Ambition Monster : A Memoir

A deeply personal memoir about the addictive nature of workaholism: what happens when we try to outrun our pasts, when we try, and fail, to hide our person behind conventional success, and the humbling process of picking yourself up when the world lets you down—an anti-girlboss tale for our times for readers of LOVE STORY and UNCANNY VALLEY.

An “intimate, intensely resonant memoir about workaholism, unresolved trauma, and the ‘addictive nature of ambition’” (Harper’s Bazaar), this is an anti-girlboss tale for our times for readers of Drinking: A Love Story and Uncanny Valley.

After years of relentlessly racing up the professional ladder, Jennifer Romolini reached the kind of success many crave: a high-profile, C-suite dream job, a book well-received enough that reporters wanted to know the secrets to her success, and a gig traveling around the country giving speeches on “making it.” But beneath this polished surface was a powder keg of unresolved trauma and chronic overwork. It was all about to blow.

Ambition Monster is a gutsy and powerful look at workaholism, the lingering effect of childhood trauma, and the failures of our modern rat race. This is a Cinderella story of success and a brutal appraisal of the cost of capitalism—perfect for people pleasers, overachievers, and those whose traumas have driven them to be perfect, no matter the cost. “If you find yourself on the other end of burnout, trying desperately to figure out a new way forward—wow, is this book for you” (Anne Helen Petersen, author of Can’t Even).