The Glitch: A Novel

Written by Elisabeth Cohen

Narrated by Cassandra Campbell

A fast, funny, deeply hilarious debut--The Glitch is the story of a high-profile, TED-talking, power-posing Silicon Valley CEO and mother of two who has it all under control, until a woman claiming to be a younger version of herself appears, causing a major glitch in her over-scheduled, over-staffed, over-worked life.

Shelley Stone, wife, mother, and CEO of the tech company Conch, is committed to living her most efficient life. She takes her "me time" at 3:30 a.m. on the treadmill, power naps while waiting in line, schedules sex with her husband for when they are already changing clothes, and takes a men's multivitamin because she refuses to participate in her own oppression.

But when she meets a young woman also named Shelley Stone who has the same exact scar on her shoulder, Shelley has to wonder: Is she finally buckling under all the pressure? Completely original, brainy, and laugh-out-loud funny, The Glitch introduces one of the most memorable characters in recent fiction and offers a riotous look into work, marriage, and motherhood in our absurd world.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group
• Release date: May 22, 2018
• ISBN: 9780525632863

Reviews for The Glitch

[wagner5sarah35 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

On the generous side, I will say this book was fun and humorous, with a highly driven narrator who's able to reason herself to some very illogical places. On the other side, I found the narrator more than a bit annoying and something of a caricature of ambitious women. Shelly Stone, the leader of a Silicon Valley tech company, opens the book by loosing track of her toddler daughter, is oblivious to her equally ambitious but more reflective husband for much of the book, and displays an almost single-minded focus on her company's business challenges. One of the lessons of this book, of course, is that Shelly needs to work less and spend more time with her family. While the general themes are certainly drawn from the real world, they are taken to extremes here and I hope much of it is meant as humor (although if so, it wasn't nearly as funny as one would hope).

[anissaannalise-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

When Mad Men debuted I began watching the show and was pretty ticked off a few minutes in and my first reaction was to turn it off. But I stopped myself and thought, "Wait, perhaps the thing that's peeved you is there for a reason. Don't you want to know if there's more to the story?" I stayed and the pay off was worth it. I have to say, The Glitch was a bit in that same area for me. Shelley, our narrator, is initially not endearing, in fact, she's deeply off-putting. To the point that, her likability can only go up.

Shelley and Rafe are both doing the high-level job thing and they have two children, Nova (so named because they're innovators and Nova's a root word) and Blazer (no explanation on why the name but who is small enough that, in the first half of the book, he's often worn around by his parents & nanny making his name titter inducing). As we come into the story, they've misplaced Nova and are looking for her. Enter a stranger who has found her, and odd exchange with Shelley that makes one wonder if Nova was actually taken and finally enters a young woman who is so like the younger Shelley that Shelley is convinced the woman is her younger self. And then things start to get weird and start to unravel for Shelley at work and home.

The further along I advanced in the story, the more I enjoyed it and the more I pulled for Shelley to figure out what was going on with Michelle and Conch. It took until around 60-65% of the way into the story but the shift did occur.

While I never took to Shelley's style of being a parent or spouse, I definitely respected her decisions and her acknowledgement that she had made them and there were therefore tradeoffs. I had a Type A, high achiever father and she reminded me very much of him. It made for a complicated reading as I recognized and disliked some of Shelley's ways very much but Cohen, through Shelley and others here, gave me added insight as to what drives these people to the ends they chase so single-mindedly. The world needs all types.

I was quite stunned at some of the actions & non-actions taken by several characters:

[Cullen gives Enrique access to some of the code for Conch & is certain he can't do anything with it. Why?! Given the high level stakes of all this, it seemed to me, lunacy. Also frustrating, Shelley never mentions the strange occurrence of her interaction with Enrique to Cullen. I felt they should have closed that loop.

After Michelle's ruse is somewhat revealed, Shelley lets her into her home & leaves her there unsupervised & without telling Rafe anything about this woman. It's slightly less crazy that she didn't tell anyone at Conch about Shelley's ease of breaching security & that she was hired by people who expressly want to steal SportConch. The woman tried to extort her & has made it clear that she'll take a job for the highest bidder for ffs! And to top it all off, Michelle's cagey with the details of who she's working for and her actual name. Shelley investigates none of this and this chick goes off for ice cream with Shelley's family as Shelley heads out of the country on business. Who does this?!

Shelley didn't snag the business card from Michelle with that Malaysian address with the wave pattern when she was herself, going to Malaysia. Didn't even look it up. Ok, then. When she apparently doesn't have a neuron fire that she's seen it before when she's actually in Malaysia and presented with it at least twice, I admit, I side-eyed. And frowned. Michelle's resolution in the story, I just didn't buy or understand at all. Either I'm not trusting or forgiving enough or perhaps, I'm just too retributory.

Shelley was really surprised that her Conch had been switched. I was stunned by that because I was sure it had occurred (I thought by Enrique) so that it never crossed her mind was strange. Also disappointing. (hide spoiler)]

In the end, I quite liked how Shelley's work endeavors with Conch resolved. It felt complete and I was satisfied. I daresay, I liked her in those moments. I felt the resolution to her family and marriage were too instantaneous with no real resolution to their actual deeper problems. I needed she & Rafe to continue the real talk they'd begun earlier in the story. The Epilogue reads like it should be heart-warming, but I felt it unsatisfying. Cohen really didn't give it the attention to detail the Conch resolution received.

I enjoyed reading this and it didn't take long because when I had to put it down, I kept thinking about it and wanted to get back to reading. I highlighted some witty lines along with lines and passages that struck me as so uncomfortable and so real. I also give points for the eel scene. That'll stay with me for a bit. Also, everything at the factories in Malaysia. Still, I did feel there were a few things that brought it down for me (mentioned above). Shelley isn't the most likable character but I found her fascinating and worth reading about. Definitely recommended.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.