Brooke has enough money to get by but isn’t exactly rich. She works in New York for Asher Jaffe, a billionaire trying to give away his fortune to worthy causes. But what defines a "worthy" cause, and who decides what’s enough? *Entitlement* dives into these questions, exploring themes like money, class, and the difference between need and desire. The writing is similar to Alam's first book and while I didn’t warm to the entitled characters, I was curious enough to keep reading to see where it all led.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

I was drawn into this novel, but increasingly disturbed by it. The world of extreme wealth and all it entails is so outrageous ....the money spent, the material things purchased, etc. is not even real to 99% of the population. I felt so sorry for this young woman with all her self doubt and the naivete of Brooke's character. I am glad I read this because you get a glimpse of how messed up having crazy money makes some people lose their perspective over what is really important to have a good life.

Alam writes about one of the most uncomfortable and deep hidden truths of the human psyche - greed. The main character works in philanthropy but continues to make more and more risky moves to satisfy her own wants and needs. It was so uncomfortable to read but I couldn't look away.

I did not finish this book. Too many characters to keep track of and it didn’t pull me in. I DNFd in the 3 section.

I enjoyed this. The tone was a little arch which was unusual, but enjoyable and funny at times. thanks for sending to me.

A thought-provoking and challenging book about the differences between wants and needs, and who gets to decide what you’re entitled to.

After 10 years of soulless teaching at a charter school, Black Brooke Orr has started a new job at the Asher and Carol Jaffee Foundation whose purpose is to give away the billions of dollars that white octogenarian Asher has made through a quotidian office supplies company. Starting out in a junior role, Brooke quickly becomes Asher’s protégé and confidante.

This shift in role creates a shift in Brooke. While she had previously been at least somewhat content with her lot, she now wants, no! needs, more. This is crystallized in the idea of owning an apartment that would become her space and her space alone in the city, and would give her a permanence, a legacy, a solidity. This contrasts with a project that Brooke wants the Foundation to support: a community school run by an older woman who does not want the largesse that Brooke is offering and is content with what she has created.

Brooke’s vividly created world of friends, family, and work colleagues sets up tensions of entitlement and jealousy. The author fluidly switches perspectives, even within a conversation to show what each side believes, or at least what they believe they believe.

The author beautifully creates the relationship between Asher and Brooke. It could have been a very straightforward tawdry exchange of vitality and exoticism for money and while it is ultimately that, there are also more nuanced layers. Like everything in Asher’s life it is not as simple as it seems. He is trying to give away billions but doesn’t seem to have a plan or a focus and his billions are creating more than he can donate. It emerges that he is not as altruistic as he would like others to think he is. He wants something in exchange but what that is only becomes apparent towards the very end of the novel.

So lots of meaty food for thought in a short easy to read novel. What’s not to like?

Thanks to Riverhead and Netgalley for the digital review copy.

Thanks to NetGalley and RIverhead for nearly read.
Alam is a powerful writer. Entitlement contained such layered characters and an unease that progressed to the very end.
Brooke became a very unlikeable person as her obsession with the allure of money grew. Her moral compass disintegrated as the want for wealth and it's amenities increased. Her search for helping the community was just a cover for her own selfish desires. She felt she deserved and was entitled to the comforts and luxuries that wealth would bring.
Entitlement is a study of our current culture. Alam masterfully blurred the lines of race and greed and power.
Great book for discussion.

Entitlement follows the meandering path of Brooke Orr, a 30-something, Vassar-educated, adopted Black woman struggling to discover who she is and find her life's purpose in New York City. She quit her first job as a teacher and has just started working at the Asher & Carol Jaffee Foundation, a billionaire's charitable foundation. As Asher describes its mission, the foundation seeks to change the world. Asher feels an affinity for Brooke and takes her on as his protege, exposing her to privileges and experiences commonplace to persons of great wealth. This exposure awakens her ambition and compulsive desire for the things money can buy while eroding her relationships with family and friends. Addressing issues of race, gender, economic inequality, and capitalism, the novel also examines the roots of Brooke's increasingly poor decision-making and how money, or lack thereof, can impact identity and purpose. Both paths can have dire consequences, which become apparent in a final confrontation at the end of the book, leaving the characters' fates in the air.

Rumaan Alam is the king of doing a lot with a little. Sparse prose and an unsettling feeling are characteristic of his writing and Entitlement did not disappoint.

Brooke decides to leave teaching and becomes an assistant to a billionaire. Brooke gradually gets pulled into the thrall of the power that money of that type brings.

The pacing is perfect and you creep towards the resolution. Atmospheric and thought provoking, this is another excellent novel by Alam. Best to go into this one with as little information as possible.

I absolutely LOVED Alam's Leave the World Behind -- the sense of dread, the ethical puzzles, the ambiguous ending, I was here for all of it. And I was hoping that Entitlement would be much of the same but in a very different setting. Unfortunately I found it to be a bit tedious. The premise sounds fascinating and full of potential, but the characters weren't compelling and the plot seemed nonexistent. (Judging from reviews of others who felt similarly, I'm not alone in this.) It also started to feel quite repetitive and the writing was surprisingly awkward. I know others who have loved this one, so it's definitely dependent upon your taste and what you go in expecting.

Thank you to Riverhead for the ARC!

Entitlement by Rumaan Alam is a sharp and unsettling novel that packs a punch. After leaving her teaching career for the corporate world, Brooke lands a job assisting a billionaire in giving away his fortune. But what starts as a seemingly perfect opportunity quickly becomes something else - an exploration of how proximity to money can warp your sense of reality and self.

The way Alam captures Brooke’s transformation is fascinating. You can see her slowly get pulled into the power and influence that come with wealth, and it’s not pretty. There’s a quiet tension that builds throughout the novel, making you question how much of what we want is shaped by what we think we deserve. The writing doesn’t try to soften the blow - Alam isn’t afraid to let the discomfort sit, which I appreciated.

The themes of race, privilege, and power dynamics are handled thoughtfully, without being forced. Brooke’s decisions will make you cringe, but you’ll also keep turning the pages to see how far she’ll go. It’s one of those books that lingers after you finish, making you think about ambition, money, and where the line is. I highly recommend.

Having read (more accurately, loved and devoured) Leave The World Behind, I was really looking forward to this book. While it wasn’t what I expected, it was an extremely well written and thought provoking read about our society and the effects of money, and proximity to money.

Despite opening with the threat of the “New York subway pricker,” the book focuses on Brooke Orr. Brooke, a 33 year old, middle class, black woman, has recently left teaching and is newly employed, working for Asher Jaffee, an octogenarian billionare, to actualize his pledge of donating his fortunes.

Brooke quickly becomes his protege and finds herself tantalized by the idea money. As her relationship to her job changes, so do the relationships with her family and friends, especially as Brooke’s reckless decision making starts to spiral.

I loved the way information is slowly and intentionally doled out throughout the plot. The characters are all well-developed and I closed the book with so much to think over. Thanks so much to Netgalley for the chance to read and review this AR.

This book was not great. The sentences were so short. I thought I would love it. I did not, and I don’t quite know why. (If you’ve already read this book you’ll see what I did there.)

Brooke Orr is a thirtysomething, living in New York, and searching for what will make her life fulfilling. She thinks she finds it when she takes a job with Asher Jaffe, an aging billionaire intent on giving away his fortune. As she gets to know Asher better and begins working closely with him as his protege, the line between philanthropy and personal interest grows blurry.

I had extremely high hopes going into this book. Leave the World Behind was one of my favorite books of 2020; Rumaan Alam was masterful at taking a group of people in an eerie situation and leaving the reader on the edge of the seat as the plot progressed (but not all the way to a definitive conclusion). We didn’t know too much about the characters’ pasts but that didn’t matter, in fact it may have even made the book more interesting. He does something similar in Entitlement, but unfortunately here I really needed to understand the characters better in order to care about the plot. Brooke was so affectless that it was extremely hard to engage with the book. She reminded me of Emira in Such a Fun Age (another book that I didn’t care for quite as much as I expected).

This novel does discuss interesting and timely topics, including what as humans we are all entitled to, what it means to live a fulfilling life, and how money affects a person’s mental and physical well-being. I have seen a number of glowing reviews (including a starred review at Kirkus) so while I did not love it, I would still recommend it to fans of Kiley Reid or Raven Leilani.

This was another unique read from Rumaan Alam. If you don't like unlikable characters you won't like this one. Brooke is a hot mess and makes some really poor choices. She is struggling with her place in the world and issues of class and race. I really felt for her most of the time. I can't imagine how difficult it would be to be next to all that money but with no access. But the times I did not feel for her is how mean she was to her family and friends. Entitlement is the perfect name for this book!

Entitlement by Rumaan Alam is a powerful book. It is designed to make you feel uncomfortable, and indeed I did. The main character is definitely not "likeable" and she argues strongly for what she deserves. As a reader, there is the tendency to both try to appreciate her point of view and to slap her. I have not read Alam's most recent book, but I have read "That Kind of Mother" and this one has the same slant=eye view of contemporary life that is extremely revealing. It brings to mind "Colored Television" by Danzy Senna (just published) and Emma Cline's "The Guest" in its deep dive into characters who make great sense from their own POV but don't fit with other aspects of their worlds. Notably, this is also one of those books in which the title summarizes the theme perfectly.

The writing in this book is so beautiful, I wanted to reside in every sentence. The emotionality and the scene setting is really rich, and the characters seemed to walk off the page. The book also addresses many timely themes.

Brooke, a Black woman in her early 30s, has left her job teaching in a charter school in the Bronx to work for an old white billionaire who is trying to give his money away. I was enjoying the book throughout the first half but after the character development had taken place, I didn't like Brooke. This is probably intentional, which makes this a hard book to rate because I kind of loved it but also hated it. Extremely discussion-worthy!

Brooke, an average woman in intelligence and work ethic, but with possession of beauty, lands a job at the foundation of multi-billionaire and octogenarian, Asher Jaffee, who desires to give away his billions before he dies. Asher takes an instant liking to Brooke, doting on her and imparting his philosophies. Because of this and her proximity to his wealth, we start to see Brooke transform into mercenary delusion, feeling she’s ’entitled’ to these finer things in life; she even descends into criminality to get them. Some would say this transformation happened to quickly, but I disagree. The author gave us small indications of her feeling of entitlement and true character from the beginning. His use of dynamic POVs and stream of consciousness enveloped me in the story, creating compelling insight. She kind of epitomizes a sect of the younger generation who are still supported or subsidized by their parents and want to make the world better, but have no means or practical thought, or philanthropic volition on how to do it, however they do possess the unblemished capacity to complain and target. I don’t know if that was the author’s intent, but that was one of my takeaways. His illusions to racism were all the more poignant and powerful because of their subtlety throughout the story. Excellent read, I love a rant book occasionally. Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Publishing for sharing this book with me.

One of the social problems we often see are people’s sense of entitlement and the repercussions it can cause. Alan hits this topic on the head when he writes about Brooke in his aptly named book “Entitlement”. In it Brooke finds herself a protege of billionaire Arthur Jaffee. Her best friend Kim has a father who has left her an inheritance. Surrounded by excesses she is drawn to power and money.
In the beginning of the book Brooke yearns for the praise and recognition of her family. As it progresses she recognizes that this material desire is more important than family or friends. “I can’t stop myself from wanting things, it is a fundamental part of being alive”. She feels she is deserving so it must be true. She has Jaffee’s ear so she is entitled to choose who else benefits from his largesse. Brooke decides she has a need and he has a solution.
The most interesting part of the story I found was Jaffee himself. A billionaire who is at the end of his life and is realizing that you can’t take it with you. He is trying to disengage from his wealth and get his individuality and humanity back. He understands the lonely truth that he can never be seen as standing on his own merit anymore.
4.0

As her story unfolds in Entitlement I was alternately puzzled, disarmed, appalled, charmed, worried, angered, and finally astonished by Brooke’s behavior towards her family, her friends, her colleagues, her clients, strangers, and the billionaire who makes her his protégé and confessor. By the end of the book, though, I realized that Brooke Orr deserved my admiration and that I wanted everyone to know about her.

I wish we all had an opportunity to treat and speak to a billionaire the way Brooke Orr does in this book: as an equal, unawed, unafraid to say exactly what is on her mind.

Brooke’s story also provides a window into what is on Alam’s mind: wealth inequality, implicit racism, family relationships, commitment to ideals, the failures of public education, the absurdity of the art market, the insane cost of real estate in New York City, the emotional and practical costs of unrealistic expectations—especially in modern Manhattan—and what is the right thing an individual can do to bring about a future to which all of us are entitled.

A wonderful protagonist in a readable book that—almost furtively—leads us to ask ourselves the hardest question of all: what should I do with my life?