Sociable

A Novel

By: Rebecca Harrington

Narrated by: Patricia Santomasso

The Circle meets Clueless in this exuberant comedy of manners set in the world of Internet media, a brilliantly irreverent novel about what it means to be young, broke, dumped, and scarily good at creating viral content.

When Elinor Tomlinson moved to New York with a degree in journalism, she had visions of writing witty opinion pieces, marrying her journalist boyfriend, and attending glamorous parties with famously perverted writers. Instead, Elinor finds herself nannying for two small children who speak in short, high screams, sleeping on a foam pad in a weird apartment, and attending terrible parties with Harper's interns wearing shapeless smocks.

So, when Elinor is offered a job at Journalism.ly, the digital media brainchild of a Silicon Valley celebrity, she jumps at the chance. Sure, her boyfriend is writing long think pieces about the electoral college for a real website while Elinor writes lists about sneakers, and people at parties give her pitying glances when she reveals her employer, but at Journalism.ly, Elinor discovers her true gift: She has a preternatural ability for writing shareable content.

She is an overnight viral sensation! But Elinor's success is not without cost. Elinor's boyfriend dumps her, two male colleagues insist on "mentoring" her, and a piece she writes about her personal life lands her on local television. Broke, single, and consigned to move to a fifth floor walk-up, Elinor must ask herself: Is this the creative life she dreamed of? Can new love be found on Coffee Meets Bagel? And should she start wearing a smock? With wry humor and sharp intelligence, Sociable is a hilarious tale of one young woman's search for happiness - and an inside look at life in the wild world of Internet media.

©2018 Rebecca Harrington (P)2018 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"Harrington gleefully skewers digital media and postgraduate working blues with this dark satire of self-absorbed millennials trying to remake journalism and romance. [A] cyber coming-of-age tale...with shrewd observations and biting humor." (Publishers Weekly)

"Anybody who’s ever been young, heartbroken, overdrawn, or posted a regrettable Instagram photo - in other words, everyone, everywhere - should read this book. Rebecca Harrington demonstrates how painful it is for a millennial to be dragged, kicking and protesting, into adulthood, and then she makes you laugh. Sociable is a rare achievement." (Katherine Heiny, author of Standard Deviation)

"A young woman traverses her 20s and the toxic landscape of New York media in Harrington’s novel of millennial manners.... Harrington captures the oppressive narcissism and frustrated ambitions of Elinor’s world with nauseating accuracy. Frothy on the surface with teeth underneath." (Kirkus)

Just don’t

Maybe someone out there will just adore this book- I just can’t imagine who. The narrator had this odd emphasis at the end of each sentence- so the reading all felt so forced. And the main character was. so. freaking. annoying. You know how we all have, or perhaps had, that one friend who habitually makes poor choices- they always ask for advice and then continuously do exactly the one thing they shouldn’t. Well, listening to this book is kind of like that friendship. I get the feeling that maaaaaaybe (?) this would be more enjoyable when read, rather than as a listen b/c there were some funny parts. However, those funny parts weren’t funny enough to carry the entire book.