Book Review Wednesday: The Assistants

I feel like there are so many books that I was drawn to over the past few months, mostly because of the cover, and because so many bloggers and online articles were telling me to read them.

The Assistants were one of them.

I was in the middle of moving and didn't want to order a bunch of books that I would eventually just have to pack up in boxes, so I opted to listen to this book instead of reading it.

If you're new here, I listen to Audible audiobooks on my commute to and from work. I find it much more relaxing than music, and I find that I'm able to really pay attention and get into a book. I have so many books I want to read and it's just not possible for me to read all of them, so I opt for listening to a few.

It didn't take me long to get into this book; sometimes when I start listening (or even reading) a book, it could take me a minute to get into it and follow along. I didn't have that trouble with this, and the story started right away, so I was eager to get to the meat of the story.

Tina Fontana is the assistant to media mogul, Robert, who can be compared to Rupert Murdoch. He owns Titan, a huge news corporation that has news channels, newspapers, magazines, publishing companies, and etc. He controls the media and is one of the most powerful men in the world.

Tina is his 30something year old assistant who has been working there for a number of years; she is living in a dingy apartment, doesn't have enough food to eat, and has significant student loan debt (like all of us in this world).

Tina is happy at her job, and loyal to Robert, even though she can barely afford to live in Manhattan. He also treats her really well, and she tells herself that she's the assistant to the most powerful man in the media industry, nad having that kind of access to him is unique.

However, the main point of the story comes when a technical error gives Tina the chance to take a sum of money and pay off her student loan debt.

Everything that comes after, as you can assume, tumbles into something much bigger and the entire focus of the novel.

I have to say, the novel was good. I enjoyed listening and wanted to find out what happened but I was so highly annoyed by the characters. Tina, the protagonist, at some points was so unbearable, I wanted to go through the book and punch her in the face.

Aggressive but whatever.

I thought her choices were poor, and she was just digging herself deeper without standing up for herself. Granted, it's a book, but it got on my nerves at certain points.

Would I recommend it? Yes. It's a quick, interesting read that has a deeper message which I can appreciate.

Have you read The Assistants? What did you think?