Who Thought This Was a Good Idea?

3.5 stars

There was little consistency in the timeline and the jumps between years was jarring at best. It didn't have as much emphasis on the White House and her experience there as I would have liked.

Really enjoyed this book. A lot to learn, presented in a friendly, casual manner. Slightly scary too - at times it felt like I was reading my wife's alternate life biography.

A fun, fluffy, fast read, this was basically Bridget Jones Goes to Washington. And I say that with affection. But I say that because, when I read Bridget Jones back in like 1999 or whatever it was, I laughed SO HARD. SOOOO HARD. I remember tears. And while I didn't laugh-cry at this, I did laugh a LOT, much more than I expected, much more than I have at any other book recently. And, like Bridget Jones, there is a gratuitous Colin Firth cameo. And, ALSO like Bridget Jones, there was that niggling guilty feeling that this was kinda not full fledged feminism? Like, damn, is it okay to be this girly? Can I admit I kinda loved hearing about Alyssa Mastromonaco's consignment dress shopping and her makeup routine and such? Does that undermine The Good Fight? I hope not. This book is all over the place. It's kind of a memoir, though things jump around a lot. Basically: Mastromonaco was this crunchy jam band-loving UVermont undergrad who interned for Bernie (I imagine lots of 1990s world music playing) and got really into politics and ended up, 15 years later, working at the White House as one of Obama's Chosen Few. Also as one of fewwwww women in the building, which is bullshit (and which she calls out, rightly and constantly). Mastromonaco (gosh, that name is hard to type) wasn't a policy wonk, but more logistics/entourage-management, and her portrayal of the Obama Administration is basically West Wing (pause to appreciate the wonderful Toby Ziegler). She imparts lessons of preparedness, leadership, and so on, and, late in the book, mentions wanting to write something to inspire Millennial 15-25 year old women to get involved in politics. Oohh, that explains the fluff. Well, even this 30something was inspired! This one is very very closely related to Katy Tur's wonderful book about covering the Trump campaign, and it's slightly more distant cousin to Hillary's campaign memoir and Sonia Sotomayor's memoir: 2017 seems to be my year reading about women in politics! All of these books are great, highly recommend. And here is your Colin Firth cameo. I recently re-watched this movie and was struck by how hilariously awful he is: mwah mwah, we love you, Colin, even as you age!
** Oh yes, Mastromonaco was married in a civil ceremony officiated by Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan I DIED OF JEALOUSY.

So fun! I believe Anne Bogel has compared this to a political version of a Mindy Kaling book which is completely accurate. It was a fascinating look at working in politics and especially in the Obama administration. But, similar to The American President, it doesn't delve so far into policy that I think people on both sides of the aisle can enjoy it.