O'Donoghue's beautifully paced and very clever debut is an acerbic story about finding office love in all the wrong places with some surprising gothic undertones and a satisfyingly bitter after-taste * inews, The 30 best books to take on holiday in summer 2018 * Catsoulis, Jeannette (December 24, 2020). " 'Promising Young Woman' Review: Courting Dangerous Liaisons (Published 2020)". The New York Times . Retrieved August 9, 2023. Deeply relatable and darkly comic . . . It'll have you nodding with familiarity, thinking, laughing - and crying - as you race towards the end' GRAZIA This is the cleverest, funniest and most assured debut novel I've ever read. Caroline O'Donoghue is enormously talented, but wears her talent lightly - this book is deceptively, seductively charming and easy, before it turns deliciously dark. It's bold, knowing and so smart - fans of Nancy Mitford or Jay McInerney will adore this, but O'Donoghue's voice is absolutely her own. - Daisy Buchanan, author of How to Be a Grown-Up Fennell created "mood boards" to illustrate to the crew how Cassie has wildly different facets of her personality. [18]

Rubin, Rebecca (October 9, 2020). " 'Promising Young Woman' Will be Released in Theaters in Time for Christmas". Variety. Archived from the original on November 20, 2020 . Retrieved October 9, 2020. In addition to her working life, Jane also runs an online agony aunt blog, where she anonymously dishes out life advice to those willing to listen. This is where she really thrives, although as is often the case, she is unable to take her own advice. There is context to this throughout the book: growing up with an absent father, Jane becomes the pillar of moral and emotional support for her mother until she later remarries. O’Donoghue does not let the absent father issues become a cliché, however, and her sharp language veers towards the satirical when Jane decides to unload her past onto Clem in what is deemed (at the time) a romantic moment. The entire book is written in an engaging and often satirical voice, which only occasionally suffers from over-explaining or repetition. The author uses Jane’s work life to draw attention to the guilt and exhaustion that women constantly feel. Her boss, meanwhile, is the kind of man who likes younger, skinny women, “women whose needs can be folded away into cupboards, like ironing boards”. O’Donoghue doesn’t let her own gender off the hook either. From friendships that sour because of promotion, to overemphasis on appearance, “that private, vain way that all women wish they were underweight”. a b Davis, Clayton (February 8, 2021). "Critics Choice Awards: 'Mank' Leads With 12 Nominations, Netflix Makes History With Four Best Picture Nominees". Variety. Archived from the original on February 8, 2021 . Retrieved February 11, 2021.Although there is a strong zeitgeist feel to the book – "nowadays, STDs are incredibly common, even a little glamorous" – the novel it most recalls is Irish author Rosita Sweetman's brilliant Fathers Come First, which was published in 1974. Both authors showcase the struggles of attractive young women trying to negotiate power dynamics with older, predatory men who ply them with booze and take advantage of their weaknesses, both mental and physical.

This year has truly brought to the fiction scene some of the most stunning and powerful female characters. From the extreme – such as My Absolute Darling’s Turtle Alveston – to the proudly millennial – such as Sally Rooney’s characters – there is now an abundance of female leads holding up a mirror to today’s society, reflecting many, often as of yet unarticulated observations and feelings. N'Duka, Amanda (April 2, 2019). " 'Hell on Wheels' Star Angela Zhou Joins 'Promising Young Woman'; Ron Funches Cast in 'Sylvie' ". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on November 29, 2020 . Retrieved April 2, 2019. Meanwhile her alter-ego, the online agony aunt Jolly Politely, has all the answers. She's provided thousands of strangers with insightful and occasionally cutting insights to contemporary life's most vexing questions. This starts off like a conventional young-woman-starts-affair-with-older-married-boss storyline but O’Donoghue is too canny a writer to merely re-tell an old, old story. Instead she allows things to become increasingly nasty and sinister – not in a twisty psycho-thriller-y way, but in a modern Gothic manner where some of the familiar tropes become almost allegories for gender, age, and sexual asymmetries. What begins as a kind of Bridget Jones for the C21st, ends up as something far cleverer with a politicised sense of the inequalities which underlie everyday life. Jane's plight as a woman on the edge nonetheless comes through. Promising Young Women is timely and vibrant, with O'Donoghue particularly sharp on gender relations. An excruciating scene with an older male doctor, who tells Jane to stop acting like a ladette instead of helping her, leaves her feeling understandably wretched. ‘Like ironing boards’

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Caroline O'Donoghue's witty, vibrant Promising Young Women, whose title neatly sums up the author as well as her work * Irish Times Best Debuts of 2018 * This debut shows that Caroline O'Donoghue is one of the brightest stars in the current galaxy of young Irish writers. Promising Young Women is funny, clever, upsetting, fierce and absolutely of its time. A future classic * Jane Casey * a b Anna Nicolaou (May 21, 2021). "Indie filmmakers see profit in straight-to-streaming releases". The Financial Times. New York . Retrieved February 21, 2023. Holmes, Linda (December 26, 2020). " 'Promising Young Woman' Is A Dark Comedy That Will Keep You On Your Toes". NPR. Archived from the original on January 31, 2021 . Retrieved January 31, 2021.

There was something about the story and its characters that reminded of Joyce Carol Oates ( Zombie, Solstice, A Fair Maiden, and Nemesis) in that Promising Young Women is brimming with an almost palatable darkness so much so that readers will find themselves overwhelmed by it. Promising Young Woman". Focus Features. Archived from the original on March 31, 2020 . Retrieved April 13, 2020. Promising Young Woman makes smart, devious use of Bo Burnham". Yahoo!. Archived from the original on April 3, 2021 . Retrieved March 27, 2021. A story that couldn't be more fitting for 2018, it'll have you nodding with familiarity, thinking, laughing - and crying - as you race towards the end * Grazia * O'Donoghue, Caroline (2022). The Gifts That Bind Us. National Geographic Books. ISBN 978-1-536-22222-7.

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Details of the affair are well observed and titillating, in a way that recalls Sally Rooney's Conversations with Friends. As they celebrate winning a pitch – with Clem giving Jane just the right amount of credit – she finds herself drawn towards him in a fittingly seedy scene in a basement bar: "He has spent so long almost-touching me – nudging me with pencils, or tapping me on the head with wads of paperwork – that feeling his actual skin on mine makes me catch my breath." The praise lavished on Jane for this pitch makes a later spurning of her ideas and intelligence all the more galling. By turns glossy and gritty ... If Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Nora Ephron or Lena Dunham appeal, there's much to like in O'Donoghue's promising debut * Irish Independent Books of the Year * A darkly funny novel with a gothic twist about surviving the workplace, modern feminism, and the power dynamics that come with relationships * Independent * Chang, Justin (December 23, 2020). "Review: Carey Mulligan holds the wild revenge-thriller provocations of 'Promising Young Woman' together". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on December 25, 2020 . Retrieved December 25, 2020.

I read this on the same plane journey that I read The Pisces and the two have sort of blurred in my head. Much like The Pisces, it’s not really a book I feel it’s my place to have major opinions on since it’s very #metoo adjacent and focused on womens’ experiences of toxic men. The author clearly has an original and engaging style, and the book is helped endlessly by the wit and humour in her writing. While at times Promising Young Women can feel like a writer finding their voice, this is part of the experimental energy of reading a debut author. From what we can see from this particular debut, O’Donoghue’s literary horizons are looking very promising indeed.Erbland, Kate (December 23, 2020). " 'Promising Young Woman': Emerald Fennell on Her Mission to Upend Moviegoers' Thirst for Violence". IndieWire . Retrieved April 3, 2021. T]he excess of uneaten cake was attracting rats, and when bodies started appearing — bloated and sugar-filled and, more than once, belly-up in the stairwell — they insisted we downsize.”