Book Review: "Charlotte Walsh Likes to Win" by Jo Piazza
“Charlotte Walsh Likes to Win” by Jo Piazza
Publisher Synopsis: Charlotte Walsh is running for Senate in the most important race in the country during a midterm election that will decide the balance of power in Congress. Still reeling from a presidential election that shocked and divided the country and inspired by the chance to make a difference, she’s left behind her high-powered job in Silicon Valley and returned, with her husband Max and their three young daughters, to her downtrodden Pennsylvania hometown to run in the Rust Belt state.
Once the campaign gets underway, Charlotte is blindsided by just how dirty her opponent is willing to fight, how harshly she is judged by the press and her peers, and how exhausting it becomes to navigate a marriage with an increasingly ambivalent and often resentful husband. When the opposition uncovers a secret that could threaten not just her campaign but everything Charlotte holds dear, she has to decide just how badly she wants to win and at what cost.
A searing, suspenseful story of political ambition, marriage, class, sexual politics, and infidelity, Charlotte Walsh Likes to Win is an insightful portrait of what it takes for a woman to run for national office in America today. In a dramatic political moment like no other with more women running for office than ever before, Jo Piazza’s novel is timely, engrossing, and perfect for readers on both sides of the aisle.
Rating (out of 5): 4
Review: This book explored many things I love thinking about: politics, feminism, female ambition, class—and I enjoyed it very much. I’ve read a few of Jo Piazza’s other books, and I have to say, I didn’t find them quite as thought-provoking as this one.
Set during the 2018 midterm elections, the book never explicitly mentions Donald Trump, but it’s understood that this is an actual post-2016 presidential election look at women in politics. Piazza creates a believable Senate candidate: small-town girl who made it big in Silicon Valley returns to her downtrodden hometown to run for office and give back to the community that raised her. However, the flip side is that Charlotte isn’t necessarily thrilled to be back in her hometown—she’s just super ambitious and sees political office as the next step after running a successful tech company and writing a bestselling book. (Yes, there are shades of Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg here.)
The book follows Charlotte and her family throughout the campaign, and, while it certainly demonstrates the grueling pace of political campaigns, the main thesis was the hypocrisy that still exists in American politics. (This is brand new information, I know.) The way Charlotte responds to controversies changes throughout the campaign, and she becomes a candidate she didn’t want to be: running negative ads in the last few weeks, changing her message depending on who she’s talking to. When the main controversy of the book is revealed, Charlotte has to decide whether to drop out of the race or make amendments in a way that will help her save face. It was both believable and frustrating as Charlotte increasingly finds herself siding with her wily campaign manager (who also provides some dark comic relief throughout).
Charlotte’s relationship with her husband also (of course) is put under a microscope throughout the campaign. Max is from the same town as Charlotte is, and she wound up becoming his boss at the tech company. In news articles about the family, Max is portrayed as less ambitious as Charlotte, which is certainly true, but he has trouble handling the coverage of him as a “stay-at-home dad” and their marriage becomes more than tense throughout. I don’t want to spoil anything, but the central conflict winds up affecting both the campaign and Charlotte’s marriage, and I think Max’s struggles were also quite realistically portrayed.
While it’s understood that Charlotte and her family are white, I appreciated that Piazza explicitly made Leila, Jo’s executive assistant and right-hand woman, a woman of color. Of course, Charlotte’s political opponent (an old white man) used that against her (this isn’t a spoiler), and the “controversy” begets even more conflict. (There’s a happy ending for Leila though!)
“Can women have it all” is an age-old, and frankly exhausting question. Of course we can’t. I don’t think anyone truly can. But this novel is a timely, modern take on the question. Although the protagonist is running for political office, and so many women ran for (and won!) seats in Congress in 2018, you don’t have to be running for office to identify with Charlotte’s ambition and desire to escape her small-town roots.
TL;DR: A timely take on the exhausting question, “can women have it all,” this novel is well-worth adding to your list if you’re interested in an exploration of feminism, ambition, and politics (and it’s still a fairly quick and easy read!).
If you like this, try:
FYI: When you click links in this post to purchase a product, SFOL might get a cut of your purchase - it doesn’t add anything to the price for you. We promise. Thanks in advance!
