Whisper Network: A Novel

LISTEN! You would be hard pressed to find a more insightful, articulate, or truthful portrayal of what it is like to be a woman in 2019 than Whisper Network. The premise is obviously timely given the MeToo movement and super interesting to me as a professional woman, but after absolutely devouring the book in just under 48 hours (squeezed in between working full time and caring for two tiny humans!) I can without a doubt add Whisper Network to my sacred pedestal of favorite stories. It is not just an incredibly powerful story about women, it is an incredibly powerful HUMAN story. It should be required reading for every man and woman on this earth! The writing is beautiful, the characters are engaging and flawed and wonderful, and the insights into the female perspective are painfully accurate and so perfectly articulated that it will make your heart ache. A truthful perspective, I should add, that feels sorely absent from the narratives that most female characters are given in entertainment these days. I literally cannot wait for the inevitable TV/Movie/Sequel/ANYTHING to spin off of this book. Put this one on your must-read list and get ready to hear what "we" have to say!

Whisper Network is a complicated novel that left me with complicated feelings. It is simultaneously a ‘ripping good yarn’ that kept me up until 4 a.m. and a deeply nuanced look into female friendships and empowerment in the age of #MeToo. It is fantastic and flawed. It is a sign of how far women have come and how far we have yet to go, even within our own minds and hearts. There is so much good about this book, especially the home truths it tells about being a woman, how women have looked out for each other through the centuries, and what we’ve had to do to survive and thrive in a male-dominated world. And yet the writing troubled me. The problem I had with Whisper Network is best illustrated by the unnamed narrator at the beginning of each chapter. The author explained in her note that the many stories of sexual harassment she heard from other women became the collective “‘we’ narrator, a means to talk about the working woman experience”. “The working woman experience”... as if only working women experience sexual harassment. And there it is: in this book that was supposed to strike a blow for women around the world, the author only wrote from the viewpoint of a young, blond lawyer from Austin, Texas. She heaps disdain on the only stay-at-home mom character. There are zero African-American characters. The two Latinix characters are a divorced, socially awkward, frumpy single mother and a stereotypical uneducated cleaning lady, also a single mother. The two white main characters are rich, pretty, successful, happily married, and Southern. I also found reading the book rather choppy, as it jumped between depositions, police interviews, the unnamed narrator, and the actual story. It didn't flow between these seamlessly. Even with these problems, I absolutely recommend Whisper Network. It was good, very good, and the author managed to do what she set out to do despite herself.

Overall: A mystery told from multiple women’s (mainly lawyers) perspectives who all work for an athletic wear firm. A fun, light, mystery, perfect for the beach that will keep you on the edge of your seat. Though there are themes relating to the #metoo movement, I expected more from all the hype surrounding this one. Still, an overall fun beach read, just do not expect anything too deep from this one. 3/5 or 6/10 Summary: This book is told from multiple women’s perspective (dynamo Sloane Glover; easy going and recently divorced Ardie Valdez; overwhelmed new mom Grace Stanton; new hire Katherine Bell; and custodial worker Rosalita) who all work for an athletic wear company called Truviv that is based in Austin (I kept relating this company to something like Under Armour or Nike). The CEO dies suddenly and the next in line happens to be a sketchy man who has a dubious and dark history when pertaining to women. There is a BAD man list that women from the area have put together and it details information about men in the area and various sexual harassment and abusive details relating to the individual. Women are able to add to this list and share it among themselves, but it somehow gets out and all hell breaks loose. The Good: This book is written pretty well with moderate to good character development on all levels. Most of the main characters were likeable in their own way but I found myself rooting for Aride and Rosalita the most. Though there are predictable parts, I did find myself surprised (somewhat) and guessing pretty close up to the end. The author does a good job with lots of cliff hangers that leave you wanting more and feeling like you can’t put this down. This book succeeds as a fast-paced mystery that delves into themes relating to gender inequality and sexual harassment in the workplace. The Bad: The best summary for the negative is that… I just expected more. I felt let down by the end and just wanted more to the book as a whole. Predictable, huge generalizations (especially about women in the workplace), somewhat superficial, and just did not quite hit the mark for me on all levels.

* A MUST-READ FOR HUMANITY * “Women walked around the world in constant fear of violence; men’s greatest fear was ridicule.” “When we failed it was because of our chromosomes, it wasn’t because of a market dip or an ineffective advertising campaign or plain bad luck.” “As we grew tired of whispering because what were we hiding, after all? We had stories, all of us. Would speaking up cost us? Maybe. But maybe it would cost them, too.” “And so, when one of us spoke up, it was never just for her. It was for us. If anything, she was the willing sacrifice. Another log on the pyre stoked by us, our stories, our voices.” “By whispering, whose secrets were we keeping anyway—ours or theirs? Whose interests did our silence ultimately protect?” + • + • + • + That ending... OMG!!! I am speechless, emotional & so very grateful for this journey... This is an emotional & entertaining story with characters that are so authentic they truly become like real people that live in your world & a compelling, riveting & (unfortunately too common!) believable plot lines that draws you in so effortlessly & subtly without you even noticing. Wonderfully written, beautifully developed, powerfully portrayed, transparently honest, thoroughly enjoyed… unapologetically critical, undeniably necessary— PROUDLY #METOO

The author is a lawyer and you will be too after you've read this book. Not really, but she takes you inside a law firm and gives the reader a schooling on the kind of personalities you're likely to meet, at least in the world of the midwest and south. The subject matter of the book is, of course, very timely and significant. If nothing else, that's reason for all of us to ingest what this book talks about. The idea of a spreadsheet traveling around secretly is very intriguing in itself and might have been used more effectively than it was here. There are no big twists, but really, this book is only very tenuously a thriller. The writing is top notch, the characters vivid, and the narrative impossible to walk away from once you're involved. Just know the book is a slow-burner, not a fast-paced whodunit-type thriller.

The writing feels like it came out of my head and my heart if I was more witty and profound. Thankfully, the plot does not mirror my life but kept me wanting more. A smart, wry take on what many women experience in the world, but often most specifically at work. One example of her but-punch Greek chorus: "We will say this: none of us thought that motherhood and work could exist harmoniously. If anything, they were two forces, diametrically opposed. We were the prisoners, strapped to the medieval stretching device, having enjoyed the rare privilege of both loving and having chosen our torturers. There was only the small matter of our joints being pulled apart and our hearts spilling out from our rib cages. We woke in the night to the sound of small voices and trudged half-asleep down halls to faces that didn’t care whether we had a draft due by lunch tomorrow. We held our breath as we checked for fevers, rifling through the earthquake a sick kid would wreak on our schedule, and then making urgent calls to friends and family in a last ditch effort to piece together childcare or whatever the minimum requirements were to keep someone from calling protective services. We told our kids to “pretend not to be sick” so that we could send them to daycare to get everyone else’s kids sick. We figured the favor had often been returned. We told ourselves, as our noses ran and our heads ached and our stomachs refused food, that we were fine. Because, whatever happened, we were the defaults, the ones stuck with the task of figuring out what to do about, well, everything. "

This book…Wow. What do you say about a fiction book that covers so much important information that it is relevant in today’s world? I can definitely see why Reese Witherspoon choose the WHISPER NETWORK by Chandler Baker for one of her Reese's Book Club picks. It’s an incredibly timely and honest thriller that is full on in the #MeToo Movement and keeps you enthralled as you read it. This was our most recent book club pick and, just wow again, did it give us some good discourse. I highly recommend this for book clubs because the thriller aspect is great to discuss, but the elements of the moment and women’s right expanded our conversations so much. The thing I liked best about WHISPER NETWORK is that Chandler Baker didn’t make every person - female or male - likable, she just made them human and showed what actually happens in real life and what people experience, especially females. At times, it was a very uncomfortable book to read, and even though it was a fiction, knowing that these situations happen right now today in our world does not sit easily. I’m thankful that I read this book. I think WHISPER NETWORK is an important read whether or not you like thrillers as it makes you think about your place in the world and what you are doing to improve it. I don’t work in a 9 to 5 office environment, but it helped make me aware more of my surroundings and what I hope to do better that Baker emphasized - listen. Content Warnings: just know going into this book there are a lot as it’s regarding the Me Too Movement. I’ll list the few major ones, but please be aware there are many more: suicide, rape, sexual harassment in the workplace, bullying, postpartum depression, cheating.

This was an excellent book. It wasn't engrossing in the fast-paced-can't-put-down way. I'm kind of a book snob, and it also depends on my mood: such stipulations that determine a reading marathon of sorts. Nonetheless, this book was a book I kept going back to every day. I kind of predicted the twist at the end, which may have be intended; however, that wasn't problematic. The way in which the twist presented itself; how the truth was revealed, regarding one of the characters and her son, was excellent. I was a little confused as to the exact cause of the fate of Ames, nor did I like his name. I thought, as far as character names go, there could have been hunting for a better one, not that the character deserved and excellent name, of course not. I just found it strange that his name was a nickname. Overall, the stories told, from different perspectives of womanhood, of mothering, were excellent. I just wish the single woman of the group hadn't been portrayed as this betraying, not a woman's woman. I thought that was in poor taste, the fact that the "warriors" of the book were all mothers. I think being a mother and being a woman is far more complex, than such binaries. Thus, I was disappointed as to how the only single woman was depicted, and the role the character played in the book, how she was written. Thus, three stars for that. Excellent prose, over all. Just disagreed with certain significant choices.

Tímidas reflexões feministas expostas através de um enredo intrigante! Leiam e se surpreendam com essa história que caminhou morna pra que seu grande final pudesse correr bem explosivo!

Un libro que te mantiene captividada con ganas de saber el final

Absolutely the best book I have read in a long time! Once you start you just can’t stop!

Well writen and great content. I was kept interested after each chapter. It was difficult to put down.

I enjoyed this book. It was clever. But there were moments when I wished I was not locked in hotel quarantine on the 19th floor, for reasons you’ll understand if you read the book.