Private Equity

A Memoir

By: Carrie Sun

Narrated by: Carrie Sun

Length: 8 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's summary

Named a most-anticipated book of 2024 by NPR.org, Oprah Daily, Town & Country, The Millions, Financial Times, and more.

“Sun writes clearly about the demands and privileges of the job, though this isn’t a tell-all about abuses in the industry, rather a more probing inquiry into what we deem success and the values underpinning it.” —Vogue, Best Books of 2024 So Far

A gripping memoir of one woman’s self-discovery inside a top Wall Street firm, and an urgent indictment of privilege, extreme wealth, and work culture

When we meet Carrie Sun, she can’t shake the feeling that she’s wasting her life. The daughter of Chinese immigrants, Carrie excelled in school, graduated early from MIT, and climbed the corporate ladder, all in pursuit of the American dream. But at twenty-nine, she’s left her analyst job, dropped out of an MBA program, and is trapped in an unhappy engagement. So when she gets the rare opportunity to work at one of the most prestigious hedge funds in the world, she knows she can’t say no. Fourteen interviews later, she’s in.

Carrie is the sole assistant to the firm’s billionaire founder. She manages his work life, becoming the right hand to an investor who can move mountains and markets with a single phone call. Eager to impress, she dives headfirst into the firm’s culture, which values return on time above all else. A luxury-laden world opens up for her, and Carrie learns that money can solve nearly everything.

Playing the game at the highest levels, amid the ultimate winners in our winner-take-all economy, Carrie soon finds her identity swallowed whole by work. With her physical and mental health deteriorating, she begins to rethink what it actually means to waste one’s life. A searing examination of our relationship to work, Carrie’s story illuminates the struggle for balance in a world of extremes: efficiency and excess, status and aspiration, power and fortune. Private Equity is a universal tale of self-invention from a dazzling new voice, daring to ask what we’re willing to sacrifice to get to the top—and what it might take to break free and leave it all behind.

©2024 Carrie Sun (P)2024 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“[Sun’s] awakening feels hard-won, and she captures the hollow cultishness that crept over white-collar New York in the Obama years, when Gordon Gekko types started going to SoulCycle. Indeed, the same qualities that nearly reduced her to an automaton have made her an astute, punctilious narrator.” —Harper’s Magazine

“Piercing and propulsive. Carrie Sun’s examinations of this most rarified stratum are nuanced and poignant. Private Equity is a young woman’s reckoning, set at the summit of money and power that asks the most universal of questions: how much of ourselves do we owe our family and work and how do we find the courage to make our days our own?” —Stephanie Danler, New York Times bestselling author of Sweetbitter

“This debut memoir from Carrie Sun is bound to fascinate and terrify titans of finance in equal measure. That's because Sun writes of her own experience as the right hand to a billionaire banker, and shares incredible insights from the world that he inhabited, and in which she herself got lost. It's an observant, fascinating look at a rarefied space of power and privilege that's rarely on public view, and an unparalleled peek inside a system that shapes us all, whether we know it or not.” —Town & Country, Must-Read Books of Winter 2024

“A riveting, thoughtful memoir delving into questions around the psychological and physical cost of burnout and coming of age in the workplace. [Private Equity] surfaces deeper questions around what it means to be successful in America—and whether it’s actually worth it.” —Fortune

Look Into The inside

I liked how she made it interesting so that I would look deeper into the financial world. Also how she discovered why her attitude was the way that it was based on childhood upbringing and expediences.

Her tone was flat which does match how she described herself but may be if other people read for the other characters it would have been better.

Great story albeit don't agree with the politics

I have spent 15-20 years at a hedge fund and loved all the anecdotes in this story. As such, I do think billionaires, including Chase/Boone, do often serve a valid purpose of efficient capital allocation which improves GDP and innovation, thus contributing substantially to society through their "invisible hand." This aspect of fund management/billionaire-ism was not explored, despite many stanzas questioning if billionaires "can" be good, if they are societally necessary, etc. That said, the author "came to play" and shared ultra-raw and intense chunks of her life both during and before working at the hedge fund. That's incredibly rare in a memoir these days, especially by someone in a semi-"notable" position writing about notable people and institutions. As such, the book really has to earn an A+ despite my lack of political alignment with the author.

This reads more like a novel than a memoir.

This reads more like a novel than a memoir. Whats most enjoyable, is it is presented in a way for the reader to make their own view of the events, and come to their own enlightenment on how they feel about it. Is it really worth it to make large amounts of money at being the whim or cog for a billionaire? Each individual will answer this question differently and theres no right or wrong answer. But i think this book also answers the after: though Carrie has left, she has now written something of beauty. And thus life can, and has continued on.

A rare view into the word of private equities told through a remarkable woman’s career and personal journey

Private Equity is a page-turning account of a young woman’s journey working at one of the world’s most prestigious financial firms. It highlights the complex dynamics of power and money in modern society across gender, race, culture, and value systems.

Sun’s book is a rare view into the private world of alternative assets. It’s a must read for professionals looking to understand career, identity, and the nuance of defining one’s own measure of success.

Ultimately I found it to be a beautiful and empowering story of what it means to find freedom.

impossible to believe characters

Maybe there's a world where people like this exist but only in books. Boone come off as an Insensitive, heartless, unemotional, machine; totally unbelievable, as are most of the obsessed, devotees who surround him.

This book made be very uncomfortable.

There was a good balance of personal experiences and business dealings

Excellent narration that helped me understand the Carrie. I’m glad she made positive points about her parents who meant well but hurt her.

Promising Writer

Private equity provides an insider’s view of the people behind the scenes. Basically a portrait of the servants of the masters of the universe. It also gives an interesting insight into a woman’s struggle with imposters syndrome.

Honest great insight into the financial industry.

I appreciated the depth and engaging storytelling of the book, though I found that at times, the narrative seemed overshadowed by what felt like complaints from a position of privilege. It made me wonder about the relatability of the protagonist’s journey, considering many people remain in less-than-ideal jobs out of necessity, gradually shaping them into their dream roles. This raised a question for me: if faced with no other choice, could the protagonist have done the same?

Topic

Liked the performance very much. Topic was interesting. Liked the pacing. Liked the word usage.

Interesting behind the scenes look at PE

The performance was dry but forgivable as the author is not an actor. It was a quick, engaging read. Falling into cliches sometimes. Sort of Devil Wears Prada meets high finance.