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    Citizen Girl
    Citizen Girl
    Citizen Girl
    Audiobook (abridged)5 hours

    Citizen Girl

    Written by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus

    Narrated by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus

    2.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    Another biting satire from Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus, Authors of the #1 New York Times Bestseller The Nanny Diaries.
    Working in a world where a college degree qualifies her to make photocopies and color-coordinate file folders, twenty-four year old Girl is struggling to keep up with the essential trinity of food, shelter, and student loans. So when she finally lands the job of her dreams she ignores her misgivings and concentrates on getting the job done...whatever that may be.
    Sharply observed and devastatingly funny, Citizen Girl captures what it means to be young and female in the new economy. A personal glimpse into an impersonal world, Citizen Girl is edgy and heartfelt, an entertaining story that is startlingly relevant.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster Audio
    Release dateNov 16, 2004
    ISBN9780743549035
    Author

    Emma McLaughlin

    Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus are the New York Times bestselling authors of The Nanny Diaries, Citizen Girl, Nanny Returns, and the young adult novels, The Real Real and Over You. They are the cofounders of TheFinishedThought.com, a book coaching firm, and work together in New York City. For more information visit EmmaAndNicola.com.

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    Reviews for Citizen Girl

    2.5/5

    257 ratings20 reviews

    What did you think?

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 1/5
      Worst book I have ever read.
    • 1/5
      I actually could not get through this book, which is sad because I loved the idea of it.

      First, the fact that the main female's name is 'Girl' and one of the main males is named 'Guy' is completely off putting. Is this supposed to be cute? It comes off as lazy to me. It might have made a huge difference in how this book came across.

      Second off, naming a company 'My Company'? Again, is this supposed to be cute? I find it a little childish. Especially with the industry the company is in. It doesn't make sense to me.

      All in all, I would not recommend this book.
    • 4/5
      Don't know why I waited so long to read this likable chick-lit. Girl is a gutsy young woman trying to make her way in New York when her need for employment and her values are in direct opposition. Engaging read.
    • 1/5
      This was pretty awful. It's overall a nice idea (young woman struggles with ideals and modern corporate America - I totally get that), but it was very poorly written, I felt, and in the end I was only finishing it to find out where they intended to go with the story.
    • 4/5
      A sharp, funny novel with crisp dialogue about Girl, a young college graduate struggling to land the job of her dreams in New York City, while not totally surrendering her ideals and retaining a semblance of a social life. The authors have yet to engage me the way they did with their two "Nanny Diaries" books, but this is quite a fine effort. I'm not quite sure what point they're trying to make by calling the main character "Girl" throughout the book. Sure, it highlights the facelessness of corporate life, but it works against our heroine's struggle for personal identity throughout the book. Still a good read with a nice ending.
    • 3/5
      I've read other reviews that were unforgiving about the way that this particular novel was written, and while some have their points, others seem to miss the charm and wit of the book. Yes, there are issues, but have we ever truly seen a perfect book? This book has some good qualities in it, but it also shows us that we need to really examine our society and our way of life.The character names were commonly used to critique the book because they were completely generic, but the point of having names like Guy, Girl, Buster, etc. is to put the reader into a position of role-playing. The reader takes on the guise of the character and starts imagining this world on his or her own. It is quite an innovative technique. It also makes you not only empathize with the characters, but it makes you question their choices easier. Their moral downfalls become yours.The writing was choppy, and that was heavily disappointing. Toward the end, almost everything seemed to be disjointed. I don't know if that was from lack of skill or if it was the writers trying to have the reader feel that the world was unraveling around them. I think it was probably the former.It is definitely a chick-lit novel that brings up some very tough issues, including feminism, sex trafficking/slavery, and glass ceilings. It also shows that anyone can basically become a hypocrite and sacrifice their own moral ideals just to make money and keep their job. That is a telling thing about our society, so I think that the writers putting that in a novel like this is a very gutsy thing for them to do. I'm glad that they show that the main character learns from her misdeeds, but I worry that maybe her character learned too late. You would think that someone who considers herself to be of such learned and charitable stock would be able to realize before the last chapter that what she's doing is so far away from being the good little feminist that she makes herself out to be. I guess that she's supposed to be as clueless about her hypocrisy as those people that she so willingly judges.The book could have been better written. I wish that it were better written, honestly. Maybe if the writers had better understood what they were aiming for or how to approach the topic, it would have been better. Since it isn't, I can just say that it is a fairly good book. And considering that it is just chick lit, I'm letting some of its issues slide and cutting the writers some slack for their mistakes.
    • 1/5
      This book was so boring and monotonous that I couldn't be bothered to finish it. I really expected more from these authors.
    • 3/5
      Synopsis: Meet Girl. Girl is a 20-something college grad working for a non-profit women’s organization. Sounds pretty cool, except her boss, Doris, is condescending and evil. Doris has reduced Girl to nothing more than an administrative assistant. When Girl stands up for herself against Doris’ poor treatment, Doris fires Girl. Girl is flummoxed by her dismissal and the state of the job market into which she has been thrust.Then Girl meets Guy at a networking event. Proclaiming to need someone with a feminist background for the rebranding of his company, Girl thinks Guy holds the keys to unlocking her dream job. Girl gets the job and couldn’t be more thrilled, even though she’s not entirely certain what her job entails. Just when things seem to be turning around for Girl, she discovers that Guy can be just like Doris, if not worse, and her dream job may forever remain just that: a dream.Review: I am actually surprised by the sheer volume of negative reviews this book received. I’ve found, unfortunately, when authors have a huge success with a novel, in this case The Nanny Diaries, that people continue to compare later works to that smash hit novel, expecting those later works to be literary clones of the smash hit. When, of course, that is not the case, then people bash perfectly good books just for not being that initial book they loved. I think that may be what happened with Citizen Girl.I enjoyed this novel. I could definitely related to Girl and her situation. I have worked for both a Doris and a Guy and that really helped me connect to Girl as a character. Girl reminded me of myself at her age. Looking backwards at that time, now 10 years older, Girl helped me gain insight and perspective on that era of my life. I also admired Girl’s ethics, morals, and spunk. She wasn’t willing to violate her definition of herself just to retain a job. I found that admirable. I enjoyed the secondary characters, as well, especially Girl’s brother Jack.I found the book to be well written. I very much enjoy the authors’ writing style. It was inviting and helped me dive directly into the novel. I liked the plot and thought it moved along with a good pace. There was tension in the plot, which propelled me, as the reader, forward.Overall, I enjoyed this book. I would definitely recommend it.
    • 3/5
      The heroine of "Citizen Girl" is also called "Girl", fresh in the job market, and looking for jobs in the Journalism/Feminism/Social Work Sector. The book details her travails when she gets a job at "My Company" (her boss is called "Guy"). Work at "My Company" is at the very least an unknown, a very quirky unknown. Interesting book, although "Nanny Diaries" was better.
    • 4/5
      When I first read Citizen Girl several years ago, I had to immediately run out and buy it for my friend who was without a doubt working for a real-life Doris Weintruck, right down to the obsession with coloured stationery.Kraus and McLaughlin present an often entertaining satire of a young feminist trying to make it in the equally cut-throat worlds of non-profit and corporate America. Although some of the scenarios do deliberately border on the ridiculous, we can all recognise something in them that makes them hilarious (yet also strangely chilling). As a character, Girl can be rather black and white, and therefore irritating, but learning about the shades of grey is all part of her adventures.
    • 1/5
      this book seems like it could be a good one...I'm only a couple chapters into it. The main characters name "Girl" really kind of bogs the story down for me right now. I know theres a good reason for the name, commentary Edith Wharton style, or the hippy mom, but seriously. On the other hand, I'm enjoying the characters, and the writing, its just gonna take me a little longer to get over the nuerotic things that comprise me ;)I don't know. After several attempts at reading this, I find it too distracting to have a main character named Girl, another named Guy, and a company called "my company"...I get that there is probably some meaning behind it, but the more I read the more I just want a real name for these central characters. I think this book will end up being one I just can't finish because of this quirk. The writing is otherwise on point, and the story is great, I just don't have the patience for this brand of genius I guess.
    • 1/5
      I guess the main character is supposed to represent every woman (or at least every 20-something, college-educated, white woman living in urban America) so she doesn't even get a name in the book and is referred to only as 'Girl' throughout. Maybe her lack of name is why I didn't really care about her? Though I suspect she was not the kind of character I'd care about even if she did have a name. Ho-hum.
    • 1/5
      BLOODY AWFUL--the only reason it got a half star is because one of the two authors actually knows who Eddie Izzard is.
    • 2/5
      The author used a creative approach on relating the main character to her work life. The author didn't use her real name, she was known as G. I thought that this book was a real life example of how difficult it can be to get a successful job in todays society. The book was funny at times but overall it wasn't as enjoyable as I thought it would be.
    • 1/5
      Synopsis: Working in a world where a college degree qualifies her to make photocopies and colorcoordinate file folders, twentyfouryearold Girl is struggling to keep up with the essential trinity of food, shelter, and student loans. So when she finally lands the job of her dreams she ignores her misgivings and concentrates on getting the job done...whatever that may be.My review: I really loved Emma McLauglin's other novel The Nanny Diaries but this book was weird. The story was confusing and so were the characters. It was all too ambiguous for me. I did not find it funny in the least.
    • 2/5
      Not as good as nanny diaries, although it was somewhat entertaining for any girl who is in the office work environment.
    • 3/5
      Not nearly as good as Nanny Diaries....very disappointing. There was so much going on that there wasn't enough character development and the story fell flat. Like someone else said - a not good version of the Devil Wears Prada.
    • 2/5
      So very disappointed. I loved their first novel but this was just sad. At the end I wanted to throw it across the room.
    • 1/5
      Yucks! I can't even get past page 8 on this one. Stay away...
    • 2/5
      I found this book unbearably pessimistic despite it's funny banter. Sarcasm is more cruel than amusing, unfortunately.