Ambition Monster: A Memoir

Everything Is Fine podcaster Romolini (Weird in a World That’s Not) spins a cautionary tale of workaholism in this harrowing if somewhat glib account. Romolini begins in 2017, when she reached the peak of her career as a magazine editor in Los Angeles and her vocal cords suddenly stopped working. From there, she rewinds to her childhood, explaining how growing up in 1970s and ’80s Philadelphia as the child of teenage parents cemented the unassailable value of work in her mind. During her risk-taking adolescence and hard-drinking college years, Romolini prized employment above all else, burying childhood traumas and self-loathing with professional achievements. After her first marriage fell apart, she moved to Brooklyn and decided to become a writer, dating men and making friends merely as a means to climb the ladder at publications including Glamour and Timeout, where she tolerated bad bosses and insane hours. The pattern continued well after Romolini remarried, started a family, and began to experience intimacy issues with her new husband. She neglected their relationship until she experienced the vocal cord episode that opens the book. By then, too much repetition and too many truisms (“Work was an eager lover I never said no to”) have robbed the narrative of some of its potency. Still, readers struggling with their own work-life balance will find value. Agent: Nicole Tourtelot, Gernert Co. (June)