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NPR's Book of the Day

'Ripe' tackles the dark side of Silicon Valley

NPR's Book of the Day

NPR

Books, Arts

4.2672 Ratings

🗓️ 18 July 2023

⏱️ 9 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Cassie, the main character of Sarah Rose Etter's novel Ripe, has hit a wall. She's burned out at her toxic Silicon Valley job, she's disillusioned by the staggering wealth and poverty that surround her at the same time, and she's struggling with depression and anxiety. In today's episode, Etter tells NPR's Juana Summers how Cassie's experience parallels some of her own time working for a start-up and why girlbossing her way out of her problems isn't an option for Cassie.

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Transcript

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0:00.0

Hiya, you're listening to Book of the Day. I'm Chloe Veltman.

0:06.2

From Dave Eggers The Circle to Sophia of Silicon Valley by Annie N. Silicon Valley tech culture has spawned enough novels to constitute an entire subgenre.

0:15.5

In an interview with NPR's Juana Summers, writer Sarah Rose Edda discusses her new novel Ripe.

0:21.7

The dark, surreal tale centres on a young woman named Cassie,

0:25.2

trying to make her way in a tech startup headed by a nameless CEO.

0:30.0

Edda, who worked in tech for a while herself,

0:32.6

says her book provided a way for her to examine our society's complicated relationship to labor.

0:38.1

The writer says someone once described her bleak novel as, quote, a panic attack.

0:44.0

Here's one a Summers.

0:45.1

In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life.

0:49.9

Distant wars, murky conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors.

0:53.9

On our new show, sources and methods, diplomacy behind closed doors.

0:56.4

On our new show, Sources and Methods.

0:59.8

NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of real people,

1:03.0

helping you understand why distant events matter here at home.

1:07.8

Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.

1:15.1

A new novel explores the darker sides of life in Silicon Valley and how one young woman,

1:21.0

Cassie, is trying to make sense of her new career, as well as her growing sense of dread.

1:28.6

That manifests as a constant companion, a looming black hole that grows or shrinks, depending on the day. I know it's a bleak book, but you work really hard to at least make it as enjoyable to read as

1:33.3

possible. And, you know, I try to pace it and break it up so that at least it reads like a

1:38.1

really sad beach book. That's author Sarah Rose-etter describing her book, Ripe.

1:45.6

I asked her if there's a world in which Cassie could have been happier if she had more faith in her career, herself, or even God, anything.

...

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