Most of The Startup Wife by Tahmima Anam is set in Utopia. Utopia isn’t heaven. It is a place for startup companies to develop and become successful. Asha Ray sees her high school crush, Cyrus Jones. They begin a whirlwind romance, get married and develop an app based on an idea that Cyrus had about personalizing rituals.

Asha is a brilliant coder and is the force behind the app. Cyrus is the face of the company. At first, he doesn’t have much involvement and then he has too much power. Cyrus publicly takes all of the credit for the app. Understandably, Asha feels betrayed when Cyrus excludes her from the company.

Asha knows that Cyrus is not the mastermind behind the company and definitely not the messiah. She put so much faith in him and not enough faith in herself. She does everything to keep the company afloat in the beginning stages. Then Cyrus betrays her in such a harsh way. Will their marriage survive mixing business with their relationship?

My favorite character is Destiny. She meets Asha and Cyrus at Utopia. Her company doesn’t have the same success that Asha’s company does. Destiny comes to work for Asha. They become really close friends. Destiny supports Asha through all of the problems. I imagine her as a RiotGrrrl, a punk rock feminist. I love her so much.

Asha follows Cyrus’s dreams and leaves her plans behind. I think she learns that one person cannot be everything to another person. She learns about boundaries. She loves Cyrus but starts to question if he is the best person for her.

If you are looking for a book about feminism and technology, then you might enjoy this book.

If you think feminism is for suckers, then maybe you will learn something by reading this book.
* I received this book from NetGalley. All opinions are my own. Obviously.
* Amazon affiliate link included in this post.

I very much enjoy novels that balance being substantial and light. This fits the bill nicely. Though the story of ultra-optimistic startups have been told many times before, the fact that this one has a woman of color as the protagonist makes it feel fresh. The covid storyline felt shoehorned in, but it doesn’t detract from the overall success of the novel.

[I was provided an ARC of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review.]

Darkly humorous satire, clever and innovative storytelling. Definitely a different kind of read that will appeal to a niche audience. The premise was interesting and thought provoking though the execution fell flat with pacing and character development.

Thank you to Scribner and NetGalley for the Advanced Reader's Copy!

Available July 13th!

Darkly humorous, Tahmima Anam's "The Startup Wife" is an interesting experiment with social media. When self conscious and sarcastic Asha Ray meets Cyrus, she can hardly predict the journey they will take together. Inspired by Cyrus's fascination with religion (think Pi from Life of Pi taken to the extreme), Ray designs a new social media platform, WAI, that tries to give others meaning to their lives. As WAI expands rapidly, Ray is confronted with the ultimate question - what is the meaning of her life?

In some ways, "The Startup Wife" is a departure from Tahmima Anam's usual stories about life in Bangladesh. In other ways, though, the novel still features strong female protagonists, blistering social commentary and memorable dialogues. Reminiscent of Dave Egger's "The Circle," Anam's newest novel leaves the reader with a deep sense of unease about our growing technological dependence.

This was an interesting take on tech culture. The main character is a PhD at a very competitive program. She re-encounters her high school crush, Cyrus, and they quickly get married. Together with Cyrus's best friend, they decide to create a new tech company centered around rituals to feel spiritual needs in people's lives. After their company is accepted into an exclusive incubator, the company takes off -- with unexpected impacts on society and their own relationships. The relationship among the three main characters, and how they changed over time, was really interesting, and the way the author grappled with issues related to technology and social media kept me engaged. Recommended!

Thank you NetGalley for an advanced copy. I was excited to read this book from a Bangladeshi author, and thought it would show a lot of diversity and culture. However, the main character Asha is far from her cultural and religious roots, and I feel like everyone in this book is white. Granted, there is LGBTQ and female rep in this book, but it doesn't show the immigrant story. This book really did not go the direction I thought, and the ending was very disappointing for me personally. The characters go out of their way to support spiritual and meaningful experiences for all on their platform, but this isn't a story about theology or religious discussion. There weren't any strong themes or adventurous plot twists that would have me recommend the book for book clubs, other than the ethical usages of technology of the glass ceiling. With the sex, profanity, and drugs, I can't recommend it to my school library, and this is clearly an adult novel in content and interest level. Those interested in entrepreneurship, coding apps, romance, or even apocalyptical readiness would enjoy this book.

Thanks to NetGalley for the arc! Overall I enjoyed the book. Some bits were very strange but honestly believable. We definitely live in strange times where I could see some of these startups really finding a market. I found the core of the book relevant and intriguing but a few things here and there were strange. I connected with the characters and genuinely wanted to see how the story would end. Even though the book isn’t fully tied up neatly with a bow at the end, it felt satisfying to imagine Asha taking control of her future and her company and really embodying the amazingly strong woman she didn’t know she was. It’s so easy to smile and just be complacent with just being a part of the team but women are far too often underestimated and under-appreciated. Asha was brilliant and let herself hide in the shadows too long and it cost her quite a bit. I definitely see Asha going on to face the world with more confidence and wisdom from the mistakes she made.

I’m judging a 2021 fiction contest. It’d be generous to call what I’m doing upon my first cursory glance—reading. I also don’t take this task lightly. As a fellow writer and lover of words and books, I took this position—in hopes of being a good literary citizen. My heart aches for all the writers who have a debut at this time. What I can share now is the thing that held my attention and got this book from the perspective pile into the read further pile.

“It would be impossible to find a cute-vitamin gummy way to describe the platform”- effing hilarious.

“Look, we’re here to restore something to people who have grown up in the shadow of social media—those who are living their entire lives in public. We want to address the thirty-seven percent who say they don’t believe in God because their politics or their sexuality excludes them from organized religion. We believe that even the non-religious among us deserve our own communities, our own beliefs systems, whatever they may be based in. Ritual, community, that’s what religion offers that no other human construct has been able to replace. Until now. We are here to give meaning to people, to restore and amplify faith—not in a higher power but in humanity”.

Ideas are easy. Implementation—harder!
Newlyweds, Asha and Cyrus plan to revolutionize Artificial Intelligence. They think it matters.

Personally, I had to think about Asha and Cyrus’s plans.
Here is what I knew about “The Startup Wife”, before I read it.
1- “Cute Title”—
There is actually more to learn about being a new wife that people realize. I mean, how well did mum teach her daughter about being a wife? Did movies teach wives how to have a successful marriage? Schools? Not so much...
So, I thought this book might be fun to see how the young bride and couple pan out.

2- The second thing I knew about this book was the author had an impressed bio.
Tahmima Anam is the recipient of a Commonwealth
Writers’ Prize, an O. Henry Award and has been named one of Grants’s best young British novelists. She is a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times and was is recently elected as a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Born in Dhaka. Bangladesh, she was educated at Mount Holyoke College and Harvard University and now lives in London, where she is on the board of ROLI, a music tech company founded by her husband.

So... it made a little sense to me that Tahmima might write a ‘techie’ book about a couple working together. She and her own husband work together. (very cool)

But...then I thought about mixing technology and ‘newlywed’ love together.
Both ‘startups’, business and love startups require time to move beyond the honeymoon. Good luck!
I knew challenges were coming.

I thought about the couples purpose: ‘transform? revolutionize? .....Artificial Intelligence?
Yikes.. good luck again!

As a species, humanity has witnessed three previous industrial revolutions: first came steam/water power, followed by electricity, then computing. Now we’re in the midst of a fourth industrial revolution, one driven by artificial intelligence and big data.....
So, maybe Tahmima was really on to something: Al gives intelligent machines ( be it robots, drones, or whatever), the ability to think and act in a way that previously only humans could.

But ‘for me’, Tahmima’s book...it was a little too gimmicky. ( smart, fresh, modern, savvy)... but not without flaws.
Our main characters wanted to build an app to replace religion—build a social media platform that would be the most popular in the world exploring romance and ambition, faith and technology.....
when it seemed to me....( under the humor, satire, dialogue, and new algorithms),
the heart of the story was really about how well did young couple - new to marriage — did working together in business while working on their relationship.... and maintain their other friendships.

Some things were just personal taste- my funny bone has limitations. This satire-ish crafting ...was just too many things...over-stimulating in thought and purpose, for me.
Other readers might totally enjoy the exclusive incubator, Utopia.... surrounded by quirky futurists engineering mechanical bees and lab-grown superfoods....
while exploring Technology with all its magnificence and limitations, and abilities.....
while questioning can newlyweds survive their own marriage working together?

Tahmima Anam just might be the perfect young author for our changing world. She’s an innovative thinker for modern times... adding warmth to the humorous prose.

Me, I’m an old fart, happily married to the same guy 42 years. I think Paul and I could have easily survived working together as newlyweds— we kinda did. He volunteered at the company I worked for. We’re both interested in making a difference in the world as our young cast of characters were in “The Startup Wife”....
but even though we live in the heart of Silicon Valley ... we’re naturists at heart...
The technology culture is already to big for me...
Yet, it’s very real
as Tahmima points....that relationship, spirituality, and faith in humanity can be found in the on the internet.

I experienced something new yesterday from the social media world....
Thanks to the Technology...love-friendships...and social media networking...
NBC news was following a discussion I started on Facebook. ( silly me-I thought I was just chatting with a group of friends)....
Kaiser hospital members were at a very unfair advantage in getting Covid-19 vaccinations in the Bay Area. I started a discussion about it.
Our little discussion between friends, (Lisa from Goodreads too), was being watched. Who knew? We didn’t. Point is we made a difference. Everyone over the age of 65 in the Bay Area, no matter who their insurance carrier is now allowed to go anywhere to get their Covid vaccination. Until yesterday that wasn’t true. So I am thankful for love friendship, working together and technology.

Paul and I are getting our first vaccination this morning.

Ha.... so that’s what this book brought up for me....a reminder of my own experience of the power of social media... faith and love.

Thank you Mimi, for sending me this book...
Thank you for netgalley, and
Scribner for a copy of the ebook...
Also wishing Tahmima much joy with the release of her first novel.

This book is simply brilliant, insightful, clever, and unlike anything I have ever read before.

The premise of The Startup Wife pulled me in right away - two old high school friends, Asha and Cyrus, falling in love and starting a successful and revolutionary app that replaces religious rituals. Now not only are they facing the pressure of living and working together, but something much more; Asha had quit her PhD program to devote herself to this venture, but now Cyrus is seen by the world as the new messiah.

This book is about the struggles of a changing love relationship in the world of startups, high-flying careers and fame. It's about modern technology replacing tradition in the digital era. It's about power struggles in marriage and in business.

I flew through this book and still can't stop thinking about it. 5 stars.

*Thank you to the Publisher for a free advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

An app which can replace religious rituals that turn its inventors into new Messiahs! Wow! Okay, this one is quiet original and picked my interest with its unique opening! Let’s dive in blind and explore more!

Let’s meet with three friends: Asha and Cyrus: married couple and their best Jules concentrate to invent something about rituals of religions thanks to Cyrus’ special ability to create something original about them.

But as soon as they become more famous and popular on social media, they start to pay the dues of the quick fame. It costed more moral problems and complex dilemmas they’d expected. The book also questions so many issues at first hand including sex, friendship, racism, marriage issues, religion, traditions, the startup technology!

Cyrus and Jules are mediocre, not so likable but also hatable characters! Asha won the contest as more connectable character with her quirky brain and her character’s evolvement was so much better than other two!

Overall: it’s interesting, thought provoking, riveting, different, easy read for me which kept my interest intact.

The characterization was a little flat but ideas are creative, entertaining. I’m giving my 3.5 tech, ritualistic, nerdish, social media stars rounded up 4 unputdownable stars!

Special thanks to Mimi Chan, Goodreads team, NetGalley, Scribner for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest opinions.

Review published on blog: https://books-are-a-girls-best-friend.com/

When it comes to Business, it’s not always a Pleasure – even if you’re working with Loved Ones.

Asha and Cyrus went to the same High School. At the time, Asha had had a huge crush on him little did she know that years later, they’d meet again, fall in love and start a company together, along with their best friend Jules.

The idea being their tech startup is all Cyrus, the brains behind it Asha. Jules is the glue that holds them together. Cyrus is a big believer in what drives people and what they are looking for most in their lives. In thinking of this, he comes up with the idea of a social network based on what rituals people are needing most in their lives, based on their interests, and connecting them with others around the world who are interested in the same.

It all happens at a place called, you guessed it “Utopia” – where the magic happens every day.

While Asha is the one that codes an algorithm to do exactly that, it is because of Cyrus’ personality that their business is successful and it is he, who gets all of the attention.
Though their app “WAI” becomes a success, not everything works out quite as planned, leaving Asha out in the cold.

There are plenty of lessons to be had here – regarding diversity and inclusion in the workplace, discrimination, equality, partnership, and marriage, and whether or not it’s a good idea to keep those separate.

A truly intriguing premise, the idea of friends creating a tech company together immediately drew me in to “The Startup Wife” by Tahmima Anam. What began out as an evenly paced, character-driven novel about close friends who actualize a dream, soon became an extremely slow burn where the characters took a back seat to the technical aspect of building a business. Towards the end, however, the characters’ stories were once again front and center, with Asha and Cyrus leading the charge, which helped re-invest me in the storyline.

If you work in the tech industry, as I do, you may find this book to include a few interesting tidbits about creating and beta-testing apps and the analysis of stats when the apps go live. I admit to experiencing a bit of inner “geekdom” in a few of these moments.

A huge thank you to Mimi Chan at Goodreads, NetGalley, and Scribner for the arc.

Published on Goodreads on 1.29.21.

I tried so hard to like this book. I found the premise very compelling and kept reading for that reason, but the whole thing got too strange for me. I also found it all very slow. I won't be listing this book in my 2021 book page on my site because I cannot recommend it and I only mention books I can recommend. For that reason I will also not review it on Amazon or Goodreads.

Wow! Warning before reading this book: you won’t want to put it down. The Startup Wife combines the emotions that come with first marriage with startup culture, providing a fresh perspective into a world that all too often focuses on single white men.

Really enjoyed this fun satirical. Novel. The start up world is so relevant today.I found it entertaining really enjoyed.Looking forward to more by this author.#netgalley #scribners,

I think this book was meant to be satirical but it just didn’t completely hit the mark for me. I work in the crazy exhilarating startup world and I looked forward to reading this one. The startup idea made for a fun concept to read about but I just couldn’t connect with any of the characters or many of the plot lines (although I did get a kick out of Ali Ann and her ideas.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an early release of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

"The Startup Wife" follows the story of three friend, Asha, Cyrus and Jules, who have developed an app based on AI using Cyrus's aptitude for creating specifically personal rituals. As the app becomes more well known, the three friends face moral and emotional dilemmas they could not have imagined.

From the beginning, I found this book extremely engaging and enjoyable. It picked up quickly and by the time I was half-way through, I could not put it down. As far as main characters go, Asha was multi-dimensional and very likable. I also enjoyed seeing her progression as she grew older and more mature. As a side note: this book reminded me a lot of "An Absolutely Remarkable Thing" by Hank Green--if you have read and enjoyed that book you will most likely enjoy this book as well!

Similar to another reviewer on this site, I was not able to finish this book. Ultimately, I did not connect with any of the characters and so I did not feel compelled to continue reading their story. At the end of the day, I think the plot line just was not gripping enough or interesting enough to keep my attention.

Asha, a computer wiz, and her husband Cyrus, who immerses himself in all forms of spirituality, though not religious himself, create a startup to build a social media platform that will allow people to create rituals for themselves based on what they value and connect with others with the same values.

Starting with nothing at a high tech think tank, Utopia, they are catapulted to fame as the platform takes off. Like any startup, they are subjected to long hours and stresses. Will their marriage survive as Cyrus is increasingly referred to as the new Messiah and is blinded by what the next great improvement could be?

Certainly a novel idea and timely set as the pandemic we are living in breaks out.

I absolutely loved this book! As a recent startup founder I found the dialogue and scenarios to be fairly accurate and quite humorous. Tahmima does a great job of establishing the characters and I felt I was able to connect and resonate with them. Her style of writing captivated me and kept me reading well past bedtime. The character of Asha demonstrates how men can easily wind up railroading women, even if that woman happens to be a spouse. There were many unexpected turns in this novel and I was seriously satisfied with how the story wrapped up. 5 out of 5 stars, great book!