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Careless People: The Mark Zuckerberg Story

 In some ways, this memoir features an unreliable narrator. Whenever a speaker is unerringly virtuous, and surrounded by fools, you have to feel suspicious. A skeptic may read this book and ask a question: "If Sarah Wynn-Williams finds Zuckerberg so repellent, why does she remain with the company for years, and years, and years?" (It's a question that SWW doesn't really answer.)


A pivotal scene features SWW in a game of Settlers of Catan. Gradually, SWW realizes that her colleagues are deliberately modifying their strategies so that Mark Zuckerberg will win. SWW (heroically!) launches a protest. Everyone denies that she sees what she is seeing, and Zuckerberg, apparently one of the smarter people on the planet, seems startled and dismissive toward SWW. This is a "set piece moment"; it's like Sigrid Nunez attending an awkward dinner with Susan Sontag in "Sempre Susan." But does it pass the "smell" test? Does SWW's inability to doubt herself actually contribute to the sense that you're reading a dubious narrative? Where are the receipts?

That said, SWW has talent. A generally effective anecdote is one that follows this format: "I was dropped into an impossible situation and did not know how to cope, and so I made an ass of myself." This happens again and again with SWW. She cannot limit the tyrannical demands of Sheryl Sandberg (who reminds me of Eva Peron)--so she, SWW, drafts an email to Sandberg while literally giving birth to her (SWW's) infant. In a foreign country, SWW is desperate to acquire functional milk-pumping equipment; she goes to the front desk and tries to bridge a cultural gap. She begins fake-massaging her own swollen breasts and rolling her eyes in agony. The receptionist misunderstands--and responds by sending a male prostitute to SWW's room. Finally, SWW sits in mute astonishment as Mark Zuckerberg describes his own impending fatherhood. "I might not be at the hospital, because something more important might come up." (SWW admires Mrs. Zuckerberg's shrewd management of this particular situation: "Honey, it's fine with me if you're not at the birth, but *you yourself* might regret the choice at some later date....")

It's so easy to feel powerless in America right now. If you buy "Careless People," you can take satisfaction in knowing that the book's success is an irritant for Mark Zuckerberg. Life is sometimes just about the little things....
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