A funny and surprisingly inspirational story about a genuine character, Sophia, who truly “leans in” to life in Silicon Valley’s fast lane. You get hooked on the roller coaster ride, watching her fall on her face, and pop back upseveral times! Yen’s roman a clef is a delightful, touching tale that is perfect for the tech-generation or anyone fascinated by its culture.
With uncanny parallels to the Silicon Valley narratives we know and love, Anna Yen manages to break the mold with this fresh debut about being a young woman coming up in tech. Told with sharp wit and unforgettable detail, Sophia of Silicon Valley is a remarkably entertaining story and one of my favorite books in years!
02/26/2018
Yen’s disappointing debut takes readers back to the early days of the tech industry’s rise. The daughter of successful Taiwanese immigrants, Sophia Young is hired as investor relations person at Treehouse, a groundbreaking computer-based animation studio founded by eccentric visionary Scott Kraft. Sophia, who still lives at home, is so dedicated to her new job that it eventually costs her the love of her boyfriend, Daniel, an environmental consultant. After a serious illness causes her to reassess her priorities, Sophia accepts a job from Andre Stark, an equally eccentric visionary and inventor of a radical new type of automobile. But will Sophia ever be able to reconcile her personal and professional lives? The author, whose background includes working at Pixar and Tesla, obviously knows the terrain but can’t breathe life into the novel. Unfortunately, this familiar story of a woman coming into her own while working for a demanding boss falls flat. (Apr.)
A funny and surprisingly inspirational story about a genuine character, Sophia, who truly “leans in” to life in Silicon Valley’s fast lane. You get hooked on the roller coaster ride, watching her fall on her face, and pop back upseveral times! Yen’s roman a clef is a delightful, touching tale that is perfect for the tech-generation or anyone fascinated by its culture.” — Larry Kramer, President of USA Today
“This laugh out loud inspired tale offers a peek behind the mysterious idiosyncrasies of Silicon Valley geniuses and one woman’s fight to navigate career success while having a life.” — Ellen Pack, founder of women.com
“With uncanny parallels to the Silicon Valley narratives we know and love, Anna Yen manages to break the mold with this fresh debut about being a young woman coming up in tech. Told with sharp wit and unforgettable detail, Sophia of Silicon Valley is a remarkably entertaining story and one of my favorite books in years!” — Jon M. Chu, Film Director, Crazy Rich Asians
This laugh out loud inspired tale offers a peek behind the mysterious idiosyncrasies of Silicon Valley geniuses and one woman’s fight to navigate career success while having a life.
2018-02-06
A new college grad figures out life, love, and the tech world in Yen's breezy debut.The outspoken daughter of traditional Taiwanese parents in the Bay Area, Sophia Young returns home newly graduated from college with a very clear life plan: a few years working at a shiny investment bank until she meets "The One," and then "the white picket fence, two kids (preferably twins), and the Mrs. Homemaker lifestyle" that's been her dream since childhood. So when speaking out of turn gets her fired at the bank, she's momentarily distraught—until her best friend helps her get a paralegal gig working on initial public offerings and Sophia is initiated into the startup world, where her no-nonsense pluck makes her a star. Soon, Sophia is managing investor relations and doubling as the right-hand man for a Steve Jobs-like tech founder, and her white picket fence visions give way to new dreams. But finding a partner who can support her ambitions isn't necessarily easy, Sophia discovers, and amid her success, she's started neglecting her health. But the biggest test is yet to come: When Andre Stark, a flashy tech founder, convinces her to come run investor relations for him—leaving her beloved old team behind—she finds herself miserable in his Ivy League boys' club and is forced to make her biggest decision yet. A lone mismatched boyfriend aside, Sophia's world is populated with benevolent and powerful mentors who consistently recognize her hard work (if nothing else, the novel offers a road map for good management), doting parents, a ride-or-die best friend, and few personal flaws of substance, giving the novel a certain fairy-tale quality. While the plot takes the occasional off-kilter jag, this is a much-needed professional coming-of-age story; one only wishes it were a slightly more insightful one.Like so many startups, glossy, fun, and ambitious if not particularly deep.