When I came across Isabel Kaplan’s novel, NSFW, I asked myself, “Can I possibly read another book about a Millennial working in a ‘glamorous’ industry?” Well, after reading NSFW, I most certainly can!
As NSFW begins, our unnamed narrator (who I will call MC for Main Character) has just graduated from Harvard and has moved back to Los Angeles. Through nepotism and her mother’s connections to the head of development, Robert Braun, MC gets a low level assistant job at the fictional network XBC. It’s the the early 2010s. Network television still has some currency and streaming services are in their infancy. MC knows her new position is just a start but she hopes with her hard work and determination she’ll climb the corporate ladder to success.
MC is ambitious and smart, and is willing to put in the hard work to get ahead (as long as she can keep her dignity).We get to seen the inner sanctum of a TV network, from program pitches to getting a program on the air. But we also learn of the less than ideal machinations that permeate a great deal of work places. NSFW isn’t just about one young woman trying to make it in show business and the corporate world. It’s also about the patriarchal structures that still affect our world in the modern day. Sexual harassment, rape, and sleazy innuendo remarks abound at XBC. MC tries to stay above the fray, but gets sucked in without her consent. It isn’t long before MC hears about the rape allegations of a huge star of one of the biggest hits on XBC, and how it was nearly covered up by the network.
MC also goes through several changes to keep up with living in Los Angeles and working in the industry, you can never be too hot or too thin. And MC goes through great lengths to look good-manicures, coloring her hair, and making sure she never packs on the pounds. She also tries to do the proper networking and meeting the right people so she can climb up that corporate ladder. Outside of work MC starts dating a sweet, supportive guy, but seems uncomfortable in a relationship. She also has a roommate who swears by the power of crystals and is in a “throuple” with a couple. This is LA were talking about. I can’t imagine a throuple in Boise, Idaho, but who knows?
And then there is MC’s relationship with her mother. MC’s mother is a powerful attorney and an advocate for victims of rape and sexual assault. MC’s parents divorced years ago, and MC’s mother is still bitter about it. She often spills her guts to MC almost making her a unpaid therapist. MC’s mothers manipulations and martyrdom is incredibly obnoxious and made me quite uncomfortable while reading NSFW. MC also smokes pot with her mother. Hmm, when my mom and I get together, we play Scrabble. Is this the difference between Silent Generation moms with Gen X daughters and Baby Boomer moms with Millennial daughters? I wonder.
When Robert Braun at XBC is accused of some very sleazy behavior, NSFW goes into a weird twist. Instead of supporting Braun’s accusers, MC’s mother instead supports her longtime friends. MC is completely appalled, especially consider she knows someone at XBC who has been sexually harassed by Braun, and she herself, was assaulted by a co-worker. How could her mother betray women by supporting a completely disgusting man like Robert Braun?
In the course of her time at XBC, MC learns so much about what it’s like to be a woman in the workplace, and despite all the work people have done to make rape and sexual harassment seriously, we still have such a long way too go. Remember NSFW takes place in the early 2010s. There was no MeToo movement, Bill Cosby was still a favorite TV dad, Harvey Weinstein was known for Oscar winning movies, and a President who bragged about grabbing pussy had not yet sullied the White House. Even in 2023, we are dealing with these issues.
NSFW is not a light hearted chick lit read about a young women, fresh-faced, just starting out in the big city in a glamorous industry. NSFW is a very exacting look at world that isn’t so positive for women, fraught family relationships, and the difficulty of finding your place and your purpose. NSFW is also quite triggering and portrays a lot of truly upsetting things. There were passages where I actually gasped out loud when I read about what MC and her coworkers went through. But I do think NSFW is an important and very well-written novel, and I’m hoping Isabel Kaplan has a sequel up her sleeve. I really want to know what MC is up to in 2023.
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