This story reads like a fiction novel, but it's labeled as a memoir. I did enjoy Carrie's intelligence, and how she made a way for herself. There were some jumps in time and some things in her personal life that I would loved to have seen be more fleshed out. There was finance info overload that could've been scaled back to a minimum. The tone of the writing suggests that the author still has emotional wounds from her experiences that need to be healed.

This story reads like a fiction novel, but it's labeled as a memoir. I did enjoy Carrie's intelligence, and how she made a way for herself. There were some jumps in time and some things in her personal life that I would loved to have seen be more fleshed out. There was finance info overload that could've been scaled back to a minimum. The tone of the writing suggests that the author still has emotional wounds from her experiences that need to be healed.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Carrie's book has a literary quality that elevates it above a simple memoir. While the glitter of unimaginable wealth is part of the charm, what drives the book is her careful attention to detail. The book asks serious questions about wealth, privilege, information, and the relentless nature of work in today's environment.

This memoir was a bit hard for me to get into. Sun's writing style seemed disjointed, at times overly specific and at other times lacking detail. I had hoped there would be more insights into the world of hedge funds. Often memoirs like this one would be a balance of information and memories. This book is more of a commentary on her own character and personal experiences in childhood and at MIT. It seems this book is one person's experience in the finance field rather than about the field in general. A decent memoir, it just was not what I expected.

I received a complimentary egalley of this book from the publisher. My comments are an independent and honest review.

💶Private Equity by Carrie Sun. She has an Ivy League pedigree, but after ending a long term relationship with her controlling ex, Carrie Sun takes a job as an assistant to the head of a major hedge fund. Think private jets, huge deals, billionaires and all that go with it. Carrie’s job became her life and it took time for her to realize that her “all in” approach that was a demand of the job is just not sustainable. This is so well written and interesting because who gets to see inside a hedge fund like an assistant! I was shocked that there was no NDA preventing her from writing this book. Highly recommended!

This was an interesting read on life as a woman inside the finance sector. I felt it was illuminating as to the life of those in high power situations, and the mountains that their assistants are expected to move (when money is no object). I found myself rooting for her at every turn, and wishing for the day she would escape. Her memoir is well written and I look forward to seeing more from her as she pursues her long held dream as a writer.

Before reading Carrie Sun’s insightful memoir, I knew nothing much about Private Equity other than that it made some people very wealthy. The world of this book is not my world but I felt its intensity almost painfully as I turned the pages.

This is a book about privilege (the ability to make a very good living, to work with smart people, etc.) but also about the toll that working in an environment that may not be a good fit ultimately takes on a person. The question then is whether someone can walk away from the benefits for the sake of another (perhaps even better) existence.

Carrie Sun is the child of immigrants. She was raised to work hard, very hard indeed and to be successful. As her memoir opens, she is in a relationship with a man named Josh who is, himself, very successful. However, just as can happen in work, some things that Josh wants from Carrie may take her too far away from her values.

Carrie decides to apply for a job with a billionaire after a position is floated by a headhunter. She undergoes, for this one job, more interviews than I have had in my whole career. Carrie gets the position and readers follow along to share her experiences and decisions.

This book, at times, read like a novel though there were also some technical aspects to it, as when Sun describes what PE is. In some ways it is a cautionary tale. It is also, importantly, a story of discovering one’s self. I recommend that it be read by a wide readership including those who are considering, or feel stuck, in their career choices.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group for this title. All opinions are my own.

Though the hook is the behind-the-scenes look at the lives of billionaires and hedge funders, this is actually a revealing memoir of a women trying to be happy. I love how she wants more than just a high salary and perks, but to feel fulfilled. The story of her parents and childhood is especially moving. Highly recommend!

I’m not typically a fan of workplace reads, whether biographical or otherwise, but there is something endearing about Private Equity and the way that Carrie Sun tells about her climb up the corporate ladder, focusing primarily on her time at Carbon working as an executive administrative assistant to the founder of the company, Boone Prescott.

From the beginning, it was like listening to a friend tell me a story. It is very engaging and surprisingly thought-provoking, especially for someone who is the furthest from being financial or corporate-minded herself. I got heavy The Devil Wears Prada vibes as far as the assistant job that is like a succubus to your existence, completely taking over Carrie’s life before she even realizes it’s happening. She was living to work not working to live, and it always breaks my heart to see people give up so much for a job. I know it had to be hard for her too because I could see how this would be a dream job to some, but at what cost?

My heart hurt for Carrie and what she endured yet I also feel inspired by reading her story. I am currently at a personal crossroads myself and seeing how she jumped and took a leap of faith, plus where she eventually landed, gives me confidence and courage to do the same. This is a story not only comes from experiences but also has personal reflections as it’s clear that Carrie was trying to process her life during that time through writing and self-reflection.

Honestly, I wasn’t expecting to like this novel as much as I did but I was pleasantly surprised and read it relatively quick. I really enjoyed the overall cadence of this novel, with the authors expert weaving of past and present personal experiences with information and education about varying subjects in the financial sector, so there is truly something for everyone. Highly recommend!

This was an excellent read. There was something about Carrie Sun's writing that connected me to her experiences and thoughts, likely because I've had many of the same thoughts while working for much less than $400,000 a year. I wasn't sure I'd connect to her experiences as someone so consumed by wealth, yet I did. I couldn't imagine listening to someone complain about work when they had so much, but she really did deserve so much more by the corporate world who just used and abused her, squeezing out as much as they could for as long as they could get away with it. Her story is an important one--even when we think the grass must be greener working for such an innovative company, somewhere, we know that's too good to be true.

I received this is an digital ARC from NetGalley.

Having worked at a finance company it was affirming (?) to see all the off-feelings I had about the company and the industry as a whole were....true.

✨Private Equity by Carrie Sun✨

Genre: Memoir
Pages: 352

📚When we meet Carrie Sun, she can’t shake the feeling that she’s wasting her life. The daughter of Chinese immigrants, Carrie excelled in school, graduated early from MIT, and climbed the corporate ladder, all in pursuit of the American dream. But at twenty-nine, she’s left her analyst job, dropped out of an MBA program, and is trapped in an unhappy engagement. So when she gets the rare opportunity to work at one of the most prestigious hedge funds in the world, she knows she can’t say no. Fourteen interviews later, she’s in.

Carrie is the sole assistant to the firm’s billionaire founder. She manages his work life, becoming the right hand to an investor who can move mountains and markets with a single phone call. Eager to impress, she dives headfirst into the firm’s culture, which values return on time above all else. A luxury-laden world opens up for her, and Carrie learns that money can solve nearly everything.

Playing the game at the highest levels, amid the ultimate winners in our winner-take-all economy, Carrie soon finds her identity swallowed whole by work. With her physical and mental health deteriorating, she begins to rethink what it actually means to waste one’s life.

📝I’d like to say that this was surprising or that the author had a unique experience, but unfortunately, this memoir is one of the many stories revealing the toxic Wall Street/hedge fund environment. Especially considering that the author is writing from a female, POC perspective.

Although the names have been changed, Carbon is Tiger Global, an investment management company, and Boone Prescott is Chase Coleman, the founder.

This was an enlightening read for anyone interested in the world of hedge funds and how money isn’t everything.

💫Thank you @netgalley and @penguinpress for my egalley💫

This is the author's first book, which was fairly evident, but it was also an interesting read. It opened up a world that I hadn't really read about before and seeing how there are absolutely no personal boundaries and it was just eating her alive was hard to read. At first, there were so many points where I wanted her to grow a backbone, but then she REALLY delves deep into her background and you see exactly why she puts up with what she does. The ending is entirely satisfying!

Autobiographical story in which the author details her journey from childhood on into her present day adulthood. Most of her story is focused on the few years she spent working as the assistant to the head of a top investment firm or hedge fund. There are a lot of explanations about all the stuff that goes on in the financial world like what ten baggers are, long/short equity, what LPs are and what AUM means. She really rolls back the curtains on hedge funds; how they contribute to the growing wealth divide, how everything is tilted in the billionaires favor. It’s her story of how she evolves from pleasing her parents, her fiancé, her boss into finally pleasing herself.

This is a very smart memoir about a woman working in the finance world in NYC. While I enjoyed her actual story of how her job consumed her and her dreams, the finance and stocks/funds information was a lot for someone with no background in that world. I think this is more of a niche read-readers with a finance/business background or interest will probably understand it much better than I did. I thought her writing was excellent, and I would read more from Carrie Sun.

Thank you to NetGalley & Penguin Press for this eARC in an exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Carrie Sun, the daughter of Chinese immigrants, is no newbie when it comes to hard work, corporate ladders, and striving for the “American dream”. As the assistant to a billionaire inside one of Wall Street’s top firms, Carrie descends down her own path of self-discovery as she is thrusted into investments, weatlth, and a hustle work culture.

I have absolutely no background in finance, and my knowledge of stocks is minimal, but that did not deter me away from reading this novel. Carrie Sun writes in a way that is matter of fact. So much so, that some things written in her memoir will make you cringe, yet other things are written so beautifully you want to go back and read the sentence again.

I really enjoyed her deep self-reflection woven within the events happening throughout her life. The timeline would often jump back and forth, but I never felt confused. I do wish she would have dropped her unhealthy significant other way earlier than she did, but alas, that’s just part of her story.

I think you’d enjoy this memoir if you are interested in hedge funds, self-discovery journeys, or simply a good memoir. I enjoyed Carrie Sun’s writing greatly, and I would easily pick up something else she’s written just on her writing alone.

Favorite Quote: “Lately I’ve been thinking my most shameful secret is that I knew all along the life I wanted to live, and did not have the courage to live it.”

This is a compelling and skillfully constructed memoir about a sharp and hardworking young woman navigating the haughty, competitive and profit-driven world of finance,
The book centers on two years in the life if Sun—the years she worked for a leading hedge fund in NYC though the narrative travels back and forth to tell more about her childhood and college years and her background as a daughter of immigrants.
The most powerful sections come in the second part of the book as the narrator reflects on work culture and her own tendencies. The author also delivers razor-sharp critiques of extreme wealth and the privilege that comes with it.

Autobiographical story in which the author details her journey from childhood on into her present day adulthood. Most of her story is focused on the few years she spent working as the assistant to the head of a top investment firm or hedge fund. There are a lot of explanations about all the stuff that goes on in the financial world like what ten baggers are, long/short equity, what LPs are and what AUM means. She really rolls back the curtains on hedge funds; how they contribute to the growing wealth divide, how everything is tilted in the billionaires favor. It’s her story of how she evolves from pleasing her parents, her fiancé, her boss into finally pleasing herself.

I am not sure how I ended up with this memoir but glad I read it.

The story of Carrie looking for herself while working for a billionaire in an industry that is cut-throat and challenging was a learning curve for me. The financial world is not something I have the jargon to understand. So I did find that I was doing some research to supplement the story, but that's ok. It could have been read without it.

While a fascinating look at Carrie's personal and professional struggles, it is definitely not for everyone. I think it is a pretty niche book....not sure it is self-help, expose of the financial world or.......?

An eye opening revealing lok at the working in the world of high finance.Carrie Sun shares her experience the tense stressful world of finance her job her life.Raw real an intimate look.The author shares all I found the book unputdownable.#netgalley #penguinpress.