Whisper Network by Chandler Baker

Whisper Network by Chandler Baker – 352 pages

Finished copy courtesy of Flatiron Books in exchange for an honest review

Book Blurb:

Sloane, Ardie, Grace, and Rosalita are four women who have worked at Truviv, Inc., for years. The sudden death of Truviv’s CEO means their boss, Ames, will likely take over the entire company. Ames is a complicated man, a man they’ve all known for a long time, a man who’s always been surrounded by…whispers.  Whispers that have always been ignored by those in charge. But the world has changed, and the women are watching Ames’s latest promotion differently. This time, they’ve decided enough is enough. Sloane and her colleagues set in motion a catastrophic shift within every floor and department of the Truviv offices. All four women’s lives—as women, colleagues, mothers, wives, friends, even adversaries—will change dramatically as a result.

My Review: 4 stars – Guest Review

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Whisper Network is a timely read that has received a lot of buzz, since it was a Reese Witherspoon book club pick. It is a story straight out of today’s headlines in the age of the #metoo movement. This legal thriller is told through the alternating voices of four women who work at a corporate law firm in Dallas, taking place over the months surrounding a criminal act at work. All of the women have had prior interactions with their misogynistic boss, and their decision to take action against his harassment sets in motion significant events in their lives and in the culture of the office. In the process, lies are uncovered, secrets are revealed, and the women’s lives are changed as a result. Woven throughout the narrative are segments of news articles, court transcripts, depositions and police interviews. An unnamed narrator appeared at the beginning of each chapter, which at first was confusing until I gathered the who and the why behind it.

All of the women characters are sharply drawn, multi-faceted, complex, and flawed. They are not equally likable, but they are authentic, and I was drawn into all of their stories. All of the characters are articulate and smart as they face their own personal and professional challenges. I particularly loved the character of Ardie, who was the most relatable. Grace, who is the most complicated character, is fascinating as she realistically experiences the ambivalence of new motherhood, and tries to juggle the challenges of motherhood and her career. The dialogue is consistently funny, sharp, and authentic. There is not a great deal of action in this story as it is mostly character driven with incisive social commentary. The author unleashes secrets slowly and had me guessing until the end.

This story is powerful, relevant, insightful, and thought provoking, and will provide book clubs with a lot to discuss. Although the social commentary could become somewhat preachy at times, the author provides rich descriptions of our corporate culture and the toll it takes on women to make it in the workplace, including the guilt and moral conflict, when the system can be stacked against them. It is hard to believe that this is the author’s first novel for adults. The author is a corporate attorney, so she has first-hand knowledge about what she writes. The book also deals with many topics including: cyber-bullying, gender roles, sexual harassment in the workplace, office politics, the cost of female ambition, and female friendship/sisterhood. Both sides of many of these issues are presented. Many women are going to identify with the characters and situations in this book. Parts of this book reminded me of a cross between the movie Nine to Five, and the television show Big Little Lies. It also brought to mind the recent stories of sexual exploitation from media celebrities. This is an important book and should be widely read. Review by Guest Fairy Ronna.

Quotes I liked:

If time was currency, we were all going broke.”

“Our legacy would be our words. Shouted out loud. For all to hear. We were done petitioning to be believed. We were finished requesting the benefit of the doubt. We weren’t asking for permission. The floor was ours.”

“Whether in dating or the office, we realized the power of pretending your children didn’t exist. A man could say he was taking the day to go fishing with his son, while a mother was usually better off hiding the fact that she took a long lunch to run her child to the doctor’s office. Children turned men into heroes and mothers into lesser employees, if we didn’t play our cards right.”

“We had long seen the problem at the heart of it all: being a woman at work was a handicap that we’d been trying to make up for by erasing our femininity in just the right ways.”

“And so, when one of us spoke up, it was never just for HER. It was for US.”