#Girlboss – Book Review

Hi!

When I came across this book, scrolling through my Instagram feed, I was immediately captured by its title. #Girlboss. Even though the book came out in 2014, for some reason (I guess I live under a rock to some things lol) I had never heard of it.

I googled the title of the book, and saw so many reviews and comments on it, I knew I had to read it for myself! I checked it out of the library almost two weeks ago, and finished reading it a few days ago.

Now if you know me, or from my previous book review posts, you know that I am a pretty quick reader and once I’m captured by a book, I can finish it in a day or two.

Unfortunately, this didn’t happen for this book. I’m not even totally sure myself why not, but it took me too long to read, and I even skipped days in between of reading it.

Let me tell you why…

The book revolves around the life of Sophia Amoruso and her rags to riches story from her launch of Nasty Gal.

*Side note… I have never shopped at Nasty Gal in my life, nor have I ever been to the website, until I read this book. The clothing offered by Nasty Gal doesn’t fit my style nor does it appeal me in any way, and I find it’s a bit pricey for not the best looking clothing. But this is just my one-glance, visit to the website. I’m sure if I dig, I might find something I like, but it’s not intriguing me enough to shop at.

• Anyways, in her book, Sophia talks about her early life, school, and struggles of how she got Nasty Gal to where it is today. I admire her ambition and dream, and she did one hell of a job of creating a company from nothing, that’s awesome for her for sure!
• She discusses many aspects throughout the book, and one thing I did like about the book was the chapter topics she discussed and progressed correctly through the book. My favorite chapter in particular, was the chapter where she discussed the basics of how to land a job, interviewing, and the do’s and don’ts of corporate America. That chapter I could relate to directly as it was something I went through myself recently enough, and I felt that she explained and portrayed that chapter really well.
• Furthermore, the other best thing about this novel was the attitude she had towards girls. I love when writers, or anyone for that matter, promotes and encourages girls to change the world. Throughout the book, Sophia addresses the reader directly by saying ‘#Girlboss’ and continues to encourage and motivate girls to get up, follow their dreams and never give up.

There is no real ‘suspense’ or ‘plot’ of the novel, as it is not fiction and it is a personal story; so don’t expect that from this book.

If you are a Nasty Gal shopper and want to learn more about how it came to be, I’d recommend this to you!

The few things that bothered me about the book:

• The way it is written, the style of writing. I know it’s supposed to be informal and memoir-ish, but it felt almost like a blog or personal website, type of writing. I personally think that books like this, should be written in a different format, to make it more intriguing. Take Mindy Kaling’s books (links), they are memoir-ish, but the style of writing is easier, professional, and still an easy fun read.
• Sophia seems to stress that anyone and everyone can achieve what they dream of (I AGREE), however she almost seems to be promoting ‘dropping out’ or if school doesn’t ‘work’ for you, to leave it and you can still find success.
  • Now you all know how much I LOVE & promote education….this was something I couldn’t swallow as I read this book. I mean sure, it worked for HER, but that’s not going to work for like 90+% of the population. We ALL struggle through school and college, but that doesn’t or shouldn’t mean that you just give up when the going gets tough. Unless you have a really specific situation, I really don’t think that anyone should let go of their education by choice. College is the time where you can learn/major/STUDY any subject of your choice. There are things we are ALL good at, some of us just find them later in life. If you give education (Esp higher education) a chance, it can change your life.

Overall, I would give this book a 3.5/5. It was a bit disappointing from what I was expecting (although I wasn’t expecting much because I hardly knew anything about the author or the company).

It is a good, light read, to enjoy on a rainy day.

Let me know if you’ve ever shopped at Nasty Gal and your experience of it! Or if you’ve let the book, let me know what you think!

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Until next time, XOXO