Review: 'Whisper Network' by Chandler Baker
Pub. Date: 2/07/2019
Publisher: Sphere; Little, Brown Book Group
'Ms. Sandberg was right about something. We had to lean in. It was the only way to hear the whispers...'
Sloane, Ardie, Grace and Rosalita have worked in the same legal office for years. The sudden death of the firm's CEO means their boss, Ames, will likely take over the entire company. Each of the women has a different relationship with Ames, who has always been surrounded by whispers about how he treats women. Those whispers have been ignored, swept under the rug, hidden away by those in charge.
But the world has changed, and the women are watching this latest promotion for Ames differently.
This time, they've decided enough is enough.
Sloane and her colleagues' decision to take a stand sets in motion something catastrophic and unstoppable: lies will be uncovered, secrets will be exposed and not everyone will survive. All their lives - as women, colleagues, mothers, adversaries - will be changed for ever.
The workplace can be a horrible place. I have been quite fortunate in that I have had mostly great management and that I have had competent and good female managers to learn from. But still there are a lot of pressures in the workplace that have less to do with your job and more with the fact that you're a woman at work. In Whisper Network Baker focuses in on her own industry, law, and dissects its misogyny and sexism with razor-sharp precision. A few key moments stood out to me because they really resonated with how I have seen myself and other women act in the workplace. One was when she described Sloane picking up on Grace's way of altering herself before she spoke up in a meeting: the squaring of the shoulders, the lowering of the voice, the raising of the chin. I have done all of these and still do, in an unconscious effort to mimic what I think is the right attitude, the right way to claim the floor. It was just a small moment of recognition, but it connected me to Baker's perspective and meant I was pretty much ride-or-die for the upcoming twists and turns that were perhaps a little less recognizable. Due to its topic, a slight warning: Whisper Network deals with sexual assault and could be triggering.
Whisper Network starts with the death of a CEO, the first falling domino that sets everything else in motion. The nice thing about this set-up is that we've all been in situations where we understand things aren't good but we don't want to rock the boat. Once that first domino falls, however, we begin to see that the structures around us aren't half as stable as we had thought them to be. Now everything is in question and now things can only get worse. Sloane, Ardie and Grace are lawyers at Truviv and know too much to be happy with the likely choice for replacing the CEO. Whisper Network is about that knowledge, the hints we give each other, the silent way in which we warn, intercept, and rescue. It is also about the darker side of that, where this whispered knowledge is too late or too quiet to prevent damage. As these three women make their moves to bring what they know into the light, the stakes continue to rise and not just for them. Rosalita, a cleaner at the company, sees everything from the sidelines and her narrative forms a major counter-point to the occasionally very White Feminism of the other female characters. She isn't given as much time as the other characters, but this also means Baker manages to mostly avoid dropping from one trite pitfall into another when writing a Latina character. As they make their case, Baker also touches upon other concerns women face. A lot of attention is paid to motherhood, its trials and also its rewards. Marriage and the sharing of emotional labour is another. What Whisper Network builds up to is a tight legal thriller, with a heavy dose of Amy's angry monologue from Gone Girl. Parts of Whisper Network will outrage you, perhaps remind you of your own or friends' experiences. But it will also have you on the edge of your seat as you try to figure out what happened.
This was my first novel by Chandler Baker and I greatly enjoyed her writing. Whisper Network is tightly paced and gripping, at times touching and at other times shocking. It is very of its time, very resonant in its outcry against workplace sexism. Novels like this can age quickly as well, as the debate on gender, sexism and racism evolves quickly. I still thought there was much to gain from Whisper Network as well. I got solid Big Little Lies-vibes from Whisper Network at times, especially in the way Baker switches back and forth between present interviews by the police and lawyers in regards to a crime and past events and actions that led up to said crime. The back and forth meant that as the reader you're constantly connecting dots, questioning motives, and raising eyebrows at shenanigans. What perhaps most stuck with me was the first-person plural Baker used at the start of almost every chapter, explaining what is expected of us, what we, as women, are supposed to do and shoulder and present and demand. It is oddly empowering but sometimes also a little bit on the nose, a little too "Yes we can". Overall, however, I found Whisper Network to be an engaging and at times thought-provoking feminist thriller.
I give this novel...
4 Universes!
Although it took me a while to get around to reading Baker's novel, I greatly enjoyed it. It was perfect for a sunny day but it was also a great conversation starter with my housemates and friends. I'd heartily recommend it.
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