Self Care

I'd been working late, revising the competitive advantage slide for our pitch deck. Everyone else had gone home. The song of my inbox played at a slower tempo after dark-it was the only time of day I could get anything done. I took a break to check Twitter, and without asking anyone's permission or doing a SWOT analysis, I made a joke. Or I thought it was a joke. Definitely an anger-based joke, I can admit that now. It seemed more obviously funny at the time.

 

"What if you just deleted the tweet?" she said.

 

"Too late. They already showed it on Anderson Cooper."

 

I played the clip for her on my phone. Leading feminist Maren Gelb is causing waves tonight with what some on the right are calling a dog whistle to other activists about the president's daughter and her-I had to turn it off. I couldn't watch it again.

 

"Don't worry," Devin said. "No one watches Anderson Cooper."

 

"I watch Anderson Cooper."

 

"Well, you're my elder." Devin smiled and the highlighter around her eyes shimmered with optimism. "Give me the phone, Maren."

 

"Why, what are you going to do with it?"

 

"I'm just going to babysit it while you clean up."

 

"Wait," I snapped. My left hand was a claw that had evolved to grip this little screen until I died. "Can I show you just one?" We both knew I was stalling. "Look at this douche in Palo Alto with half a million followers, saying, '@MarenGelb is an example of the leadership principal when they go low, we go lower. Did I get that right? Hashtag AllLivesMatter.' He doesn't even know how to spell principle! 'All Lives Matter'? Seriously? Do you see this?"

 

Devin put my phone in her back pocket without even looking at the screen. I needed another drink.

 

"Well," I said, "the good news is I figured out what our competitive advantage is."

 

"Let me guess. Our badass cofounders?" She pointed at me and made her hands into a heart.

 

"No."

 

"Wait, don't tell me. Our seamless integration of sponsored content and organically sourced influencers?"

 

"No," I said. "The worse it gets-I mean the more women who are outraged and terrified and suffering-

Esquire

"Merciless and mordantly funny...Stein gives her ruthless romp through influencer culture an authenticity born from a genuine love of the internet...This is the self-aware callout culture novel that we need, but odn't deserve. Don't sleep on Self Care (unless you Fitbit tells you to sleep more--then do that, hydrate, and add 20 minutes of Headspace before reading)."
Salon

"A novel of manners for our 280-character era."
Elle

"Stein offers a look into the dark underbelly of these easily marketable spaces, the promise that a room full of women equals safety, and the egos and violence that sadly so often exist within them."
Bitch Media

"Self Care is the bitchy beach read for people who wear a 'Bitches Get Shit Done' T-shirt, but who are also well-versed in debates about reclaiming the word 'bitch.' Stein is the kind of writer who would be at home both in The New Yorker and on a Tumblr page devoted to writing poems about The Bachelor...At it's core, it's a very clever satire."
AV Club

Self Care is a skewering mockumentary about influencer culture, internet feminism, and the infinite ways that big tech capitalizes on our worst fears and insecurities. Utterly teeming with humor, this is exactly the sort of book that Dorothy Parker would have written if she d been reincarnated as an Instagram celebrity.
Catherine Lacey, author of The Answers and Certain American States: Stories

"A hyper-timely--and unexpectedly heartfelt--satire of #girlboss culture and the wellness industrial complex...Compulsively readable...Brilliant."
Kirkus Reviews

Wickedly talented Leigh Stein - for my money, one of our sharpest millennial writers - knows the internet, and she's used that intimate knowledge to write a pitch-perfect novel for our times. Self Care is a hilarious and sneakily moving send-up of what it means to try and live when every move you make is observed and dissected online, by a writer who sees the truth and says it with so much humor and heart you'll laugh (and maybe cry) out loud.
Julie Buntin, author of Marlena

"A titillating satire about our quest for validation and the lengths that some will go to for #selfactualization, Self Care is an intelligent, delightful read that will make your mind (and epidermis!) glow."
Courtney Maum, author of Touch and Costalegre

"Timely and playful...Offering a juicy glimpse into the pathos and ethos of the wellness industry and the influencers who make it all appear so shiny and bright."
Booklist

"A smart criqique of the wellness industry...but also a very fun read."
Betches

It s not just that I found Self Care wildly entertaining, I found it deeply illuminating. So this is how the clickbait gets cooked up! I learned, I laughed, I loved every page. What I especially admired was Leigh Stein s rare ability to be hilariously wicked while remaining deeply empathetic. I say skip your next juice cleanse and read this brilliant and delightful novel.
Meghan Daum, author of The Problem With Everything: My Journey Through The New Culture Wars

"So damn good. i stared reading, kept reading, and didn't look up until I was done. There is so much to applaud about Stein's novel...A juicy, funny, smart read. Did I already say it was a smart read? Leigh Stein is so smart and so understanding of the internet I am in awe."
Alma, Favorite Books for Summer 2020