Suzanne Park deftly (and unabashedly) tackles workplace inequality, harassment, and toxicity in the gaming community in her debut romance, Loathe at First Sight, as seen through the eyes of Melody Joo, an up-and-coming production assistant at Seventeen Studios.
Intent on entering a predominantly male field and making a name for herself, Melody immerses herself in a world built on misogyny, as seen in the scantily clad women that adorn Seventeen Studios’ games (and by extension, the office environment, in the form of overly sexualized cardboard cutouts and figurines). From scathing assumptions about her ability, to offhanded comments about her motivation to work in gaming, Melody faces backlash from almost every co-worker, including CEO, Ian MacKenzie, her patience persevering in the face of setback after setback, sexual harassment a backdrop to her role, her employment a “necessity” to improve workplace “diversity.”
From sexual harassment training to awkward, hurtful diversity meetings, Park explores the difficulties that women (especially POC) face in the workplace, laying out conflicts with incredible care without sparing the harsh details. While Melody’s hard-working and stubborn personality allow her to succeed even when she is set up for failure, the difficulties that she faces are disgustingly true to life for all women in gaming from online trolling and doxxing to comments and emails spewing hatred and death threats, not to mention swatting, stalking, and unrelenting innuendo.
When Melody and Kat, a woman on the design team, brainstorm on a concept that places women in power in a survival shooter that sexualizes men as a joke, a flustered MacKenzie scoffs at the idea – only to pitch it to a demanding board of directors when pressed to produce results for further investment. With Seventeen Studio’s outside funding on the line, MacKenzie places Melody in charge, giving her a six-month deadline to produce the mobile game, Ultimate Apocalypse.
With a team composed of a frat boy bro type named Asher, a rival in the form of the CEO’s intern nephew, Nolan, and a companion in Kat, along with a small handful of overflow employees, Melody is already crunched for time, placed in charge of production, marketing and development. To say she is overworked and overwhelmed is an understatement, as MacKenzie bombards her with questions, meetings and demands with little to no notice alongside budget cuts, impromptu team changes, and ridiculous deadlines. The hectic work environment is nothing new, either; Park’s done immaculate research on crunch time, conventions and new release hype, making for an immersive, if brutally honest, look at the video game industry: highs, lows and everything in between.
I feel a lot of pressure at work. If I’m too tough on the team when they mess up, they call me a bossy bitch. When I go easy on them, they take advantage of me. Working late means I have no life, even though the guys here do the same thing and no one makes fun of them. Can’t people just treat me the same as everyone else?
– excerpt from Suzanne Park’s Loathe at First Sight
While Park sheds light on toxic masculinity in the workplace and champions female empowerment through a strong-willed female lead in Melody, the brash producer a force to look up to, there are gaps in her character, including her motivation for working within industry. Melody does not seem to enter the industry because she is passionate about gaming (and, in fact, looks down on some of her co-workers for filling their cubicles with game merch), which makes the reader wonder why a production gig is her “dream job.” Industry work appears to be something to cross off her bucket list, a job taken because it would be “cool” rather than the right move for her. Early marketing for Loathe at First Sight led me to believe that Melody was passionate about video games and the industry surrounding them, which made her disinterest somewhat of a disappointment. While interest is not entirely necessary to work in the industry, the disconnect between her motivation and reality did not sit right with me given the fact that the role at Seventeen Studios was considered to be a dream job.
The company offered decent pay, and trying out a new career path in video games was on my professional bucket list. And to be honest, my ten-year high school reunion would be here before I knew it and I wanted to impress everyone.
– excerpt from Suzanne Park’s Loathe at First Sight
Pair the discrepancy of Melody’s past with her relationship with Nolan and more complications ensue, beginning with the title of the novel, Loathe at First Sight, which suggests an enemies-to-lovers romance when paired with the official synopsis. Though Nolan and Melody start out on rocky territory – cubicle swaps, mug mishaps, and management proving to be tricky obstacles on the path toward friendship, the duo aren’t truly enemies, but rather, co-workers pitted against one another by a common enemy in Ian MacKenzie. Miscommunication and anger at the industry aside, the duo get along well when they move past preconceived notions about one another, their interactions positively charming as they flirt around with the idea of an office romance.
Hyper fast pacing and a multitude of plot lines converge, Melody’s life packed full of obligations – that of a devoted daughter, maid of honor, best friend, and intermittent production lead – in a way that feels both frustrating and familiar to the overworked and underpaid, but that makes for a somewhat messy story line. With too many threads to follow and not enough time to develop a true romance, Loathe at First Sight feels more like women’s fiction, the sole focus of the narrative on Melody’s character arc in a world determined to bring her down. In that regard, Park succeeds, penning a critical debut that sheds light on an industry in dire need of change, Melody a beacon of hope.
While Melody’s backstory leaves something to be desired, Suzanne Park provides excellent commentary on workplace harassment in the game industry alongside a charming romantic sub-plot in Loathe at First Sight.
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