key-sarah-rose-etters-silicon-valley-nightmare-heralds-the-end-of-the-office-novel/

Unusual, brave, sad and beautiful, I loved this book, the characters and the world that was so wonderfully developed. Highly recommend.

Ripe is an unflinching and uncensored exploration of the proverbial rat race, through the lens of a disillusioned millennial who works for a Silicon Valley tech company… the dream, right?(!) This book epitomises ‘woman vs the void’, as Cassie finds her life companion in the form of a black hole that’s accompanied her since birth. While brimming with sharp, thought-provoking observations, this is a book that made me feel as much as it made me ponder. The interactions and toxicity Cassie endured in her workplace were all too familiar; particularly the splitting of herself into a more palatable version, but it’s the complexity of her personal life and relations that struck a chord with me most profoundly.

I could write an essay on the symbolism of the black hole. While I agree with the consensus that it’s representative of an unnamed mental illness, likely depressive anxiety/anxious depression, I think it’s a very multifaceted entity. Cassie has never had a person in her life who’s put her and her interests first; not her parents, not her friends, not any of her romantic entanglements and certainly not anybody she works with, but I thought that the black hole kind of did? Especially when she engaged in acts of self-sabotage. I myself felt an overwhelming sense of protectiveness towards Cassie - a protagonist I’ll not easily forget.

The ending? Gorgeous in its ambiguity. I usually prefer an inkling of directionality but I think the power of Ripe lies in the multiple interpretations that can be made of it.

What a brilliant, STRESSFUL book. It’s rare I need to put a book down because it’s inducing so much anxiety in me, but that is absolutely what happened here. The writing is so tense, and so dystopian, it gave me a bit of an existential crisis in the best way.

a book that feels ironically given that the titled rather unripe in that it reads like a short story stretched into a length novel.

Existential inertia and a black hole. Yes, please. Loved it - the characterization of the mail character, her unlikeability at times, the perspective and the writing.

I really enjoyed this book. It's not the most comforting of reads - in fact, it's quite unsettling in it's depiction of millennial burnout - but I found it so readable and addictive.

The story follows a 33-year-old woman who has accepted a job in a tech company in Silicon Valley. Having convinced her parents and herself that this is her dream, she is reluctant to admit that she is drowning under the pressure of keeping up with the demands of her new professional life. San Francisco is described as a rotting backdrop to the story, and the depictions of homelessness and the looming threat of the COVID pandemic add to the bleak vibe of the novel.

I would advise going into this when you're in a good headrspace. While it is an intriguing read, the references to homelessness, drug use and abortion can make for a reading downer.

But overall I thought it was a smart, sharp read and I'm glad I read it.

Where to start with this one - don't read it if you're on the brink of a breakdown, I guess?!

Set in San Francisco, in the heart of Silicon Valley, our main character is thirty three years old and working at a tech company. Everyone lives a double life - they pretend they're upbeat and interested in increasing their output to work towards the greater good, but they're all exhausted, pissed off, and fed up. They're living in homes they can't afford, the world seems to be burning around them, and nobody cares about anyone any more. People throw themselves in front of trains and commuters complain about delays. Two sisters who die under a bridge are relegated to the third story on a news bulletin.

Cassie is really struggling to keep up with the pace of the life she told her parents she wanted. As they repeatedly stress to her - there's nothing for her back home, so she may as well just suck it up and get on with things. She refers to her colleagues as "The Believers" - the ones who have faith that our saviours are already on earth in the form of capitalism and technology. Cassie is not a believer. She is followed around daily by a physical black cloud that waxes and wanes depending on her mood on any given day. As Covid looms on the horizon, Cassie wonders what the point is. Of any of it.

Millennial burnout reigns supreme in this short, depressing novel reminiscent of Joan Didion's "Play it as it Lays" for a new generation. Similar themes are present, from burnout to abortion. There's not much originality here - but I suppose that's the point, isn't it - to show that despite the many advances we have had as a society over the past few decades, people are still utterly exhausting themselves to feed the beast. I found the language a bit clichéd ("When I'm not working, I get lost in screens like everyone else here; laptop, phone, tablet, television. The alternative is too terrifying.") but I have read a few books like this so I imagine it would read fresher to someone coming to this genre and seeing themselves represented for the first time.

If you're in a bad headspace, stay away from it.

Thank you to Verve Books for the ARC via Netgalley.

This was a really slow burn for me and I only really got into it about 40% of the way through! However, once I was into it, I found it to be one of the best explanations of mental health in a millennial! It was ragic, funny, honest and intense. The way it is written is to match the emotions of the MC and is jarring and unnerving

I had a great time reading this book, it kept me engrossed the entire time! Would highly recommend Ripe to anyone

I wasn’t a huge fan of Ripe. I think the plot had so much potential but didn’t think it was executed well. I found the black hole reference very repetitive. Great idea - I would read something with a similar plot in the future.

Cassie is in her 30’s, and works for a tech start-up in San Francisco. A constant companion is a black hole which is sometimes large and sometimes small but never actually goes away.he lives her life being followed by a black hole, that shrinks and grows but never disappears. She does not love her job but must never show that to others as she is considered a lucky one to have such a job.
So many relevant issues regarding AI, Mental health, anxiety, trust , misogyny and homelessness are raised in this unique book. Well written and timely

I really enjoyed this read - though it hit a little too close to home. The way Sarah Rose Etter constructed this and the language used kept me enthralled the entire read. I will definitely be purchasing this in hard copy and re-reading!

Devoured this in a few days. Cassie's story is so sad. She has worked so hard to pull herself out of the dump she was raised in, to give her parents the American dream, only to find herself miserable and living an inauthentic life. She hates her job, endures a toxic work culture, pays exorbitant rent that she can barely afford and lacks any real support system. She has real love from her father, but in his desperate need for to get a better life, discourages her from coming home. She has no alternatives. And she is one step away from the deepest darkest depression, that has hounded her her entire life.

With fascination we observe the unravelling of Cassie's world and her reliance on substances to get through a normal day. All this darkness has been cleverly balanced with some flickers of hope and it is this that compels the reader to race to the end, to understand whether Cassie can pull herself up and out. It is a book that totally absorbs, even though there were some techniques that I didn't altogether appreciate (littered with definitions and lists). An interesting reflection on capitalistic America and the debilitating impact of depression.

Messy millennial protagonist? Check! Existential dread? Check!

This was absolute catnip for me.

I absolutely loved this. Cassie works for a startup in silicon valley and perfectly captures everything that makes me uneasy about silicon valley startups.

I loved being in Cassie's head, I loved her messy life, her messy friends, her colleagues and her conflict over a job that was supposed to be the pinnacle of success.

I never get sick of this kind of book no matter how many of them I read.

4.5 stars

Absolute banger.

Cassie works in Silicon Valley. She splits herself to get through the day. ‘Fake me’ does the sales pitches, the workshopping, the hustling required of her. Real Cassie has a black hole over her. She sleeps with the ethically non-monogamous chef. She does tapas with her friends of convenience. Anything to keep the black hole at bay.

This was a pacy, smart and vicious book. Etter writes compellingly and weaves together a number of timely themes: late stage capitalism, tech start up culture, inequality, abortion, sexism, Covid, narcissism and childhood trauma. The consideration of these is elegantly included and feel really natural in the world of the novel.

10/10 cover too!

Pick this book up if: you enjoy My Year of Rest and Relaxation, I’m A Fan or Motherthing.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

“There are moments I am perfectly ripe, too, moments when I am the fruit bursting with the reddest of seeds.”

this book is one for the existential crisis girlies !!

going into ripe, I thought I’d struggle reading a lot more than I actually did; I’ve seen a lot of reviews discussing the bleak tones and thought it would be too overwhelming for me. Update- it was unbelievably validating.

The notes on “hustle culture” and the ignorance implied through the “believers” all add together to create a very “me vs them” world, which rings all too true for so many people. I loved the structure of this book; breaking up the story with definitions and little pieces really helped to build up our main character’s past.

Being swept up in Cassie’s mind meant that this book is very easy to read; I found myself getting nervous as I saw the page numbers climbing because I didn’t want it to end.

Overall I rated this book 4.5 stars but rounded to 4 stars for goodreads.