Pink Slip

Pink Slip is an older book (published in 1999) by Rita Ciresi that I'm embarrassed to admit I forgot about. I picked it up from my local library on a whim and was a full chapter in before I realized I knew these characters, I knew this story. Full disclosure - I even used to own this book and it somehow made its way into a donation bin along with most of my other books in one of my Great Purges several years ago.

Don't mistake my donating the book to mean it's bad. It's not. It's a solid read and now that I've rediscovered it (and learned that a sequel was written!) I'm regretting letting it out of my hands.

Pink Slip tells the story of Lisa (Lise) Diodetto a twenty-five year old woman on the verge of becoming... something. Whole maybe? An adult, certainly. She's a first-generation Italian-American who hates her parents and has happily escaped her New Haven upbringing only to find herself back in the suburbs when life in NYC doesn't quite work out how she'd hoped.

The story begins with Lise starting a new job as an assistant manager in the Editorial department of Boorman Pharmaceuticals. She quickly begins an affair with her boss which is a bad idea for all of the obvious reasons and the story gives a realistic and sometimes funny view into the ups and downs of their relationship and all of its challenges.

Despite the pink cover and the silly tagline "Lisa's mother wants her to get married so badly anything in pants will do" this book is not your typical chick lit. There are frank discussions about serious issues and the plot isn't all silly misunderstandings and madcap shopping trips. Lise comes off as a real person with real flaws and personality. Eben Strauss, the love interest, is a little more wooden. He never quite makes it off the page for me, but the story is so Lise-focused that this doesn't really matter as much as it seems like it should. This is a love story that's more about learning to accept a happily ever after, warts and all, than it is about the romance. There aren't a lot of hearts and flowers here, and that's a good thing.

I can't believe I let this one get away from me once. Maybe I needed to read it in my 30s vs. my 20s to really appreciate it. I'm looking forward to tracking down the sequel, Remind Me Again Why I Married You and reading it next.