Jillian Medoff. (2018). This Could Hurt: A Novel. HarperCollins.

Jillian Medoff. 2018. This Could Hurt: A Novel. HarperCollins.

Jillian Medoff, This Could Hurt: A Novel. HarperCollins, 2018.

Jillian Medoff. This Could Hurt: A Novel. HarperCollins, 2018.

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     Jillian Medoff is the author of the national bestseller I COULDN'T LOVE YOU MORE, as well as the novels GOOD GIRLS GONE BAD and HUNGER POINT. A former fellow at MacDowell, Blue Mountain Center, VCCA, and Fundación Valparaiso, she has an MFA from NYU. In addition to writing fiction, Jillian has a long career in management consulting and is currently a Senior Consultant at the Segal Group, where she advises clients on all aspects of the employee experience.

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“Periodically a writer captures the pattern of comedy and tragedy that peppers office life like alternating colors of carpet squares. . . . As smart as Medoff’s critique of corporate inanity is, it’s tempered by compassion for these people, who are ultimately tender with each other, too. . . . Medoff finds plenty of hurt—but strains of hope, too.” —Ron Charles, The WashingtonPost

The acclaimed and deeply felt novel that illuminates the pivotal role of work in our lives. 

Rosa Guerrero beat the odds as she rose to the top of the corporate world. An attractive woman of a certain age, the longtime chief of human resources at Ellery Consumer Research is still a formidable presence, even if her most vital days are behind her. A leader who wields power with grace and discretion, she has earned the devotion and loyalty of her staff. No one admires Rosa more than her doting lieutenant Leo Smalls, a benefits vice president whose whole world is Ellery.

While Rosa is consumed with trying to address the needs of her staff within the ever-constricting limits of the company’s bottom line, her associate director, Rob Hirsch, a middle-aged, happily married father of two, finds himself drawing closer to his "work wife," Lucy Bender, an enterprising single woman searching for something—a romance, a promotion—to fill the vacuum in her personal life. For Kenny Verville, a senior manager with an MBA, Ellery is a temporary stepping-stone to bigger and better places—that is, if his high-powered wife has her way.

Compelling, flawed, and heartbreakingly human, these men and women scheme, fall in and out of love, and nurture dreams big and small. As their individual circumstances shift, one thing remains constant—Rosa, the sun around whom they all orbit. When her world begins to crumble, the implications for everyone are profound, and Leo, Rob, Lucy, and Kenny find themselves changed in ways beyond their reckoning.

Jillian Medoff explores the inner workings of an American company in all its brilliant, insane, comforting, and terrifying glory. Authentic, razor-sharp, and achingly funny, This Could Hurt is a novel about work, loneliness, love, and loyalty; about sudden reversals and unexpected windfalls; a novel about life.

reviews

1. • premium: False
   • source: People
   • content:

     "This smart, jaunty novel takes the lid off a small company's faltering human resources department to reveal intrigue and backstabbing that only intensify when the boss gets sick. But, as Medoff deftly reminds us, decency can find a way of surfacing even among the filing cabinets." — People

     "Uplifting and hilarious." — Real Simple

     "A smart, sympathetic dramedy. . . . It's like a New York novelization of The Office—with less winky, fourth wall-breaking satire and more heart." — Entertainment Weekly, "Best New Books"

     "A sweet, sharp, funny tale." — Parade

     "[A] smart novel of corporate life." — Newsday

     "Medoff delves into the working and personal lives of those who work for Rosa and creates layered characters rather than clichés. . . . This Could Hurt is a very enjoyable read and Medoff moves between the characters and their stories seamlessly. If there is a silver lining within the financial crisis, This Could Hurt might be it." — Free Lance-Star (Fredericksburg, VA)

     "A delicious, satisfying book. . . . This Could Hurt is a worthy follow-up to Medoff's bestseller I Couldn't Love You More. Filled with heart and humor, it will ring true to anyone who's experienced both the cruelty and the camaraderie that make up the modern American workplace." — BookPage

     "Set within the cogs of corporate America, This Could Hurt tells the story of five colleagues struggling with professional tumult, uncertainty, and ambition. Jillian Medoff unfolds these characters' daily lives, the hours spent at the office, with precision and a strong dose of humanity." — Southern Living

     "Bitingly relatable and unexpectedly touching."
     — The Daily Break

     "A thoroughly satisfying character study and exploration of the social microcosm that is the modern workplace. Medoff . . . is a master of the small, telling detail that completely nails a person's psyche, delivering a cast of characters flawed yet struggling to redeem themselves. An ultimately hopeful, completely inventive tale." — Library Journal (starred review)

     "Witty. . . . wry and ironic. . . . a sharp and moving read." — Publishers Weekly

     "Incisive. . . .Medoff's scenarios will be familiar to everyone employed everywhere, no matter the company size, and she cogently captures the angst and celebrates the camaraderie of coworkers committed to group success while struggling with personal demons." — Booklist

     "Shrewd and deeply affecting. . . . Sharply drawn intimate details about the lives of each character add even greater depth and broaden the timeless appeal of this very smart, thoroughly absorbing story." — Shelf Awareness

     "A penetrative novel about how work—even the work we might resent or despise at times—forges strange and wonderful relationships and forces difficult choices." — Bookreporter

     "Corporate America has been trying to stamp out individuality for decades but Jillian Medoff brings it back to fresh, sexy, sharply funny life again. This Could Hurt is a missive to everyone who feels stranded in an office: You are not alone." — Katherine Heiny, author of Standard Deviation

     "Clear your Outlook calendar and have tissues at the ready for this huge-hearted page turner that reaffirms the healing power of plain old human kindness." — Courtney Maum, author of Touch and I Am Having...

2. • premium: True
   • source:
   • content:

     August 1, 2017
     

     Popular novelist Medoff (e.g., I Couldn't Love You More) has long worked in management consulting, so she's on firm ground with this novel about five tumbled-about human resources colleagues. Among them: Rosa, the enduring HR chief of Ellery Consumer Research Group; her devoted right-hand man Leo; associate director Rob, ever more dependent on "work wife" Lucy; and Kenny, who's feeling pressure from home to get on with the big promotions. With a 50,000-copy first printing.

     Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

3. • premium: True
   • source:
   • content:

     October 15, 2017
     Intrigue swirls around HR executive Rosa Guerrero in this engrossing workplace drama by Medoff (I Couldn't Love You More, 2012, etc.). Ellery Consumer Research Group is one of "a glut of boutique research firms...fighting for market share" in the wake of the economic meltdown. The HR department has already shrunk from 22 to 16 to 13 as the story begins in November 2009, and the CEO is pressuring Rosa to cut more. She's just had to fire her trusted right-hand man for embezzling, leaving her at age 64 without an obvious choice to groom for succession. Longtime training and recruiting director Rob Hirsch is blatantly burned-out, while hotshot Wharton MBA Kenny Verville is too busy looking for a better job at a bigger company to pay much attention to his current work. Rounding out the cast of principals are Communications/Policy VP Lucy Bender, gunning for a promotion, and Employee Benefits manager Leo Smalls, Rosa's principal confidant. These two cover for their boss after she has a minor stroke and, once back at work, her memory and behavior continue to deteriorate. Although Medoff frankly chronicles plenty of scheming and self-serving, Rosa's devotion to her staff is repaid with loyalty and affection that are all the more poignant coming from believably flawed characters. People get second chances here: Kenny buckles down at Ellery after blowing an outside prospect, and Rob finds that getting laid off is the kick in the pants he needs to revitalize himself. At the center stands Rosa, a tough corporate infighter who is also a mother hen; she's the most vivid figure, but everyone gets nicely textured treatment in an engrossing narrative that manages to encompass Lucy's therapy issues, Rob's devotion to his family, Leo's search for Mr. Right, and Kenny's troubled marriage while maintaining the main focus on their lives at work. An economical epilogue makes clever use of corporate organization charts to quickly trace the characters' odysseys after the story's bittersweet conclusion in August 2010. A sharp-eyed novel of corporate manners.

     COPYRIGHT(2017) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

4. • premium: True
   • source:
   • content:

     October 30, 2017
     Medoff (I Couldn’t Love You More) explores the effects of the 2008 economic downturn on a small staff of human resources managers at a research firm in this witty novel. At the twilight of a successful career, 64-year-old Rosa Guerrero, Ellery Consumer Research’s widowed HR chief, is losing her edge. She experienced a ministroke some years earlier and now has had a second; at work, she’s endured a major lieutenant’s embezzlement and company cutbacks. Rosa is tough but secretly a mother hen, so it’s sweet (but never saccharine, because of Medoff’s wry and ironic sensibility) when her most trusted staffers nurture and cover for her to keep her at the job that is her whole life. At least one of the four underlings whose stories are told along with Rosa’s has ulterior motives, but all will recognize their weaknesses and become more fulfilled by the end. The characters are well-drawn, though the author gets stuck in their personal tangents, which occasionally drags down the storytelling. Nevertheless, this is a sharp and moving novel.

5. • premium: True
   • source:
   • content:

     December 1, 2017
     Medoff (I Couldn't Love You More, 2012) takes on corporate dilemmas in her newest incisive novel. Following the economic downturn of 2008, the organization chart for the human-resources department of Ellery Consumer Research Group looks pretty tight. Rosalita Guerrero runs an efficient ship, as befits her decades in the business. Peter, Lucy, Leo, Rob, and Kenny take care of everything from operations to training, and it's a congenial, if not always supercharged, team. But as the recession worsens, Ellery demands cutbacks, and one by one Rosa's staff is either fired or catapulted into work overload. They need her guidance now more than ever, but Rosa suffers a debilitating stroke, inspiring the team to come together in a genuine life-or-death project. All the petty drama of office life is on display: who has Rosa's ear, who's out to stab someone in the back. Medoff's scenarios will be familiar to everyone employed everywhere, no matter the company size, and she cogently captures the angst and celebrates the camaraderie of coworkers committed to group success while struggling with personal demons.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

6. • premium: True
   • source:
   • content:

     November 15, 2017
     

     Rosalita Guerrero, chief of human resources, is the beating heart of Ellery Consumer Research Group. She has weathered market downturns before, but the latest round of layoffs pared her department to the bone. Though a widow and in her 60s, Rosa can't imagine not working: her people need her, and her to-do list is miles long. Chapters alternate among Rosa's key staffers, delving deep into their hopes and fears, their loneliness, their courage, and their loyalty to the woman who gave them their jobs. Handy organizational charts track staffing changes over time. Anyone who has worked in a modern office will relate to the sly jabs at corporate mores and business jargon. But this novel is more than an HR primer--it's a thoroughly satisfying character study and exploration of the social microcosm that is the modern workplace. VERDICT Medoff (I Couldn't Love You More) is a master of the small, telling detail that completely nails a person's psyche, delivering a cast of characters flawed yet struggling to redeem themselves. An ultimately hopeful, completely inventive tale. [See Prepub Alert, 7/9/17.]--Christine Perkins, Whatcom Cty. Lib. Syst., Bellingham, WA

     Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

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The acclaimed and deeply felt novel that illuminates the pivotal role of work in our lives. 

Rosa Guerrero beat the odds as she rose to the top of the corporate world. An attractive woman of a certain age, the longtime chief of human resources at Ellery Consumer Research is still a formidable presence, even if her most vital days are behind her. A leader who wields power with grace and discretion, she has earned the devotion and loyalty of her staff. No one admires Rosa more than her doting lieutenant Leo Smalls,...

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