As far as Jolene is concerned, her interactions with her colleagues should start and end with her official duties as an admin for Supershops, Inc. Unfortunately, her irritating, incompetent coworkers don’t seem to understand the importance of boundaries. Her secret to survival? She vents her grievances in petty email postscripts, then changes the text colour to white so no one can see. That is, until one of her secret messages is exposed. Her punishment: sensitivity training (led by the suspiciously friendly HR guy, Cliff) and rigorous email restrictions.
When an IT mix-up grants her access to her entire department’s private emails and DMs, Jolene knows she should report it, but who could resist reading what their coworkers are really saying? And when she discovers layoffs are coming, she realizes this might just be the key to saving her job. The plan is simple: gain her boss’s favour, convince HR she’s Supershops material and beat out the competition.
But as Jolene is drawn further into her coworker’s private worlds and secrets, her carefully constructed walls begin to crumble—especially around Cliff, who she definitely cannot have feelings for. Soon she will need to decide if she’s ready to leave the comfort of her cubicle, even if it means coming clean to her colleagues.
Crackling with laugh-out-loud dialogue and relatable observations, I Hope This Finds You Well is a fresh and surprisingly tender comedy about loneliness and love beyond our computer screens. This sparkling debut novel will open your heart to the everyday eccentricities of work culture and the undeniable human connection that comes with it.
This book has been on my shelves for a long time, and finally I managed to find time to read it after several times being discouraged by its thickness. And I'm glad! It's been a long time since I read such a page-turner.
There is the lately infamous typical heroine, Jolene. She's a 33-year-old woman who is funny, smart, pretty, eccentric, and all of it is concealed by her social withdrawal. She's a social outcast in her office, and opts to live that way even outside of work. She's been working in Supershop for 8 years and hasn't made a single friend there. Silently, in every email she sends, she curses her co-workers in a witty and funny way—in white font—hoping her secret won't ever be revealed. But then, her messages are exposed and she walks into the hall of shame 1.0, called by her supervisor, and her “victims” are also present, along with the handsome HR guy.
Her punishment? She has to follow sensitivity training—hosted by Cliff, the HR guy and her emails are restricted, where every aggressive word sent from her email will be flagged. But something strange happens. Instead of restrictions, she can read all emails from everyone in every department in the office.
People say knowledge is power. After a not-so-long dilemma, Jolene is too shy to report it to Cliff and chooses to use this superpower to survive in the jungle of office politics. Not only can she read emails from everyone to everyone, she can also access inboxes and private folders. She can also read all chat messages using the internal network at the office. Yes, it is a bit not making sense.
Meanwhile, her sensitivity training brings Jolene from co-worker to carpool buddy with Cliff. Strangely, Cliff understands Jolene's wittiness very well, and vice versa. But Jolene knows that, however kind Cliff is, he is still the HR guy—almost like a double agent.
Then, there is a rumor that there will be layoffs, and Cliff is the one who assesses every employee, deemed worthy or not to stay in the company. And this job, even if dull, is the only thing that keeps Jolene going in life. If she loses her job, she will crawl back to her parents' house, and after everything she has been through, it is not an option.
But the challenge is not easy. Jolene must compete with other co-workers who have never treated her like a decent human being. There is Armin, an Iranian fellow who seems to hate Jolene; Caitlin—a nemesis, a competitor, a girl who hates Jolene to the core; she holds the same job description as Jolene; and Rhonda, a senior who seems to rule the office—she's the boss's right hand.
While Jolene makes a strategy to survive, she decides to pretend to be more involved in office matters, open herself up to help other colleagues, and most importantly, she knows everyone's secrets. Slowly, Jolene realizes that everyone in the office has their own battle. And of course, she grows closer to Cliff.
To be honest, Jolene's bright side is funny, witty, blunt, and of course smart. But there are also so many red flags in her character. Yes, she is depressed, she cannot fight her own demons, but there is a thin line between her being mean and being an antagonist. When she messes with Caitlin's report, when she digs deeper into Rhonda's secret (I don't think it is just curiosity), when she ignores Miley, the little girl next door who really, really needs her help, and when she suddenly crashes into Armin's meeting with his parents—she doesn't hold herself accountable, and I don't think depression justifies her behavior.
And Cliff. a martyr. he likes Jolene since the first time they met, which was when Jolene sent petty postscript messages to her co-workers, and he said he understood the joke. Yes, he really is a martyr.
But overall, the storyline flows smoothly but wraps up too quickly at the end. I didn't really like the fast-forward ending that shows everyone in a good place after a year. Yet, the banter between the more open Jolene and everyone else is hilarious and smart. And yes, it is such a page-turner. For a first published book, it is really well written. Plus, the setting is in Canada—I think it is my first time reading a Canadian author.
So, for light reading, I would highly recommend this book.
Comments
Post a Comment