The Startup Wife - Tahmima Anam

Obliquely satirical this was a joy to read. A witty, perceptive, sharp, smart firecracker of a novel that doesn’t lose pace for a second. I confess that as a blogger/reader who is, shall we say more mature than some, the world of IT isn’t something that I am specifically familiar with. I’m no technophobe but terms like “start-up“ and “algorithms“ were never part of the younger me’s vernacular. My formative years were spent during an age where there was no Internet and no social media and I appreciate that we are now enjoying generations who are born into that world. However I’m also aware of the fragile world of start-ups and how the flavour of the month one day is consigned to the garbage bin the next. It’s a potent reminder of how the concept of entrepreneurism  has escalated in our cyber times. 

So clearly this is a very contemporary and topical novel. Nevertheless there are some wider issues here;  the place of women in the workplace, in society, sexuality, race not to mention questions of morality and spirituality. 

 

'Meet Asha Ray.  

 

Brilliant coder and possessor of a Pi tattoo,  Asha is poised to revolutionise artificial intelligence when she is reunited with her high school crush, Cyrus Jones. 

Cyrus inspires Asha to write a new algorithm. Before she knows it, she's abandoned her PhD program, they've exchanged vows, and gone to work at an exclusive tech incubator called Utopia.

The platform creates a sensation, with millions of users seeking personalised rituals every day. Will Cyrus and Asha's marriage survive the pressures of sudden fame, or will she become overshadowed by the man everyone is calling the new messiah?

In this gripping, blistering novel, award-winning author Tahmima Anam takes on faith and the future with a gimlet eye and a deft touch. Come for the radical vision of human connection, stay for the wickedly funny feminist look at startup culture and modern partnership. Can technology  - with all its limits and possibilities - disrupt love?'

 And that's it in a nutshell! Between them Cyrus and Asher develop WAI, created, according to Cyrus, "to introduce a new kind of interaction with social media. Instead of being built around what people like it's built around the things that mean something to them."

 

But of course we wouldn't have a novel if things ran smoothly! Do love and business make good bedfellows? It's a book that is very easy to engage with. Asha is the dominant character for me and the one I was rooting for all along. After all it is her story. She is the tituar startup wife. Cyrus is charismatic but there were times when I would like to have throttled him. Jules? I just wanted to give him a great big hug! But when you have a book that evokes such feeling in you towards the characters you know these are excellent characterisations. 

It's a novel very much of our time. Particularly within the context of how connected our lives have become via mobile devices and the Internet etc. In some ways our online presence has become more important than our off-line presence. But issues regarding women in the workplace, balancing professional and personal lives endures whatever our social climate might be.

I think this author has touched upon a very pertinent part of our modern world. And I think this will resonate with many women whether they've been involved in startups or not. But, in spite of it serious intent, it's all been done in a very entertaining and witty way. I thoroughly enjoyed the read.

My thanks to Canongate books for a gifted proof copy.