The Boys' Club

Summary (from the publisher): Alex Vogel has always been a high achiever who lived her life by the book—star student and athlete in high school, prelaw whiz in college, Harvard Law School degree. Accepting a dream offer at the prestigious Manhattan law firm of Klasko & Fitch, she promises her sweet and supportive longtime boyfriend that the job won’t change her. 

Yet Alex is seduced by the firm’s money and energy . . . and by her cocksure male colleagues, who quickly take notice of the new girl. She’s never felt so confident and powerful—even the innuendo-laced banter with clients feels fun. In the firm’s most profitable and competitive division, Mergers and Acquisitions, Alex works around the clock, racking up billable hours and entertaining clients late into the evening. While the job is punishing, it has its perks, like a weekend trip to Miami, a ride in a client’s private jet, and more expense-account meals than she can count. 

But as her clients’ expectations and demands on her increase, and Alex finds herself magnetically drawn to a handsome coworker despite her loving relationship at home, she begins to question everything—including herself. She knows the corporate world isn’t black and white, and that to reach the top means playing by different rules. But who made those rules? And what if the system rigged so that women can’t win, anyway? 

When something happens that reveals the dark reality of the firm, Alex comes to understand the ways women like her are told—explicitly and implicitly—how they need to behave to succeed in the workplace. Now, she can no longer stand by silently—even if doing what’s right means putting everything on the line to expose the shocking truth.

Review: I received an advance reader's edition of this novel from HarperCollins. 

This was a compulsively readable story about a recent Harvard law grad embarking upon her career in one of the top law firms in Manhattan. Alex's head is quickly turned by the money and power wielded by the partners in her firm and finds herself abandoning many of the convictions she once held about herself. This is a particularly relevant story of a woman trying desperately to get ahead in a male dominated world and forced to make decisions about how she will respond to glaring sexist and racist behavior within her workplace. 

It is overwhelmingly apparent that the descriptions of Alex working within Big Law comes from the author's personal experience, and indeed her bio confirms that she began her career at a major Manhattan law firm. Alex's descriptions of her anxiety of her wardrobe, the hours spent around the clock in the office, the financial resources extended to her as part of the firm, the drug and alcohol abuse, and the alarming treatment of women and minorities read more like a memoir written through the lens of a novel's frame story. It was this insight into the world of New York City's legal world that reeled me into this book and which I found fascinating. Katz' portrayal of this legal world reads as damningly accurate and truly makes the book. 

Alex as a main character, while initially endearing with her anxiety about her clothes and her nerves about fitting in, becomes increasingly less likeable with time. This also feels true to life, as power and money often change people and their priorities, much in the way Alex changes over the novel. The drama of the office, complete with drugs, alcohol, sex scandals, and more, feels true to life but also leaves little characters feeling likeable or stable. To illustrate just how elitist Alex acts towards anyone outside of her law firm by the end, consider the fact that she talks about her parents as if they are uneducated bumpkins, when in reality her father is a practicing oncologist.  Truly the only character that I liked much at all is Alex's boyfriend, who is really only in the background of the story as she is constantly at work. It was increasingly unclear as time when on why Sam would even want to work on their relationship other than his sense of loyalty and decency.

Katz has used her personal experiences greatly to her advantage and perfectly captured the world of Big Law. For those on the outside, this novel offers a tantalizing inside look at a powerful and often corrupt world. A striking first novel that I enjoyed far more than I even anticipated. 

Stars: 4