An interesting take on race, class, and privilege that pairs nicely with Colored Television by Danzy Senna -- but perhaps that book does it better.

Though I loved Leave The World Behind, this one didn't grab me. While well-written and an interesting story, the plot meandered and I didn't finish.

Ohhh Brooke. Brooke, Brooke, Brooke. You make me crazy. Entitlement was very compelling but also made me furious at times. Wrestling with big dilemmas of race, economic injustice, caste systems, overt and undercover racism, Brooke has all the potential in the world and finally decides she is due her piece of the pie, no matter what. She frustrated me profoundly because I felt like she was too smart to make the mistakes she did. Rumaan Alam challenges the reader to grapple with what injustice can do to the core of a person, eating away your morality bit by bit.

I have read other books by this author, and I was slightly disappointed with this one. The premise of the book was interested, and I requested it because I thought if would be good. I was left with a feeling that so much was left not said. I was hoping for more. I did like the characters, and they were relatable, but I was just disappointed. The writing style was on par for Alam, and it was good. I was just hoping for more.

Thank you Net Galley ARC

Entitlement is set in the world of philanthropy and explores race, class, gender, and privilege. Having worked in philanthropy myself, I was intrigued by the premise but unfortunately the book fell flat for me. It was slow moving and nothing really happened - the end left me feeling "that's it?"

Our protagonist, Brooke, is a Black woman who takes a job as a project coordinator for an octogenarian white billionaire’s nonprofit. He wants to give his money away, and Brooke wants to help, but she also simply wants for herself.

There’s a lot of quiet tension here and unraveling of the concepts of money, ambition, and selflessness. Alam simultaneously brings us into Brooke’s thought process while letting us see how wrong and entitled she is. You can’t look away as it becomes more and more of a train wreck. At the same time, I kept waiting for something big to happen and ended up feeling a bit disappointed when nothing came about. While I enjoyed the themes this book was exploring, it won’t be especially memorable to me.

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!