Book Review: When the Getting was Good, by Susan G. Bell

When the Getting Was Good, by Susan G. Bell

Paperback: 424 pages
Publisher: AuthorHouse (June 4, 2010)
ISBN-10: 9781449081225
Rating (1 to 5 *): *****




Book Review: When the Getting was Good, by Susan G. Bell

Kate Munro is the sole female trader at a prestigious New York bank, and when she completes a trade that nets a profit of millions of dollars, she gains a lot more attention from her peers on Wall Street than she ever intended. Her joy over her success is not long-lived. Morehead "Woody" Woodson, a powerful bond trader from another firm that she shut out in her infamous trade, has been hired as her boss. Kate has enough worries being a woman in a sexist industry, but now she's worried that the egotistical Woody will want to retaliate for the humiliation he faced at her hands. Woody immediately changes the whole atmosphere in the trading room, bullying traders and salesmen and turning people against each other. Things really get hot when Kate receives a tip that Woody's trading practices at the firm are under investigation—and her own job may be at stake.

Susan Bell's When the Getting was Good is a great story that calls into question just how much a job can take over your life—and how healthy that is. It's about thinking everything is falling apart around you, when really it's just clearing out so you can get some clarity and focus on the things that are truly important. It's also about relationships, and how those relationships are everything.

Don't let the little bit of pink on the cover fool you—this is not chick lit, although it certainly speaks to the plight of women in the workplace—particularly at that place and time, which although it has evolved since then, is still not the most welcoming to women. While it is a story people who have worked in the financial industry can appreciate, it's really a story many different people will enjoy.