**Longlisted for the Aspen Words Literary Prize**
"Scathing yet hilarious... A compulsively readable novel — and a piercing satire on startup culture and gender politics."
—The Skimm
“Anam writes with a delightful wryness about young people today, startup culture and the onset of the end of the world. The Startup Wife is a fun, intelligent contemporary novel about timely ethical questions.” —Charleston Post & Courier
“The Startup Wife is an incisive satire about faith, technology and intimacy in the modern world. When three close friends (two of whom are a couple) form a startup to create customized spiritual experiences that help the masses connect, it has the ironic effect of blowing their relationships apart. What’s especially thorny is that while the algorithm and research that make the tech work belong to South Asian American Asha, her charismatic white husband is the star the media and investors want to see. Tahmima Anam’s novel is a thought-provoking skewering of startup culture specifically – but because Americans revere tech and its leaders, we all share in those sins.” —Carole V. Bell, NPR
"A whip-smart, funny, and searing look at the wild world of startups." —Good Morning America Book Club Buzz Pick
"The buzziest novel of the summer. . . . there's delicious humor in the subtly savage takedowns of the Silicon Valley system. . . . Anam deftly explores the gender politics of the book's central partnership." —Entertainment Weekly
"A feminist comic novel about the tech world. . . . the bliss Asha felt when she gave up her PhD studies and reconnected with Cyrus, her high school crush, may not outlast his ambitions." —Bethanne Patrick, The Washington Post
"A wise and wickedly funny novel about love, creativity, and the limitations of the tech-verse." —Vogue
"Faith, feminism, and our automated future make for a delicious mash-up in this satirical novel. . . . Anam’s penetrating look at the tech world’s discrimination pairs beautifully with her meditation on marriage and faith." —Esquire
“A scathing—and hilarious—take on startup culture, marriage and workaholism.” —Politico
"Takes the age-old cliché of a woman being undermined by men at work and places it in the center of a modern, satirical story." —CNN.com
“Anam has a wicked sense of humor, taking aim at startup culture and doomsday preppers while pointing out the lack of feminism and women of color in the tech industry.” —Connie Ogle, Minneapolis Star Tribune
“In this sharp and savage story, Anam deftly explores startup culture and the inherent sexism within the tech industry.” —E! News
“[A] charged and cheeky examination of startup culture, human connection and modern relationships.” —Ms. Magazine
“With elements of feminism, race, religion, sci-fi, and satire, The Startup Wife is incredibly thought-provoking.” —Hello Giggles
"A satirical and critical look at startup culture, cults, and modern relationships." —Book Riot
"Success comes at a price, as Anam shows in this witty novel that explores ambition and love in the very-modern world." —Nora Krug, The Washington Post
“Anam turns her keen eye toward skewering startup culture and exploring what the future of religion might look like in the digital age in her terrific new novel.” —PopSugar
"A zippy novel that deepens into a reckoning with self-delusion." —Scientific American
"An insightful sendup of startup culture and the modern marriage. . . . her evolving epiphanies are served up in an engagingly ironic voice with sharply observed details.” —Jenny Bhatt, Minneapolis Star Tribune
"Deliciously devilish and oh-so-meta. . . . This story of tech as its own god obeying its own masters of the universe is profound." —Techonomy
"Anam’s own experiences underpin the book’s sharp and knowing satire, but at its core The Startup Wife is about much more than skewering our modern silicon messiahs." —The Millions
“Faith, fame, love and tech meet up for this feminist take on startup culture.” —CNN
“Entertaining and very relevant for our times. Anam’s novel offers us a welcome balance between serious questions and an enjoyable, witty read." —International Examiner
"Explores an essential question for couples: Can you be both romantic partners and business partners? Newlyweds Asha and Cyrus are about to find out." —Marie Claire
“Scathing yet hilarious. . . . a compulsively readable novel—and a piercing satire on startup culture and gender politics.” —The Skimm
"Spot on and zings." —SheReads
“A brilliantly incisive social novel. . . . Because The Startup Wife is sexy and funny and puts relationships at the forefront, it might be easy to overlook its depth and sophistication. But The Startup Wife’s insights about modern relationships, gender politics, race, technology, and culture are as excellent and vital as its storytelling.” —BookPage, starred review
“Spectacular. . . . a powerful statement on the consequences of public achievement on private happiness.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review
“Offers readers a glimpse of the challenges of creating and running a startup and brings the issue of gender equality in work and relationships to the forefront... Anam’s modern tale has plenty of talking points that will make it a good selection for book groups.” —Library Journal
"Anam's not-quite-love-story shrewdly exposes gender inequity, racism, homophobia, and male white privilege, achieving sharply exposing, skillfully engaging results." —Booklist
"A clever, funny anti-romance novel set in the world of platforms, launches, engagements, and turmeric lattes." —Kirkus Reviews
"Endowed with witty prose and an intriguing premise, The Startup Wife by Tahmima Anam is a sparkling send-up of modern-day entrepreneurial culture." —Shelf Awareness
"Tahmima Anam deftly uses humor to explore both start up culture and the institution of marriage in an utterly charming but also genuinely thoughtful way. With generosity and sharp intelligence, Anam offers real insight into the collision between romance and ambition, and the tangled relationship between faith and technology." —Rumaan Alam, author of Leave the World Behind
"The Startup Wife is a nuanced and honest portrayal of gender dynamics, misguided intentions and taking responsibility for our own, sometimes monstrous, creations. I've never read such an accurate account of how it feels to start a tech company as a woman. We need more stories like this one." —Susie Yang, author of White Ivy
“This scathing and brutally funny novel skewers startup culture and workaholism with the perfect story for our precarious moment. Tahmima Anam has written an absolute page-turner full of heart, wit, and insight about obsession, how we treat others, and when we stand up for ourselves. A revealing depiction of ways people gain power through work—and lose it.” —V.V. Ganeshananthan, author of Love Marriage
“Compulsive reading. A deliciously timely, whip-smart buoyant dissection of men and women on the rise and the dynamics at play.” —Irenosen Okojie, author of Butterfly Fish
“Beneath its high-octane, hi-tech surface, The Startup Wife is a funny, poignant, and supersmart story of ambition, independence, and love—a brilliant portrait of the times we live in.” —Tash Aw, author of Five Star Billionaire
“Brilliant . . . A modern novel about love, startups, technology, ambition, and the future, all wrapped up in one. It’s very clever, but also subtle and very funny too.” —Emma Gannon, author of Olive
“Fresh, funny, brave, savage, smart. Tahmima Anam hits every note perfectly in this novel about our new reality and the age-old problems of men and women that no app can fix.” —Kamila Shamsie, author of Home Fires
"Impossibly timely and bewilderlingly smart." —Elif Shafak, author of The Forty Rules of Love
"A brilliant and trenchant portrait." —The Observer
“The Startup Wife is an extremely enjoyable, feminist rom com— gloriously readable, irresistibly funny and smarter than you realize... I loved this novel.” —Gillian Anderson
Praise for Tahmima Anam
"Anam deftly weaves the personal and the political." —The New Yorker
"Compelling... Anam is cracking open secrets to let the healing begin." —O, The Oprah Magazine
"Anam's easy poetry and soulful writing is illuminating." —Elle
2021-05-05
A brilliant coder marries her high school crush and creates an app that accidentally turns him into the millennial messiah.
After high school, Asha Ray blossomed. "I stepped into my brain like I was putting on a really great pair of sneakers for the first time....I cut my hair very short and got the first six digits of Pi tattooed on my left shoulder." She's working at a high-powered Cambridge AI lab when she attends the funeral of a high school teacher back on Long Island. There, she runs into the beautiful, long-lost Cyrus, who now creates alternative rituals based on all the spiritual traditions of the Earth. Two months later they are married, and she's left her lab to found a startup with her new husband and his wealthy best friend, Jules. WAI (We Are Infinite), the app Asha writes, leverages Cyrus' alternative-ritual concept into a social media platform. Though the lawyers they consult about incorporation suggest that the couple get a postnup, two years later Asha remains on cloud nine. "I'm going to write a marriage guide," she thinks. "I'll call it The Startup Wife: How To Succeed in Business and Marriage at the Same Time." But as WAI scales the heights of venture capital and turns into an international obsession—users have shared 800,000 cat baptisms alone—with Cyrus as its face, any good feminist might predict a darker outcome for this story. Anam's fourth novel is very good on all the tech and millennial accoutrements, with imaginary apps for everything from consensual sex to anal hygiene and no scene complete without a glass of raspberry shrub or rosemary water. Nits: The outcome is overly signaled; feminism plays an odd role somewhere between liberation ideology and buzzkill; the front end of the pandemic crashing into the back end of the book seems unnecessary.
A clever, often funny anti-romance novel set in the world of platforms, launches, engagements, and turmeric lattes.
Narrator Tanha Dil performs this audiobook, which explores a marriage, a social media start-up, friendship, and alternative spiritual practices. When doctoral student Asha crosses paths with Cyrus, her high school crush, sparks fly, and the two, along with their wealthy friend, launch WAI, an app that helps people create the perfect ritual for every life milestone. Dil’s repetitive cadence and unexpected pauses detract from the overall story of Asha’s growing realization that no matter how unique her vision and how brilliant her coding skills, she will still face gender and cultural bias. In addition, listeners may find it difficult to identify characters during dialogue-heavy scenes. The audiobook ends with an informative conversation between narrator Dil and author Anam, who discuss the story’s themes. C.B.L. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine
Narrator Tanha Dil performs this audiobook, which explores a marriage, a social media start-up, friendship, and alternative spiritual practices. When doctoral student Asha crosses paths with Cyrus, her high school crush, sparks fly, and the two, along with their wealthy friend, launch WAI, an app that helps people create the perfect ritual for every life milestone. Dil’s repetitive cadence and unexpected pauses detract from the overall story of Asha’s growing realization that no matter how unique her vision and how brilliant her coding skills, she will still face gender and cultural bias. In addition, listeners may find it difficult to identify characters during dialogue-heavy scenes. The audiobook ends with an informative conversation between narrator Dil and author Anam, who discuss the story’s themes. C.B.L. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine
