In case you didn’t know, First Daughter Ivanka Trump published a book last week entitled Women Who Work: Rewriting the Rules for Success.
As shocking as it was for Ivanka to use that title, the text is even worse. With an impeccable three-star rating on Amazon, and a very generous one-star on Barnes & Noble, readers were not thrilled over the contents of Ms. Trump’s latest work.
The reviews were also a thing of beauty.
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The New Yorker’s review was titled: “Ivanka Trump Wrote a Painfully Oblivious Book for Basically No One.”
The author, Jia Tolentino, writes, “’Women Who Work’ is mostly composed of artless jargon (‘All women benefit immeasurably by architecting their lives’) and inspirational quotes you might find by Googling ‘inspirational quotes.’”
The Washington Post’s was called: “Ivanka Trump’s Life of Privilege Undermines the Credibility of Her New Book’s Message.”
James Hohmann of the Post writes, “I don’t think it is going too far out on a limb to speculate that most would-be entrepreneurs reading Ivanka’s book probably couldn’t schedule sit-downs with Tory Burch, Ralph Lauren, Michael Kors, and Calvin Klein to pick their brains about starting a fashion label.”
Slate’s review: “Ivanka Trump’s New Book Exploits and Cheapens Feminism”
“This is not a book about policy or about navigating the minefield of male-dominated corporate culture. Much of it is a celebration of the unlimited possibilities open to working women when they have full-time household help.”
And The New York Times’ review: “Having Trouble Having It All? Ivanka Alone Can Fix It.” Savage.
“And because Ivanka alone can fix our problems, she opens her book with a pasture full of straw men, including the argument that our culture isn’t having nuanced conversations about working mothers.”
The real gem is Refinery29’s awkward half-flip-flop.
On May 2, 2017, the day Ivanka’s now infamous book was published; R29 posted an excerpt of the “business guide.”
It’s not the excerpt that was weird for R29 to post, it was the article published in response to the excerpt.
The piece entitled: “Ivanka Trump’s Feminism Is Not Intersectional –– But She Still Shouldn’t Be Silenced,” seemed like it was supposed to be another scathing review on the very un-woke book. But it missed –– by like a million miles.
It opens by defending Ivanka with an article she penned in 2015. Then the author, Neha Gandhi, continues saying “But 2015 was a different time. The future felt truly and easily female.”
We’re with you so far R29.
But then the piece takes a turn and becomes a nothing-sandwich. Gandhi simply restates the issues of today, but then basically says Ivanka is welcome back to Refinery29 any time.
