Book Review: "Working Girls" by Trixie Mattel and Katya Zamolodchikova

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Cover of "Working Girls" by Trixie Mattel and Katya Zamolodchikova
4/5 stars

*Spoiler alert!*

“The only way we are able to endure pain is by holding on to the knowledge that it will someday end.” 

Working Girls is both a satirical and earnest take on the self-help genre, focusing on careers and the workplace, by my favorite drag queens, Trixie Mattel, and Katya Zamolodchikova. It focuses on the job search, how to navigate the workplace when hired, and when to know when to call it quits. There are also personal anecdotes from the queens themselves about the jobs they held before becoming famous on RuPaul’s Drag Race. 


Katya:

GIF of Katya on "RuPaul's Drag Race"

Trixie:

GIF of Trixie on "RuPaul's Drag Race"


One of my favorite sections covered office email language. I found the translations for various things said in a professional email, like “let’s circle back” and, my favorite, “noted.” It is like the Anger Translator from Saturday Night Live but applied to the absolutely maddening exercise workplace emails can be. Not to mention Teams chats and the universal frustration that ensues when Teams needs to load immediately upon your login and slow everything else down. (I am not salty. Nope.) 


GIF: "The American people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn emails!"

“Noted - I hate you but I have to listen to you or at least make you feel like I listened to you.” 

Then they throw in these sobering insights about capitalism and the plight of workers, just to keep the reader on their toes. There are a few nuggets like this that are almost drowned out by the hilarity of their career advice, but it just goes to show the wittiness these two possess.


GIF: "Jurassic Park" meme of "millenials & Gen X" trying to hold off the velociraptors of "Healthcare", "Housing," and "Gas Prices"
“There is no ethical consumption under capitalism.” 

Overall, this book was well put together and the amazing photography bracketing each section showed both queens’ range in terms of costumes and outfits while making me cackle every time. One of my only complaints is that I wish there were more joint chapters featuring both Trixie’s and Katya’s perspectives on certain topics. But honestly, it is more of a nit-pick on my part. 


While I usually recommend books by saying a general audience would enjoy this, I would caveat that in the case of Working Girls. If you are not familiar with Trixie and Katya and their work, such as their awesome YouTube show, Unhhhh, this may not be the read for you. Their sense of humor is best understood by binging of Unhhhh first before diving into their books.


GIF: Trixie and Katya on "Unhhh": "Oh honey"


Happy reading! 


--BookOwl 

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