I read this book in one sitting. I don't think I've ever rooted as hard for an author of a memoir as hard as I rooted for Jennifer Romolini. The book spoke to me about being both completely unmoored in her life while also being super driven at work. Romolini writes so eloquently about this duality.

I am always impressed when people write memoirs that make them out to be horrible people. It’s an interesting kind of honesty. I think she came by it naturally because her family, particularly her mother, sounded like a trainwreck. It is difficult to read and I would love to read a memoir written by her husband, friend, coworker or family member and see how they saw these events.

I felt like this memoir was somehow both overly detailed and missing some real basic information and depth. That sounds impossible to pull off but she does!

For a book that is about her ambition, I really never felt like she was that ambitious. She kept moving up and bouncing from job to job working bonkers hours but it was never clear that she actually was ambitious. She never seemed to like her jobs very much or want to even do them, much less move up.

It felt like she was compulsively working seemingly without any goal beyond being employed. There was an oddly passive feeling about her work. I never felt like she was passionate or ambitious about any of her jobs which is odd for a book about workplace ambition.

I can see why she would want to avoid being around a husband she barely seems to be able to tolerate and holds in contempt which would explain some of why she spent so much time working despite an apparent lack of interest in the subject matter or later, being a manager.

Part of it might be that she seems to have a fear of poverty but admits she and the husband never think to save any money at all no matter how successful she is which an interesting choice. They both came across as incredibly immature. At least she managed to stay employed most of the time and that kept a roof over their heads during their many impulsive moves, travels and career switches.

Most of the book listed her jobs and what she hated about them and how many hours she worked but I never felt like we got any depth to why she did any of it. Despite all the details of her messy personal life, I never got a good feeling of why she stayed in her marriage, why she had a child or even what exactly did she do outside of working hours day to day.

It is bold to admit you and your sporadically employed husband both neglected your child’s basic needs for eight years despite countless professionals saying he needed help for years and then move on from that little tidbit in about a page.

It was hard to read as she sounded like she was miserable all the time and frankly, stayed that way until the end of the book.

Jennifer Romolini paints a vivid portrait of workaholism driven by childhood trauma, the consequences, and the work required to begin the healing required for herself and her life as a whole.

In the prologue she lays out the problem statement that this book goes on to recount: "Work made me feel like I was somebody other than the unlovable monster I was quite sure I was inside." We learn about all of the sacrifices she makes in her life, her ethics, and her health, to get the approval she desired. Ambition Monster includes detailed descriptions of the chaos of jobs ranging from waitress, to editor, to C-suite level. The level of dysfunction throughout, including her stint at Yahoo, which is not named, but easily googled via the stomach churning "Bobbie Had a Nickel" story, is heartbreaking and paints an incredibly grim picture of the life for which she strived.

The memoir is meticulously written and engaging for anyone looking for an inside look into the #girlboss culture. I do wish she had spent more time discussing how she began to repair and heal from decades of trauma, both work-related and not. She voices many of the fears I think a lot of women face, "I'm also worried that slowing down will mean losing my place in some imaginary race that exists only in my mind." and hearing more on how she managed to pull herself out of that mindset and more on her perspective would be valuable.

Thank you very much to Atria Books for providing a copy of Ambition Monster in exchange for my honest review.

While the first 20% of this book came as a surprise since it didn’t have much to do with work, it was my favorite part and I could have read a whole book just about Jennifer’s upbringing. Once the memoir progressed into Jennifer’s adulthood, I found that it was difficult to keep her jobs straight and the timeline. The book started to feel a little bit repetitive with similar issues at every job, and by the time I was 80% through I just wanted the book finished. Overall, I liked the themes and absolutely loved the beginning of the book, but it did kind of lose me a bit as I kept reading.

I loved this book in all of its glory. The author shares her raw and real experiences from someone who made it to the top. What a special look into this journey. Thank you for writing this book!

The only non-current events, non-book review podcast I listen to regularly is called Everything Is Fine by Jennifer Romolini and Kim France. I stumbled onto it about a year ago, and since then it has become my go to podcast when the world feels too heavy. I did not really know Romolini or France but for vague name recognition that they were two high profile women who previously worked in magazines and tech. I did not know - but know now - that both women are releasing memoirs. Ambition Monster arrives first. This is Romolini's searingly honest attempt to excavate long buried childhood tensions and anxieties, correlate them to her tenacious, difficult but wildly successful accession to the upper echelons of the tech business world, and mine it all for hard-won truths about the nature of work, ambition, and relationships. I have a weakness for well written memoirs charting a woman's path to the top and this one ticked all the boxes. Romolini is a superb wordsmith, a compelling story teller and wise guide. Highly recommend. Thank you Atria and NetGalley for this E-Arc and highly recommend pre-ordering and adding to your TBR shelves.

This is a gripping memoir, with clear and compelling writing, that felt like several memoirs rolled into one. The early chapters cover the author's childhood and reflections on being the first child of (too) young parents. Then the focus turns to the author's relationships with increasingly terrible men. Finally, we get to the author's professional life and her pursuit of "more" as she pours all of her energy into her work and tolerates toxic office environments along the way.

I found this to be an interesting and enjoyable read though I had expected (and perhaps wanted) more focus/exploration on our culture's obsession with (over)work. Anyone interested in reading about personal resilience and burnout should check out Ambition Monster.

Thank you very much to Atria Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read a copy.

Ambition Monster by Jennifer Romolini is described as a book about workaholism and the addictive nature of climbing the professional ladder. While there were some very good words of wisdom and research on workaholism, most of the book described the author's struggles with her family and failed relationships. While this was interesting to read, it was not what I expected based on the book's description. This memoir is well written but keep in mind that most of the book focuses on the author's life outside of the office. I really enjoyed the sections about workplace culture and wished that the book contained more on this element of the author's life.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for an Advanced Reader Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Anyone interested in writing a memoir should read this book. Truly a master class in memoir writing, attention to detail, and reflecting on a past that continues to haunt the future.

Born to teen parents in 1970s Philadelphia, Jennifer Romilini experienced the good, the bad, and the ugly of having young caregivers. Her childhood was one of love mixed with neglect and abuse. There are scenes of little Jennifer witnessing wild parties her parents hold at her childhood home, and I couldn’t help comparing her to Daisy Jones of an alternate universe. Jennifer had a rough go of it, but her mom dispensed some advice that stuck with her forever: always make your own money so you don’t have to rely on a man.

Jennifer worked her ass off indeed, holding down dozens of jobs before breaking into media in her late twenties, entering a field largely built on nepotism, money, and connections. Jennifer made it her own way but dealt with a lot of BS in the process - diva colleagues in the pre-2008 economic collapse media space, directionless managers who did not set her up for success, and a particularly cruel unceremonious firing that made her reevaluate what she spent her life working towards.

There’s so much sadness in these pages. Jennifer dated a lot of horrible men before meeting her husband, but I appreciate that she does not look at that relationship through rose-colored lenses either. She tells all about the toll marriage and babies take on relationships. I cried a lot reading about the abusive relationships she found herself in before marrying her partner. This is a book about the cycle of abuse and how we choose people who hurt us when we have been hurt by family members. There’s pregnancy loss, the end of a doomed marriage before a better one that also loses its shine, and the sad reality that work will never be there for you no matter how much you give.

This is going to be one of the most important books out in 2024. It reminds me of so many other brilliant memoirs - THE GLASS CASTLE, MAID, CLASS - and the upcoming FIRST LOVE by Lilly Dancyger.

Anyone who has worked in online media will feel seen by this book - the shaky nature of Facebook algorithms, pivots to video destroying livelihoods, page views and content coming before quality. I don’t think you need to be in the media world to appreciate the greater message, though: work is not a personality.

I'm already picturing friends and family that will need to read Romolini's memoir. Burnout, perfectionism, working non-stop, all the things... she does an excellent job writing about how these factors came to be in her life. I found it interesting and an easy-to-read story. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.