You may have heard along the grapevine that Ivanka Trump has written a book about all things business.
In fact, the Internet is awash with opinions about Trump's second foray into authorship.
This is all despite the fact the she has decided not to promote the the book, due to her role in an unofficial capacity at the White House.
Even though the mother, heiress and businesswoman has also decided to donate any profits from the sale of the book to charity, people still aren't pleased with its content.
The New York Times ripped the book 'Women Who Work' apart accusing the book of being classist, sterile and, ultimately, hypocritical, since some of the things she suggests (namely paid maternity and paternity leave) in the book are potentially within her own jurisdiction.
Jennifer Senior wrote,
Self-actualization is the all-consuming preoccupation of "Women Who Work." In this way, the book is not really offensive so much as witlessly derivative, endlessly recapitulating the wisdom of other, canonical self-help and business books — by Stephen Covey, Simon Sinek, Shawn Achor, Adam Grant. (Profiting handsomely off the hard work of others appears to be a signature Trumpian trait.)
Ouch.
Michelle Goldberg, of the Slate, wrote possibly the harshest political dressing-down of Ivanka:
As vapid as Women Who Work is — and it is really vapid — there is a subtle political current running through it, one that helps explains how the socially liberal Ivanka can work for her misogynist ogre of a father. Beneath the inspirational quotes from Oprah and the Dalai Lama and the you-go-girl cheerleading, the message of Women Who Work is that people get what they deserve. ... Her worldview, it turns out, is not so different from her father's. Both see society through the lens of quasi-mystical corporate self-help, the sort pioneered by Norman Vincent Peale, author of The Power of Positive Thinking and a major influence on Donald Trump. In their schema, success is proof of virtue and people are to blame for their own misfortune. If Ivanka Trump hasn't expressed any outrage at the cruelties her father is inflicting on the poor and vulnerable, it may well be because she doesn't feel any.
However, as much as we respect the superior literary knowledge of newspaper book reviewers, isn't the democratic star-system ofAmazon just the best?!
And the keyboard warriors of the web have caused quite a stir with their brutal reading of Ivanka's newest book.
So we've cherry-picked some of the most choice reviews for you to peruse.
Be warned, these are a little savage.
I have read a significant amount of this book, which was purchased by an acquaintance. I feel no need to purchase it for myself. Frankly, as many reviews have said, the book is vapid. Plus, it is clearly ghost written. Don't waste your time.
I challenge ivanka [sic] to leave her life for 1 year, become an employee instead of an heiress with infinite resources at her fingertips, make $60k or so a year in NYC and have to play the game the normal way. And then maybe, and only maybe, she may have a point of view that has any relevance or holds any interest to those of us women who came by success the honest, hard working, losing sleep at night, making ends meet, even raising amazing young women as single mothers, getting home loans and on and on. The audacity that she thinks she has any prespective [sic] to share is an insult to every woman who's lived the real truth of making it from scratch. Read her book, NO THANKS
'prisrob' didn't hold back either, also giving 1.0 out of 5 stars, the said,
This is a book for working women who are wealthy. It is incoherent in some aspects, it gives us pleasant sentences with little meaning. "You only have one life, so live it fully'[sic] References aplenty but we have read it all before. Ivanka was not writing a book for most women of today, women who have a family without a nanny or a maid....I felt hugely nauseous reading this book.
Not everyone felt this way, however, there were plenty of five-star reviews on the US site of Amazon, though, not all of them were about the great content.
Purchased just because Liberal/Democrats are complaining about it. My next trip to the bookstore I'll purchase several copies for gifts. Keep whining...this book may be the best selling book of all time!
Another big bugbear is the use of quotes in the book, which some people see as being hypocritical.
She appears to have quoted radical writers such as Charlotte Perkins Gilman, who wrote the seminal feminist short story 'The Yellow Wallpaper', and Maya Angelou, the poet and writer who focussed on racism in the US.
Some of the women who are alive and have been referenced in the book have also spoken out.
Reshma Saujani wasn't too pleased to find herself in the book. She is a vocal opponent of the Trump administration and Founder and CEO of Girls Who Code.
Likewise, Jane Goodall, the famous primatologist, was pretty peeved to find herself in the book. She told CNN:
I sincerely hope she will take the full import of my words to heart. She is in a position to do much good or terrible harm. Legislation that was passed by previous governments to protect wildlife such as the Endangered Species Act, create national monuments and other clean air and water legislation have all been jeopardized by this administration. I hope that Ms. Trump will stand with us to value and cherish our natural world and protect this planet for future generations.
We would say poor Ivanka, but we've got no doubt she's hardy enough to weather this storm.
Daisy Murray is the Digital Fashion Editor at ELLE UK, spotlighting emerging designers, sustainable shopping, and celebrity style. Since joining in 2016 as an editorial intern, Daisy has run the gamut of fashion journalism - interviewing Molly Goddard backstage at London Fashion Week, investigating the power of androgynous dressing and celebrating the joys of vintage shopping.
