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Sociable

A Novel

Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available
“Extremely funny.” —Bethanne Patrick, The Washington Post
An exuberant comedy of manners set in the world of digital media, Sociable is a deliciously irreverent satire about the capriciousness of internet fame, the bewildering sexual mores of online dating, the preening male ego in the workplace, and about what it means to be young, broke, dumped, and scarily good at creating viral content.

When Elinor Tomlinson moved to New York with a degree in journalism she had visions of writing witty opinion pieces, marrying her journalist boyfriend, and attending glamorous parties with famously perverted writers. Instead, Elinor finds herself nannying for two small children who speak in short, high screams, sleeping on a foam pad in a weird apartment, and attending terrible parties with Harper’s interns wearing shapeless smocks and clogs. So when Elinor is offered a job at Journalism.ly, the digital media brainchild of a Silicon Valley celebrity, she jumps at the chance. Sure, her boyfriend is writing long think pieces about the electoral college for a real website while Elinor writes lists about sneakers and people at parties give her pitying glances when she reveals her employer, but at Journalism.ly Elinor discovers her true gift: She has a preternatural ability for writing sharable content. She is an overnight viral sensation! But Elinor’s success is not without cost. Elinor’s boyfriend dumps her, two male colleagues insist on “mentoring” her, and a piece she writes about her personal life lands her on local television. Destitute, single, and consigned to move to a fifth-floor walkup, Elinor must ask herself: Is this the creative life she dreamed of? Can new love be found on Coffee Meets Bagel? And should she start wearing clogs? With wry humor and sharp intelligence that skewers everyone from grand dame newspaper columnists to content farm overlords to peacoat-wearing lit bros, Sociable is a hilarious tale of one young woman’s search for happiness.
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    • Publisher's Weekly

      January 1, 2018
      Harrington (Penelope) gleefully skewers digital media and postgraduate working blues with this dark satire of self-absorbed millennials trying to remake journalism and romance. Her cyber coming-of-age tale revolves around Elinor and her college boyfriend, Mike, who live together in a cramped New York City apartment with no stove and a foam pad for a bed while they work toward their dreams of writing about important issues. Mike, who has a leg up—his parents pay his rent and his mom is a famous essayist—scores a writing job at a snarky website. Meanwhile, Elinor, making money as a nanny, winds up at a struggling rival news site, Journalism.ly, where she’s hired to pump up its audience as “viral trends editor” and proves to be a natural. While Elinor refines the art of clickbait, her relationships with Mike and her best friend fall apart. After relieving her heartache with a takedown of Mike online and on TV, Elinor dives into online dating and, unsurprisingly, meets other disaffected millennials with pretentious ambitions. With shrewd observations and biting humor, Harrington paints a bleak picture of a generation relentlessly focused on looking inward—and at their social media status.

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Languages

  • English

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