Sophia of Silicon Valley

February 15, 2018
A new college grad figures out life, love, and the tech world in Yen's breezy debut.The outspoken daughter of traditional Taiwanese parents in the Bay Area, Sophia Young returns home newly graduated from college with a very clear life plan: a few years working at a shiny investment bank until she meets "The One," and then "the white picket fence, two kids (preferably twins), and the Mrs. Homemaker lifestyle" that's been her dream since childhood. So when speaking out of turn gets her fired at the bank, she's momentarily distraught--until her best friend helps her get a paralegal gig working on initial public offerings and Sophia is initiated into the startup world, where her no-nonsense pluck makes her a star. Soon, Sophia is managing investor relations and doubling as the right-hand man for a Steve Jobs-like tech founder, and her white picket fence visions give way to new dreams. But finding a partner who can support her ambitions isn't necessarily easy, Sophia discovers, and amid her success, she's started neglecting her health. But the biggest test is yet to come: When Andre Stark, a flashy tech founder, convinces her to come run investor relations for him--leaving her beloved old team behind--she finds herself miserable in his Ivy League boys' club and is forced to make her biggest decision yet. A lone mismatched boyfriend aside, Sophia's world is populated with benevolent and powerful mentors who consistently recognize her hard work (if nothing else, the novel offers a road map for good management), doting parents, a ride-or-die best friend, and few personal flaws of substance, giving the novel a certain fairy-tale quality. While the plot takes the occasional off-kilter jag, this is a much-needed professional coming-of-age story; one only wishes it were a slightly more insightful one.Like so many startups, glossy, fun, and ambitious if not particularly deep.

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February 26, 2018
Yen’s disappointing debut takes readers back to the early days of the tech industry’s rise. The daughter of successful Taiwanese immigrants, Sophia Young is hired as investor relations person at Treehouse, a groundbreaking computer-based animation studio founded by eccentric visionary Scott Kraft. Sophia, who still lives at home, is so dedicated to her new job that it eventually costs her the love of her boyfriend, Daniel, an environmental consultant. After a serious illness causes her to reassess her priorities, Sophia accepts a job from Andre Stark, an equally eccentric visionary and inventor of a radical new type of automobile. But will Sophia ever be able to reconcile her personal and professional lives? The author, whose background includes working at Pixar and Tesla, obviously knows the terrain but can’t breathe life into the novel. Unfortunately, this familiar story of a woman coming into her own while working for a demanding boss falls flat.

April 15, 2018

This first novel is a fast-paced romp through the boom years of the tech industry. Sophia is the daughter of Taiwanese immigrants who have trained her from birth to get what she wants. In her case, it's landed her in the path of Scott Kraft, a tech visionary in the mold of Steve Jobs and Elon Musk. At age 25, she becomes Scott's right-hand woman, managing him as much as she manages his company. When she's hired by another company, Sophia wonders if being filthy rich is worth living in the wild boys' club that is Silicon Valley. Yen's brash and frenetically energetic novel leaves readers gasping in its wake as it sets a brutal pace through Sophia's life. She is bold, although her realizations and actions at times feel out of place, and possibly tone-deaf, in light of the burgeoning #MeToo movement. VERDICT The author's experience in the tech industry lends authenticity to this novel, and fans of Lauren Weisberger's The Devil Wears Prada may appreciate the cutthroat atmosphere if not the lack of Prada. [See Prepub Alert, 10/22/17.]--Mara Dabrishus, Ursuline Coll. Lib., Pepper Pike, OH

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