What happens when four assistants risk everything to say enough is enough? Smile and Look Pretty tries to answer just that question. After being exploited, taken for granted, manipulated, and overworked, best friends Cate, Lauren, Olivia, and Max decide to take their weekly “The Shit List” meetings—in which they commiserate the worst moments of the week and crown a winner for worst experience—to the next level: they create an anonymous blog called Twentysomething where they come forward about their own most excruciating experiences. Assistants to some of the most powerful people in the entertainment industries, they know what’s at stake if they are found out. Yet what none of them expects is Twentysomething going viral. As more and more women send in powerful experiences, the only question remains: what happens to the women finally bite back?
There’s this certain rush of serotonin I get every time I pick up one of these books where women fight back and Smile and Look Pretty fell right into that category. I dare people to pick this book up and not want to raise their pitchforks in solidarity.
There is so much commentary about working in Smile and Look Pretty and I wish I could put every single quote I highlighted into this review. From talking about the only constant thing about their job being the fear of losing said job to lines discussing being taken advantage of in a job that you thought would be your big break, it all just resonated so much with me. There is a lot of talk about people not putting in the work anymore, or of not being ambitious enough, but we don’t talk enough about those of us who go into a field and entry position believing that if we only work hard enough, only look pretty enough, only be complacent enough, we’ll make it to the top as well. But as promotion after promotion is given to others, as we are being demeaned for giving “only” 100% while others are floating through the ranks with half of that effort, it can all just be so demoralising. Smile and Look Pretty also talks about how women oftentimes will accept demeaning tasks because of the promise that it will get them where they want to go—e.g. doing menial tasks for their boss that’s not in their job description because they hold a future reward over their heads—and that aspect is rarely discussed.
What I also loved was how Pellegrino addressed this idea of being happy for someone else getting the opportunities you deserve while also feeling like you failed because of that opportunity being passed on to said person. It’s hard to be happy for others when you’re struggling yourself and yes, it makes you feel really bad about yourself but it’s a valid feeling and we should be more open about that in real life. Disappointment and failure are only as bad as they are because we’re conditioned not to talk about them. And these four best friends really said f*** that, we’re allowed to feel!
As this thing that started as an outlet for the four friends turns into an initiative that makes women all over the world feel like they’re not alone, you really get a sense of the camaraderie of the oppressed. Every story sent in to Twentysomething is gruelling—from the casual sexual harassment that is just blown off by superiors to demeaning tasks and ridicule—but the fact that there are so many out there that happen every single day is what makes the friends’ idea so captivating. Creating a community for other women and finally having a voice via this blog will make readers feel like they’re not alone as well.
Smile and Look Pretty oscillates between POVs of the four friends and every friend deals with their own struggles in the workplace—and sometimes in private—and I loved how we got to see the different dynamic of every single one of them. Some of the romances the friends experience also gave me serious Sex and the City (but more feminist) vibes and it made me kind of hopeful for a movie adaptation. Every story brings something else into focus and there’s so much to admire about them—from their tenacity to their moral strength and their fierceness, I couldn’t pick a favourite even if I tried.
Without spoiling too much, the ending of Smile and Look Pretty is extremely cathartic. It’s always amazing to see someone who deserves it being taken down a peg or two and even though the four friends don’t anticipate what’s to come, the ending definitely pays off considering all the emotional turmoil the reader has to go through alongside these women. I can wholeheartedly recommend this book to every twentysomething (and older) who’s ever felt unappreciated, exploited or strung along in their job. Trust me, you need this book in your life.
Ultimately cathartic, Pellegrino’s debut is a hard-hitting exposé of toxic workplaces and the horrors women are faced with on the daily. Chronicling what happens when women bite back, Smile and Look Pretty is a must-read for any woman who’s ever felt exploited in her 9-5 job and wants to blow off some steam—or, you know, burn down the patriarchy.
Smile and Look Pretty is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of March 8th 2022.
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Synopsis | Goodreads
What happens when four assistants risk everything to say enough is enough?
Best friends Cate, Lauren, Olivia and Max are overworked and underpaid assistants to some of the most powerful people in the entertainment industries. Like the assistants who came before them, the women know they have to pay their dues and abide the demeaning tasks and verbal abuse from their bosses in order to climb the ladders to their dream jobs.
But as they are passed over for promotions and the toxic office environments reach a breaking point, the women secretly start an anonymous blog detailing their experiences, which snowballs into hundreds of others coming forward with stories of their own. Confronted with newfound viral fame and the possibility of their identities being revealed, the assistants have to contend with the life-changing consequences of speaking out against those who refuse to share the power.
