Thank you Penguin/Random House publishers,author,Carrie Sun’s nf memoir,Private Equity and NetGallery for the arc ebook. To be honest,I had lost interest in this book very close to the beginning. It was so steeped in explanations of the financial industry and how hedge funds worked that was way over my ability to understand or wish to understand it. I had decided not to read any further. For some reason,the large list of characters,both in and out of the financial office on the Upper East Side of NY,City fascinated me.I resumed reading after a couple of days and did skip over the parts that were over-the-top business related.Carrie Sun is a brilliant math/engineer who decided to change careers but continue working in the same toxic environment to cause an overachiever to experience health and mental issues referred to as “burnout”.I found interesting how Carrie’s background being raised with very high standards as an only child of intelligent Chinese immigrants would cause issues with her adult working standards.What Carrie went through with her boss,ex boyfriend and co-workers would cause most people to get ill. I am glad I did finish this book and did not have many negative feelings about it at the end.

This is a female version of the movie, “Wall Street” from 1987 which reminds readers of the scene when Michael Douglas said, “Greed is good.” Or, “The Wolf on Wall Street” when Leonardo DiCaprio stepped into the shocking gluttony of money at parties.

Carrie Sun turned her back on an engagement with her wealthy boyfriend, Josh. He asked her to be his full-time wife, making him the sole breadwinner. The idea that she would have a career in finance was beyond his comprehension. Clearly, they didn’t need the extra income as he was taking over his father’s very successful business. She was energetic, smart and competitive. She took off her engagement ring and stepped into a full-time job.

Some said she had the best job ever in one of the top hedge fund companies. Boone was the CEO and she was his highly-efficient assistant. Her talents were beyond being an assistant but that’s what she wanted to do. He needed someone to organize his world and she did just that. It was rather exhausting reading about how she was trying to be the perfect employee working around the clock.

Sure, he gave her gifts to keep her going — thousand dollar spa treatments, fitness sessions, vacations, clothes and and shopping sprees along with a big salary. In return, he asked her to speak faster, do faster and decide faster. She would organize family gatherings when a $1,000 custom cake would be tossed in the garbage when nobody ate it. It’s when the gold was in the palms of their hands with no worries.

Yet, she did worry about the middle class that was paying taxes while Boone and his friends escaped it. He had no idea what it was like for the hard workers in America. He, and his capitalist friends, Jared and Ivanka, were living in luxury while many suffered. He told her, “Greed is good because it makes things predictable.” How long could she keep up with his ongoing demands? Her nerves were exploding.

This reminded me so much of the movies about the billionaires and yet, this is a true story. Carrie is an American-Asian immigrant who once was living in poor surroundings until she graduated from the best universities and able to find the American dream. It’s a book that makes you think especially when Boone said, “Money can solve nearly everything.”

The first part explains a lot about her work with the hedge funds which may lose some readers who may feel like they picked up a book on how to invest money. Yet, it follows up with the psychology of what it was like for her to be in this position with some inspirational messages. One may wonder why she was so attracted to Josh and Boone — both with deep pockets. She explains much of it in the second half of the book. As someone who wanted to write, she did just that and I will look forward to reading whatever comes next.

My thanks to Penguin Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book with an expected release date of February 13, 2024.

There are three job types at your company that you should always make an effort to have a good relationship with: IT, housekeeping and assistants. IT doesn’t really require an explanation-or it really shouldn’t. Housekeeping is not a fun job. But administrative/executive/personal assistant/secretaries are quite possibly one of the most important people in your office, and often they are not appreciated nearly enough for how they make everyone’s job easier, not just the person they report to. This is presented in an extreme example in Carrie Sun’s Private Equity. The book also explores the toxic atmosphere of working in an environment where the goal is to make more money for people that have more money than they know what to with, but still think they need more. Carrie herself doesn’t value it in the same way, giving the reader an outsider’s inside view to a world of wealth, privilege and presumptions. She spends much of the book talking about how great her boss is, but an objective reader will see this isn’t really the case. Boone doesn’t respect personal time and boundaries, objectifies Carrie in her appearance, and has no appreciation for the amount of work she does to streamline his ability to do his job. As someone who has done plenty of administrative work over the years the latter is not the slightest bit unusual-either because they’ve never had to do that type of job in the first place, or because they’re so far removed from doing it that they’ve forgotten the amount of work and coordination involved. In Carrie’s company presents are given in lieu of listening to what employees need to have to succeed and thrive in their roles. The smallest slip-up could be grounds for termination. There may be a few people that read this book that would be excited by the world Carrie lives in. The lack of boundaries and respect for employees’ life away from work was appalling to me. Boone’s (probably) oblivious criticisms of Carrie’s appearance and goals is embarrassing and disrespectful. For those who seek meaning in life this is a great wake-up call that money doesn’t eliminate problems; it just creates different ones. It’s all about what problems you want to have and the things you value in life. The book does periodically dive into the world of finance and hedge funds, and I will confess to zoning out some during these parts. Sun does a good job of relaying her experience in a way that asks the reader what they value in life and how they treat others around them without the gimmicky self-help feel of the books her boss values so much. A complimentary copy of this book was provided by the publisher. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I loved this chronicle of a young woman's experience working as an assistant for a top hedge fund CEO. Carrie was raised in the US by immigrant parents. She is highly intelligent and , although her passion is for writing feels strongly obliged to achieve financial success as her parents had scarified to pay for her MIT education. She's burned out by her high pressure job (at which she is highly successful) and misunderstood by her boss, her parents and her boyfriend and needs to find a different path to happiness.

This is my kind of book. I love memoirs that take a hard look at certain types of companies - fashion, stock market, just to name a few.

Honestly, I did not like any of the characters in this story and it kind of freaks me out that this really happened.

Reading this was like getting an inside look at high finance and let's say it.....privileged white men run the markets. Boone was so typical of some of my bosses, it gave me chills and brought back memories that were not positive...actually made me feel so good about the fact that I am off the crazy rides driven by money.

Having said this, however, Carrie was a pain to read and I don't know why, other than to say that she was frustrating, not being remotely in tune with herself at all. She was so matter of fact about everything, the huge work load, her relationships, her friendships....all she kept saying was "i am tired". He relationship with Josh and her parents are good examples. She just went along, either by tuning out or by letting things go with the flow, which is usually a pretty good way to be, except that she did this with EVERYTHING. Even her ridiculous amounts of gifts and $ left you with a feeling that it was all just MEH!.

I struggled a bit with the actual writing. The author did not do a great job of linear writing. Josh, for example, has harassed her, for most of the book, and yet she casually drops, into the storyline, that they have started seeing each other again -almost like "oh, I have readers so I should probably tell them that Josh is in my life again" and does the very same thing when they break up again.

I think real, raw emotion is what is missing in this book. She never cries, she never yells, she never does anything bad.

Still, I loved this story. I know most of this review is pointing out issues with the book, but honestly I just loved to read about all of it, I felt like I got a front rom to such overindulgences.

After reading this memoir I congratulated myself on not choosing to pursue a career in “finance”. I often heard how soul-stripping it can be, especially for women. The author’s account of her experience in a boutique hedge fund confirms it. But her decision to accept a job there so she could pursue her true dream of becoming a writer baffles me a bit. She had to know how all encompassing a role as personal assistant to the CEO could be. And how she’d fall into the trap of having to dress and act the part of people who were only driven by money. However, she gave it her all and this story is really more about her passage to learning about herself and how to become the person she really wants to be..