This is kind of an odd book for me and something I ordinarily wouldn’t look at. It’s billed as a ‘Rom-Com’ but is far heavier on the ‘Com’ than on the ‘Rom’. This makes a certain amount of sense since the author, Suzanne Park started as a stand-up comic. I read the book partly because it was listed as one of NPR’s best books of the year and I enjoyed it.
Melody Joo is thrilled to land her dream job as a video game producer, but her new position comes with challenges: an insufferable CEO; sexist male coworkers; and an infuriating intern, Nolan MacKenzie, aka “the guy who got hired because his uncle is the boss.”
Just when Melody thinks she’s made the worst career move of her life, her luck changes. While joking with a friend, she creates a mobile game that has male strippers fighting for survival in a post-apocalyptic world. Suddenly Melody’s “joke” is her studio’s most high-profile project—and Melody’s running the show.
There’s a lot under the hood, though. As a Korean-American woman in the world of gaming Melody is faced with sexism, racism, stalking, harassment, cyber bullying, and doxxing, it’s a book that handles the toxic work environment women in gaming face. Park handles it well and does a good job of depicting how Melody reacts to these issues which she faces with amazing courage and the occasional breakdown.
While all this is going on two of Melody’s best friends are getting married and her parents in Korea are after her to get married and pop out grandchildren. Of course things work out in the end and Melody and the intern get together.
Park is very funny. I laughed out loud more than once reading this book. It’s a quick read and, as I said above, I enjoyed it. If you’re looking for something light and maybe learning a tiny bit about game production, you might like this.
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