Partner Track

I really liked this book. A lot. Ingrid Yung is a Senior Associate Attorney who is up for a partnership at the Manhattan Corporate Law firm she works for. She works hard and feels she has earned a partnership but, like everyone else, she has to wait for the announcement comes down and hopes nothing happens to mess things up for her.Many people think she's a shoo-in because she has a few things going for her. For one thing she's a female. For another, she's Asian. The firm has never appointed a minority female as a partner in Mergers & Acquisitions, where Ingrid works and the pressure is really on the partners to have diversity. With Ingrid they get a "two-fer".What I like about Ingrid is she's every person who's fighting for position in the workforce. She's very likeable and very relatable, even if you're not up for a partnership in a law firm. :) Plus, she doesn't want to be appointed based on giving the firm an appearance of diversity - she wants it based on merit, which she's earned. She doesn't ever want that questioned either.Ingrid is a good person and she cares about others and the author does a wonderful job of conveying that. The book was very well written - very moving. You get a close up look at someone's vulnerability at working towards something but not knowing if you'll get the result you want - or for the reason you want it. I highly recommend this book.

I enjoyed The Partner Track, starting and finishing it on a transcontinental flight. That is mostly impressive because I had a four month old in tow! The story itself was fairly predictable, though Ms. Wan did a great job depicting what it means to be an associate at a large law firm. As a lawyer (and a female associate of color at a large law firm, no less!) I particularly appreciated the accuracy of the depiction. Anyone who thinks that the sexism/racism is exaggerated has clearly never been a young, attractive woman of color in corporate America. I think that is where the author succeeded the most - in showing the indignities that you ignore and bury and how hard you have to work to assimilate, but how it is ultimately an old boys club. I was impressed with her debut novel and I will eagerly await her next books

You definitely don't have to be interested in being a lawyer to enjoy this novel. It's an earnest and engaging story that is exciting enough to make you miss a subway stop (I'm from NYC where we read a lot on trains). It was refreshing to live through a Chinese American character who is very aware of her own intelligence. She is confident without being cocky and never apologizes for being damned good at her job. It's what we all wish we could be, in some ways. As a fellow American woman of Chinese descent, I thought this story was really validating. At the same time, I had no idea the corporate law world could still be so backwards. I really enjoyed the author's style and voice, which was conversational, witty, and perceptive. The language is also very descriptive, which is why you get so sucked in. I'm definitely anticipating Helen Wan's next book!

This was a thoughtful look into the problems of a young woman breaking into a typical "male, good old boy" career. Helen did a fantastic job pulling the reader into the life Ingrid Yung. I purchased this book, but waited until I had the time to fully immerse myself in it, and I was not disappointed! The reader is thoughtfully taken through the life of a young and hard working female attorney as she works tirelessly to achieve "partner". I became a champion of Ingrid from the very beginning, cheered her family as they gave her the room to grow, yet worried about her constant attention to her work at the expense of her family, and tfelt her anger and pain as she came to realize that , yes, she was being both used and held to a different standard than her male associates. In the end, however, she does the rightthing for her and sends a message to the firm. I would highly recommend this book! Additionally, it would provide a great discussion for a book club.I look forward to reading more from this young author!

I was expecting this book to be pretty good, but I found out that it is absolutely great! It follows the life of a down-to-earth attorney who had and took many of the opportunities afforded to her. It gave a rare "slice of life" glimpse of an actual attorney in a large and prestigious law firm. One of my favorite thing about this book is that the author did not hold anything back. I even blushed at some of the things she was willing to admit to (super manly of me...). Towards the end of the book, the events get extremely interesting, so if you do decide to read it, I highly recommend finishing it, otherwise you're doing yourself a disservice. Overall, I am glad I read this book.