NSFW

by Isabel Kaplan Narrated by Stephanie Németh-Parker

Overview

Blisteringly sharp, hypersmart, and compulsively listenable-meet Isabel Kaplan's searing debut novel about a young woman trying to succeed in Hollywood without selling her soul.

"The rare kind of read that made me giggle just as much as it left me gutted." -Zakiya Dalila Harris, New York Times bestselling author of The Other Black Girl

From the outside, the unnamed protagonist in NSFW appears to be the vision of success. She has landed an entry-level position at a leading TV network that thousands of college grads would kill for. And sure, she has much to learn. The daughter of a prominent feminist attorney, she grew up outside the industry. But she's resourceful and hardworking. What could go wrong?

At first, the high adrenaline work environment motivates her. Yet as she climbs the ranks, she confronts the reality of creating change from the inside. Her points only get attention when echoed by male colleagues; she hears whispers of abuse and sexual misconduct. Her mother says to keep her head down until she's the one in charge-a scenario that seems idealistic at best, morally questionable at worst. When her personal and professional lives collide, threatening both the network and her future, she must decide what to protect: the career she's given everything for or the empowered woman she claims to be.

Fusing riveting prose with dark humor and riveting commentary on the truths of starting out professionally, Isabel Kaplan's NSFW is an unflinching exploration of the gray area between empowerment and complicity. The result is a stunning portrait of what success costs in today's patriarchal world, asking us: Is it ever worth it?

A Macmillan Audio production from Henry Holt and Company.

Editorial Reviews

JULY 2022 - AudioFile

In this timely audiobook, an unnamed protagonist encounters misogyny at her job as an assistant for a Hollywood television network. Narrator Stephanie-Nemeth Parker's youthful and expressive tone also captures the protagonist's challenges with family and romance. Nemeth-Parker expertly depicts the protagonist’s claustrophobic and virulent workplace environment in which sexist commentary is freely expressed. When she is sexually assaulted there by another assistant, Nemeth-Parker superbly manifests her internalized pain and conflict, as well as the institutional forces in place to silence her. Especially poignant is the protagonist's fraught relationship with her depressed mother, a lawyer and victims rights advocate whose controlling persona is wonderfully portrayed. Hollywood's fat-shaming culture is also astutely conveyed. Despite an abrupt ending, Nemeth-Parker brings to life a tragically relatable story. M.J. 2023 Audies Finalist © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine

Publishers Weekly

05/09/2022

The daughter of a prominent victim’s rights attorney navigates the treacherous pre-#MeToo television industry in Kaplan’s well-crafted but unilluminating adult debut (after the YA novel Hancock Park). The unnamed narrator returns to her hometown of Los Angeles after graduating from Harvard and, after using her mother’s connections, begins climbing the ladder at XBC, an upstart broadcasting network. As the narrator internalizes fatphobia and unrealistic beauty standards, and capitulates to and chafes against the casual misogyny at XBC, she tries to stay afloat in an environment teeming with sexual misconduct. Most intriguing, though, is the narrator’s Sisyphean relationship with her famously feminist mother, who simultaneously longs for her daughter’s success and resents it. Kaplan takes on heavy topics with an appealing frankness and snappy prose but doesn’t offer anything new regarding the no-win scenarios faced by survivors of sexual violence when deciding whether to go public (“Come forward and your career is probably tanked. Stay silent and he won’t have to answer for any of it,” the narrator says to a colleague), and as a result her depiction of the double bind comes off as rather mundane. As a Hollywood coming-of-age story, this does the job, but those in search of a new take on the larger issues at play will be left unsatisfied. (July)

From the Publisher

Named one of Debutiful's "Best Debut Books of 2022

“Ambition bites back in NSFW . . . So visceral . . . NSFW makes your brain spin on the #MeToo merry-go-round that’s come derailed from the base and spontaneously set on fire. Bleak and brave, this novel is a reminder of how skewered women are, no matter ‘how far we’ve come.’”
—The New York Times

"Explosive . . . [NSFW] lays bare the many troubling elements of Hollywood's corporate culture, from veiled sexism to blatant sexual harassment."
—The Hollywood Reporter

"Haunting and hilarious in equal measure . . . This sharp, unflinching novel takes a magnifying glass to the cognitive dissonance required by women who dare to exist—or even succeed—in a male-dominated world. The rich nuances of the narrator's personal and professional life in Hollywood, which blur together with every page, are as farcical as they are strikingly realistic. A must-read."
—BuzzFeed

“A wholly engrossing and shrewdly observational novel that puts the transactional nature of relationships—both professional and personal—on full blast. NSFW is the rare kind of read that made me giggle just as much as it left me gutted.”
—Zakiya Dalila Harris, New York Times bestselling author of The Other Black Girl

“I devoured NSFW. The complexities of who we are, what we stand for, and what we hope we stand for—plus the ramifications of all the choices we make—are beautifully explored. I learned from this novel and I am grateful for it.”
—Jamie Lee Curtis

“A frank account of leaning in and its inherent filthiness. Kaplan captures the psychological and, at times, literal gymnastics required of striving women.”
—Raven Leilani, New York Times bestselling author of Luster

“Kaplan peels back the curtain to examine the culture of a television network in this sharply observed, completely absorbing debut novel . . . Kaplan’s authentic insider knowledge makes her piercing first outing a cut above the plethora of Hollywood-set novels.”
—Booklist

“Incisive and painfully resonant . . . [NSFW] is an unexpectedly funny book, given the subject matter, and features frustrating, complex, and profoundly human characters.”
—Electric Literature

“With tons of dark humor . . . This is a novel that captures the contemporary moment of work culture and more.”
—Book Riot

“Frank, funny, and unputdownable, Isabel Kaplan's NSFW takes you on an ambitious young woman's wild ride through Hollywood. Her mother's a famous feminist lawyer, and she's a rising executive star, mistress of her destiny. But behind the glitter and the justice, everyone is tarnished and compromised including even our narrator. Kaplan, with her sharp and nuanced eye, sees it all, and tells it brilliantly.”
—Claire Messud, New York Times bestselling author of The Burning Girl and The Woman Upstairs

“Isabel Kaplan is as sharp-eyed and witty as they come. NSFW is a great, hilarious romp in the grand tradition of Hollywood novelists like Carrie Fisher and Bruce Wagner. Delicious and naughty and adorably bleak, much like L.A. itself.”
—Elisa Albert, author of Human Blues

“Brilliantly deadpan and spiky in all the right ways . . . An accurate, darkly funny but also brutal portrayal of everyday workplace and world power dynamics. I couldn’t put it down!”
—Emily Itami, author of Fault Lines

“I inhaled this deliciously sharp, ridiculously funny, and surprisingly heartfelt debut. NSFW is many things: a canny portrait of mother-daughter codependency, an incisive look at pre Me-Too era Hollywood dynamics, and a nuanced portrait of one young woman's quest for self-knowledge. The only time I willingly took a break from reading was to text various friends about how much they're going to love this book. I cannot wait to discuss it with everyone I know.”
—Coco Mellors, author of Cleopatra and Frankenstein

JULY 2022 - AudioFile

In this timely audiobook, an unnamed protagonist encounters misogyny at her job as an assistant for a Hollywood television network. Narrator Stephanie-Nemeth Parker's youthful and expressive tone also captures the protagonist's challenges with family and romance. Nemeth-Parker expertly depicts the protagonist’s claustrophobic and virulent workplace environment in which sexist commentary is freely expressed. When she is sexually assaulted there by another assistant, Nemeth-Parker superbly manifests her internalized pain and conflict, as well as the institutional forces in place to silence her. Especially poignant is the protagonist's fraught relationship with her depressed mother, a lawyer and victims rights advocate whose controlling persona is wonderfully portrayed. Hollywood's fat-shaming culture is also astutely conveyed. Despite an abrupt ending, Nemeth-Parker brings to life a tragically relatable story. M.J. 2023 Audies Finalist © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine

Product Details

BN ID:	2940176472998
Publisher:	Macmillan Audio
Publication date:	07/05/2022
Edition description:	Unabridged

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