Review: The Knockoff by Lucy Sykes and Jo Piazza

Title: The Knockoff
Author: Lucy Sykes and Jo Piazza
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: Doubleday
Publish Date: May 19, 2015
Source: Library

What's the Story?:

From Goodreads.com: "When Imogen returns to work at Glossy after six months away, she can barely recognize her own magazine. Eve, fresh out of Harvard Business School, has fired “the gray hairs,” put the managing editor in a supply closet, stopped using the landlines, and hired a bevy of manicured and questionably attired underlings who text and tweet their way through meetings. Imogen, darling of the fashion world, may have Alexander Wang and Diane von Furstenberg on speed dial, but she can’t tell Facebook from Foursquare and once got her iPhone stuck in Japanese for two days. Under Eve’s reign, Glossy is rapidly becoming a digital sweatshop—hackathons rage all night, girls who sleep get fired, and “fun” means mandatory, company-wide coordinated dances to Beyoncé. Wildly out of her depth, Imogen faces a choice—pack up her Smythson notebooks and quit, or channel her inner geek and take on Eve to save both the magazine and her career. A glittering, uproarious, sharply drawn story filled with thinly veiled fashion personalities, The Knockoff is an insider’s look at the ever-changing world of fashion and a fabulous romp for our Internet-addicted age."

My Two Cents:

"The Knockoff" is a hilarious riff on the changing times in the magazine publishing world. Imogen is good at her job. She knows she is. When she comes back after a hiatus, she finds that she is in the process of being replaced but Imogen will not go without a fight. This book explores how Imogen is able to get her groove back and squash Eve, her former assistant, back to where she belongs.

This book took me awhile to get into because of the characters (it takes awhile to get to know them) but I ended up liking the book. I really liked this book because it speaks to the way that so many industries are changing with the advent of new technology. New technology is great but if there is no substance behind what you're doing or selling, you will still fall flat. Imogen realizes this. Eve does not. I loved seeing the tug-of-war between Imogen and Eve. You're pulling for Imogen the whole time as she is trying to find her footing.

This is a fun read that shed some light on the fashion and magazine world for me. It's a light read! It also happens to be Lucy Sykes' debut novel.