cover image The Rejection That Changed My Life: 25+ Powerful Women on Being Let Down, Turning It Around, and Burning It Up at Work

The Rejection That Changed My Life: 25+ Powerful Women on Being Let Down, Turning It Around, and Burning It Up at Work

Jessica Bacal. Plume, $17 trade paper (288p) ISBN 978-0-593-18765-4

In this encouraging handbook, Bacal (Mistakes I Made at Work), director of The Narratives Project for “habits of mind” at Smith College, shares stories of women professionals and their experiences with rejection and growth. One memorable story features a “kick-ass scientist who wears an outfit made out of rejection letters to her dissertation defense.” In another, cartoonist Roz Chast confesses, “The weeks where I don’t sell a cartoon, I still think, ‘They’ve finally learned how terrible I am and I’ll never work again.’” In the weaker interviews, early rejections are viewed from the distance of an otherwise successful career and end up being unfortunately discouraging as they make rejection seem like a low hurdle to be easily overcome. The overarching lessons are to “see the experience of rejection, including our own reactions to it, as just data” and to practice receiving rejection “like a muscle.” While Bacal’s tips are helpful, her message of normalizing setbacks comes across most powerfully in a conclusion considering universal themes of struggle and renewal. This affirming compilation will make a good gift for early-career women seeking to find their footing. [em](Apr.) [/em]