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.

PRIVATE EQUITY by Carrie Sun is a memoir from a young MIT alumna about her career in high finance. If you know anyone in this business, you have heard the stories and the media regularly publishes tales of burnout and the difficult culture, especially for young women in tech and finance There's a strange feeling - both happy and sad and mixed with disbelief - when you finish this book-length memoir. Carrie Sun begins this story when she is in her late 20s and interviewing for a job with an investment firm as a personal assistant to one of the principals. That in itself is an amazing process, conducted over multiple days and requiring nearly a dozen reference calls. Even her recruiter calls it "by far the most intense search he had ever worked on." Honestly, I would have stopped well before she did, but she persists, ultimately struggling with the workload and burns out. This is a tough, tough business and that is the reaction I had when I mentioned this text to people: "oh, it's going to be a hard read." Yes, but it was also looking at a culture or a world that seems glamorous (all those catered lunches!) from the outside and then being better able to appreciate the expectations, the very long hours, and the striving. Kirkus describes PRIVATE EQUITY as "a measured account of how soul-devouring the corporate world is .... a useful cautionary tale...” Vogue named it one of the best books of 2024 so far. Sun dedicates her text to "my mother, my father, and all those who have the courage to quit."

This book was very interesting, especially to see how in many ways the author breaks from some of the most common stereotypes for women in society, starting with the fact that she broke off her engagement over her new job.

Also, the fact that she was not looking for a job that was going to pay for what her education and skills were at the moment. She chose a low-paying job, and it seemed to me Carrie was not necessarily interested in the high dollar she could have gotten.

Mostly focused on her work life, working for a Billionaire, trying to balance her very exigent job with her personal life, and also shows us that sometimes in our work life, no matter how much good money we get paid, all the perks we may receive, if that given job steals your health and inner peace from you, is not worth it.

I also liked the parts where the author shares about her childhood and upbringing.

Thank you Penguin Group and Netgalley for the free advanced copy, in exchange for an honest review.

Private Equity was a wonderful insight into the high finance world. The pressure put on the main character was nuts and I appreciated the raw writing.

Private Equity by Carrie Sun

Billionaire Prescott Boone was a demanding boss. Carrie Sun covers her two years working for Boone’s hedge fund and describes in great detail the everyday grind and perks of being his personal assistant in this memoir which I received by Penguin Press.

Carrie is a talented woman who had a difficult childhood. Some of her early problems have helped her to work for such a taskmaster, where being overworked is the norm. Her 24/7 dedication to Boone allowed him to continue in his over-the-top lifestyle.

Eventually her health was compromised to the point that fancy clothes, spa treatments, restaurants and name dropping personalities weren’t enough to keep her on board. This is a memoir that may appeal to readers who dream of a high powered job. It may also serve as a cautionary tale.

You will learn a great deal about finance in this memoir written by a woman who pushed hard to move up at a hedge fund and then began to question herself and her goals. Push through the early pages which might seem overwhelming with detail and know that this has a human heart within. Sun, the child of immigrants, loses sight of the small things that make life enjoyable and her head is turned by all the gifts and perks of the job. And then she doesn't. It's a familiar tune in fiction (see Devil Wears Prada) but few have bared the financial industry this way. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. An interesting read,

The book heavily focuses on Carrie's work life, which I found distracting. The story emphasizes some of the negative aspects of our work/life balance. This book may be more appealing to someone with a finance background.

I would like to express my gratitude to NetGalley and Penguin Press for providing me with an opportunity to read this book and share my honest review.

Even working in the finance sector, I have never quite understood what a hedge fund is, or what it does, and honestly I never expected to care one way or the other. After reading this book, I think I’ve got the basics but I am probably still woefully ignorant. This book would be like the Devil Wears Prada, if Runway were helmed by excessively mediocre white men. While I am sure Boone is a smart man, his downfall comes in what he expects to be done FOR him with little to no effort on his part, little to know thought into what goes into making his life run so smoothly, and little to no thanks to those who make sure it happens. He honestly sounds like one of the most exhausting people on the planet, and yet, he’s not entirely unlikeable. He seems to be trying and my real question walking away from this is, was he actually trying? Or was there some (or a lot of) weaponized incompetence at play?

Carrie’s exploration of what in her childhood led to her being the perfect person for the job as Boone’s ‘do-er’ is absolutely fascinating. I was so enthralled in her journey, learning what it was about her that led her to this moment in her life, and then watching as she slowly unraveled those pieces until she was ready to walk away. Anyone who has worked in a toxic corporate culture will 100% relate, and anyone who grew up in a toxic home will also identify some of themselves with Carrie. I laughed with her, I cried with her, and I quietly rooted for her to just burn it all down (we’ve all been there). Carrie’s writing is so vivid that even the finance jargon I wasn’t super familiar with, I was able to grasp enough to follow. This book is part surviving corporate America, part coming to terms with the fact that there really aren’t good billionaires, even if they’d like to be, and part healing your inner child.

• A compelling memoir offering insights into one woman's self-discovery within a top Wall Street firm, combined with a powerful critique of privilege, extreme wealth, and work culture.

• We follow Carrie Sun, a high-achieving daughter of Chinese immigrants, as she navigates the corporate ladder in pursuit of the American dream. Despite early success, she grapples with a sense of wasting her life and takes a transformative opportunity to work at a prestigious hedge fund.

• Fourteen interviews later, Carrie becomes the sole assistant to the firm's billionaire founder, exposing her to a world of luxury and the realization that money seems to solve almost everything. The narrative unfolds as she immerses herself in a culture that prioritizes efficiency and return on time above all else.

• As Carrie climbs the ranks in the winner-take-all economy, her identity becomes consumed by work. This takes a toll on her physical and mental health, prompting her to reevaluate the true meaning of wasting one's life.

• Private Equity delves into the universal struggle for balance in a world of extremes, addressing issues such as efficiency versus excess, status versus aspiration, power versus fortune.

I expected this memoir to detail the relentless work of a recent grad/finance bro. Instead, this is more of a Devil Wears Prada take on Private Equity with the author being the assistant to the head of a hot PE company. Like Devil, this was unputdownable.

PRIVATE EQUITY
Carrie Sun went through fourteen interviews to land her dream job. She worked directly for one of the founders of the billion dollar company. In her words: “I was born to do this…”
What happens when you reach the ultimate goal? How do you stay on top? How does your personal life match the pride and glory of being number one?
Ms. Sun takes you through her life as her family immigrated from China to the United States. They settled in Michigan.
She excelled in everything. She graduated from MIT with a double major. She landed a winning career in the competitive world of Hedge Fund accounts.
But, something was missing.
At first she thought it was her private life as she and her parents fought about the men in her life. If they thought the man was right, she quickly decided that he wasn’t. If they didn’t like him she loved him more. If they thought her career was dragging her down, she worked harder at it.
Then it all collapsed.
What happens when you hate the career you fought hard to win. The boss you trusted so much isn’t listening to your needs. And your personal life is definitely not what you want.
What if it isn’t what you were “born to do.”
How do you get off the merry-go-round and really think about what’s best for you?
Carrie Sun is a survivor. Her book should be on everyone’s reading list.
Thank you, Danielle Plafsky from Penguin Random House and Netgalley for sending me the book for an honest review.

****Publishing February 13, 2024****

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This book starts out with Carrie Sun in the hospital so sick the doctors don’t know she will make it through the night. She had worked so much she ignored taking care of herself.

Carrie Sun writes about her experiences of having high-powered jobs in the financial world, including ending an engagement that just was not working for her. She talks about the pressures and stress and how she wasn’t always mentally happy. This job not only affected her personal life, but her health. How far can a person go before they break? Carrie Sun highlights the importance of managing stress and self-care by showing what happens when you place work above it.

A well written book that explores the ins and outs of working in the financial world! A great book for book clubs and anyone who is interested in the financial world!

Thanks to PENGUIN GROUP The Penguin Press, I was provided an ARC of Private Equity by Carrie Sun via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is an incredible memoir that I could not put down. It flips back and forth in time and covers her struggle with balancing her desire to be a writer with working in a chief-of-staff type role for a Hedge Fund owner (Boone, who by the way does not like it to be called a hedge fund). This gives us insight into what she has to deal with on the job - absolute perfection and being available 24/7. When she faces incredible burn-out and stress due to the workload (including the health manifestations of this), her boss basically says she should be taking 15 minute stress breaks and keeps giving her gift certificates to spas. Thankfully, she realizes with the help of a therapist that it is not a personal failing on her part for not being able to deal with this but rather its the job that is not right. This book would make a great cautionary tale for everyone who struggle in their jobs and blame themselves without looking at the conditions or context. The author also talks about her parents (who emigrated from China after having been "re-educated" during the revolution) and their high expectations of her on her career, her love life as well as to never express feelings. By the end you are rooting for her as she navigates her life and career and ultimately chooses her own destiny. A really great read.

Thank you to Netgalley and PENGUIN GROUP The Penguin Press for an ARC and I voluntarily left this review.

My feelings about this book are mixed. I loved the parts where the author wrote about her childhood, upbringing, family life, starting a work career and her social life. All the technical aspects of finance, hedge funds, etc., got a little tiring at times. I found the timeline was also somewhat confusing as well at times. Overall, I did enjoy the book for the most part.

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Press for the ARC of this interesting book.

Book: Private Equity: A Memoir
Author: Carrie Sun
Rating: 4 Out of 5 Stars

I would like to thank the publisher, Penguin Press, for sending me an ARC. I will admit that this one started very rough for me. I did not want to read about rich people talking about how hard their lives were. The further I got into it, the more I enjoyed Carrie’s voice and her story.

In this one, we follow Carrie, who is the daughter of Chinese immigrants. She has just graduated from MIT and is making her way through the world of finance. She has a great job, a great boyfriend, and an amazing life. Yet, she is not happy and wants more. She ends her engagement, drops out of her MBA program, and starts a new job. It’s time for a change. The change turns out to be a good thing for her. She finds herself working at Carbon, a hedge fund. It turns out to be the right environment for her. Her boss is great, has high expectations, and the pace is what she wants. The new environment challenges her in ways that she wants. Her life becomes all about her job and she loves it. She sees that money can solve most of the world's problems. Until it all becomes too much and she starts to see cracks in her world. She longs for balance and realises that she will not get it at her job. She starts to see just how much she is missing out on and how little she is truly gaining.

This book does deal a lot with wealth and privilege. We get to see just how much the rich waste and at what cost they will go to make sure that they stay in power. We see thousands of dollars thrown away, expensive gifts given, and everything is flaunted. The more you have to spend on someone, the better you are. I feel like this is where the book missed the mark. Carrie is the daughter of Chinese immigrants, who have given up a lot. At the end of the book, she goes into the struggles that they faced when they first moved to the United States. She sees how much Boone wastes and references it, but doesn’t go into depth on it. This could have been a great talking point for the book. she could have examined cooperate waste and greed, looked at how people are starving, and talked about how people are losing money, and suffering. She could have referenced her parents. Yet, she did not. She does mention the middle class paying taxes, while Boone and his rich friends don’t. I just think that this was a missed opportunity that could have been explored a little bit more.

This is one of those books that does make you think. Carrie’s life revolves around work and it is expected. She is expected to drop everything for her boss, keep up with the demands, and give up her own time all for the sake of the company. She is on call even on her days off. Even if you do not work in finance, this is something that many people can relate to. COVID-19 has changed the workplace, whether we want to admit it or not. While some changes have been good, others have not. For example, I work in education. We are expected to do the same thing that Carrie does. We cannot get help and any help we get is many times, not always, underqualified to perform their job. Therefore, we are stuck picking up the slack. Now, Carrie’s bosses are not underqualified. They do not realize how much work they are putting on someone. If they do, they shower them with gifts and false promises to make up for it. (Again, this goes on in other fields.) She thinks that her boss cares for her and he probably does. Yet, he keeps wearing her out, even when she asks for help. He also seems shocked that she is burned out, can’t do it all, and wants out. He then tells her that it’s just pretty much the way things are and it will get better.

Not only that but she is trapped. There is no way for her and her fellow workers to better themselves. They are working themselves to death, but there are no gains. They have no hopes and no chance of moving up through the ranks. That is all held in the hands of a small group of people, who are greatly benefitting from them. They are sucking the lives out of their workers and they don’t care. Yet, if the workers make a mistake because they are too tired and doing the job of three people, it’s the worker's fault. When your workforce is spread too thin, mistakes happen and they can be costly. Showering people with gifts is not enough. People can only do so much. Sadly, though, this does not make the news. Many workers with university degrees do not get the same attention as people who work in positions that don’t require them. (There is nothing wrong with not going to university-let me just say that.) Yet, I think some people live under the assumption that people with university jobs have a better work-life, better wages, and more of a voice. If COVID-19 has taught us anything, we know that isn’t true. People with that mindset also need to read books like this. It will be very eye-opening for them.

There is a lot of information about finance and hedge funds. You can tell that Carrie is very passionate about it. Don’t let that be a turn-off for you. I found it interesting and I loved how Carrie is so invested in it. Plus, it’s a great way to maybe learn something new.

Overall, I did enjoy this title and I am glad that I got to read it.

This book comes out on February 13, 2024.

Youtube: https://youtu.be/X5UuRoKYqHo

I picked this Kindle version ARC up on NetGalley. Thank you.

When I was sent the book, I must have known it was an autobiography. But it was a while before I started the read. I couldn't believe the amount of financial information that showed up around 10% of the book. Remember, by now, I was thinking it was fiction. I couldn't imagine why a person would include all that information that seemed to go on and on. I almost gave up on it. The story was triggering because of my time working in a corporation. Even the friendliest becomes a monster, a vampire to its employees. So again, I nearly gave up.

But about halfway through, I was hooked. I wanted to know what Carrie would do to find her own life again.

The ending was wonderful. Let me just say she does finally find a way.

Now I want a more positive life written so I can enjoy her new life!

Thank you for letting me read this book!

This is a fascinating insider's look at the operations of a hedge fund run by one of the "good" billionaires. Sun skirts around and almost touches on the outrageous and unearned privilege she sees, while also reflecting on her tumultuous upbringing as the only child of extremely volatile, driven, and traumatized parents, who expect her to fulfill the dreams they hold for her and defer to them in all personal and professional decisions. (Luckily, she doesn't.)
I admire the way she pulls back the curtain on the inner operations and finds some more senior people (and of course IT) just phoning it in, while the assistants (nearly all young and female) are expected to sacrifice their whole beings to pave the way for their masters of the universe bosses. I wish she wrote a little more about what we can do to dismantle this system rather than only reflecting on how empty and draining she found even the most rewarding parts. I hope more and more people can walk away from the excesses of extreme wealth.

This thoughtful and beautifully written memoir offers an inside look to the world of finance - a space largely reserved for the most wealthy among us. Sun shares her experiences in this exclusive space in context of her identity as an immigrant, the privileges that she did and did not have access to, and how her time at a world class hedge fund has changed her outlook in various areas of her life. No doubt this memoir will serve not only as an insiders look to those of us standing far from Billionaire's Row, but also a point of recognition for those who currently or have previously worked in similar situations. As public conversations continue to grapple with the extreme disparities in wealth, experienced in particular in the United States, this book offers a unique perspective, and opportunities for thoughtful conversation.