Review 450: Ripe

Ripe by Sarah Rose Etter
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

This book takes place in 2020, the early months of the year, with Cassie as our main character. She’s a year in after college graduation working with a tech start-up company. She had to move to San Francisco and found a friend by their mutual dislike of the city.

Cassie’s job and bosses have unreasonable expectations, not only long hours but taking workshops and working on special (illegal) projects on the weekends. As we get close to the pandemic starting the company states they do not believe in working from home.

Then there’s this black hole that follows Cassie since she was little. It’s obviously depression and anxiety, which grows or diminishes according to situations.

We see her interact with friends she doesn't particularly like, a boyfriend who already has a girlfriend, and parents who tell her she can never come back home. No wonder she is depressed. It's not a joyful read, but there is humor, dark satirical humor.