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madeyejudi's review
5.0
There is something about reading Obama staffer's books that makes me feel better about the world, and this one is no exception. It is more personal than others I have read, and perhaps it is because I relate more to Ms. Mastromonaco, but that is why it is awesome that she wrote this book. She speaks to the need for more female perspectives in government and she is right. It is inspiring to hear about her ups and downs and navigating the path of her career and personal life. She makes it all seem possible and that we can all have a part in it.
holly_keimig's review
4.0
This book is hard to classify as one thing or another. It was a biography of Obama's chief of staff, but also a self-help book of sorts. It was very interesting to read about someone whose life has been so different from mine. I found myself identifying with a lot of the life choices she made though and was genuinely interested in how her story played out. This would be a good book to give someone graduating from school and looking to work in government.
A couple good lines:
March 28, 2019 – page 84
"... those jobs... taught me a very important way to rationalize when my career seemed doomed or my life felt like it was veering totally off course: If I am never good at anything else, I know I am good at this."
March 27, 2019 – page 38
"There is no bigger compliment than being intellectually curious about what someone else spends his or her days doing."
A couple good lines:
March 28, 2019 – page 84
"... those jobs... taught me a very important way to rationalize when my career seemed doomed or my life felt like it was veering totally off course: If I am never good at anything else, I know I am good at this."
March 27, 2019 – page 38
"There is no bigger compliment than being intellectually curious about what someone else spends his or her days doing."
emilyjurlina's review
4.0
This book was full of great anecdotes about working in the White House (and from a woman's perspective!!). It's easy to build up successful people in your mind and it was nice to read that Alyssa is just like the rest of us. I definitely teared up at the end when Obama called her to express his condolences about her cat.
I am deducting a star because, even though she addresses it in her book, the non-chronological storytelling style just didn't work for me and made the flow of the book a little jerky.
I am deducting a star because, even though she addresses it in her book, the non-chronological storytelling style just didn't work for me and made the flow of the book a little jerky.
amlibera's review
4.0
Well this was exactly what I wanted when I downloaded it after hearing her on Pod Save America.
ashleyjean6's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.0
Interesting stories, some humor, lots of name dropping (not in a bad way). The format really did not serve the story; it's not chronological and without much transition you jumped back and forth in time a lot. This was confusing as there were many names to keep track of and I thought we'd covered a certain time period, only to find myself back in it. I appreciate her role as a young woman, but I don't think this book did her justice at all. The Audiobook wasn't good either!
jlbates's review
3.0
Not terrible but not amazing. Interesting mix of career advice and insider white house scoop, but the book could have been half as long... it felt pretty repetitive by the end (the white house is exhausting and hard, and I was tired). I'm sure she's right, but, it didn't need that many pages to convince me.