Bad Agency: The Residue of Trauma

by Irina Ember

Ruby is her own worst enemy. Showing great empathy for others, the floundering real estate agent masks lingering childhood trauma with poor decisions, inappropriate sexual encounters, and doormat-like behaviors. And when she stands up for the office receptionist, she inadvertently triggers a backlash that sends her reeling… Desperate to undo the damage, Ruby struggles to understand why her choices always backfire. But when her interest in a handsome neighbor is rewarded first with love, then more abuse, the anxious survivor battles her instincts to believe this is just how things are. Will Ruby finally find the happiness she deserves? With an intimate look inside the pain of Complex PTSD, author Irina Ember paints a sympathetic and insightful portrait of a person unable to enforce boundaries. As the reader roots for Ruby to recognize and advocate for her own needs, they will come to a greater understanding of how the ghosts of the past are difficult to dispel. Bad Agency is a poignant literary novel. If you like real-world characters, emotional journeys, and the genuine challenge of self-healing, then you’ll adore this captivating drama.

Genres: Fiction

169 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 1, 2023

About the author

Irina Ember is a real estate agent within fifty miles of the San Francisco Bay Area. Bad Agency is her first novel.

Kirkus review below:

BAD AGENCY
THE RESIDUE OF TRAUMA
BY IRINA EMBER

A raw, revelatory novel about the ways trauma can shape a life.

In Ember’s debut novel, a real estate agent struggles to prevent her past from sabotaging her present.

Ruby lives under a cloud of anxiety and depression. A successful real estate agent in the Bay Area, she refuses to give in to self-pity, even when an irate stranger spits on her in the middle of traffic: “I have no right to complain about the pain inside my head, my body, my soul,” she claims. “So many people in this world have real suffering that is much worse than mine.” Ruby is haunted by the abuse she suffered at the hands of her mother and by a psychotic break she experienced decades ago. She struggles in her romantic life, as she has a tendency to prioritize the needs of the men she dates over her own. As she shepherds annoying and ungrateful clients through potential home purchases—often trying to ignore the addicted and mentally ill people who live on the streets right outside—Ruby fights to get a better hold on her personal and professional relationships. Ultimately, though, the relationship she most needs to figure out is the one she has with herself. The author’s prose captures Ruby’s sharp, obsessive inner monologue, as when she fantasizes about the new man in her life, a Burning Man fan in his 50s named Nate: “It was Sunday and I was scheduled to hold the open house for Ugly-Jacket Lady. I wished I could have stayed with Nate, maybe climbed onto the back of his scooter…I was still high from our encounter, and I couldn’t focus on anything, not that selling real estate requires more thought or consciousness than it takes to drool.” Ember highlights Ruby’s trauma a bit too emphatically—a more subtle introduction of the subject would likely have been more effective—but she effectively dramatizes Ruby’s pathology in a way that demonstrates the intractability of her pain. A short novel at less than 150 pages, this narrative offers a startling and often moving slice of contemporary life.

A raw, revelatory novel about the ways trauma can shape a life.


Review Posted Online: May 16, 2023

Reviews

[Sally C · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you like fantasy, YA, or romance, you will HATE this book. You have been warned.

[Elizabeth Tuttle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bad Agency is a story about navigating a toxic workplace with unsuccessful results, in which the author does well in showing how underlying trauma can haunt us well into adulthood.

Our protagonist with self-diagnosed C-PTSD continues to chase bad relationships, engage in self-harming behaviors, and grovel at employers who do not want to work with her. For someone who needs other people's approval and does not think highly of herself, she's very ready to defend herself in the face of confrontation.

For as much as this story accomplished (themes of trauma and the banality of late capitalism), I struggled to find some portions realistic. Our protagonist's manipulative best friend is supposedly 10 years her senior, but acts 10-20 years younger. The ending is stylistically cheesy in a way that disrupts the flow of the storytelling.

Overall Bad Agency is a potentially promising debut that fits in nicely among titles like Etter's "Ripe" and Butler's "The New Me." It's not quite for me, but readers of the traumatized-woman-navigates-complicated-work-life genre will appreciate it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Shitbird Books for an early digital copy!

[JL · Rating 1 out of 5]

#Goodreads giveaway

dnf

I try to finish each Giveaway book I receive, but this one wasn't for me. It didn't read like a novel. I felt almost as though I'd come across a stranger's journal in all the raw pain and confusion of an emotional crisis, invading her privacy, rather than reading fiction created after a writer had processed trauma and gained perspective.

I skimmed forward, looking for character development and growth, places where Ruby showed signs of strength, self-respect and self-awareness...and the beginnings of healthy coping skills, but to me, the story ended as raw & chaotic as it began. I didn't care to join Ruby in the depths of her abyss. I have abysses of my own and have worked long and hard to climb out of them.

I firmly believe in writing as therapy. I've done quite a bit myself, but consider the products not for publication. In this age of so-called "reality" TV, I'm sure there may be an audience for this book. But I am not among them.

[Abdul · Rating 5 out of 5]

How personal trauma shapes our lives

"Bad Agency" by Irina Ember is a drama and literary fiction about the chaotic life of Ruby, a real estate agent with a heart too big and a past too heavy.

This book offers a raw glimpse into how personal trauma shapes our decisions, relationships, and, ultimately, our lives with a dark humor touch.

However, be warned, this book holds a mirror up to the messy, complicated aspects of life, so If you're looking for a book that challenges the norm and enters into the darker side of the human psyche, "Bad Agency" is yours.

[Crystal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bad Agency

A middle-aged woman with unresolved trauma/PTSD is struggling through life. Underperforming at her job in real estate. Being friends with people that only use her. Sleeping with any man that is interested. Allowing people to use her. But on day she find a key to unlock her problems. In the end she finds ways to start turning things around for herself.

#GoodreadsGiveaways

[Molly Bethoney · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book shed some serious light on the effect PTSD has on an individual and their life, impacting decision making and impulses. This disorder is highlighted very well throughout the book and made me feel very sympathetic towards the main character. The book was a little bit unbelievable at times, with some of the characters being a bit childish. And the ending was a little silly and predictable.

[Marvin Mason · Rating 5 out of 5]

Powerful

For a first time writer, this is some incredible stuff. The duality of just one person trying to get her life on track but always stumbling out the gate was riveting. I have dropped plenty of books mid stream because they didn't do the one thing Author Ember did, make me care about that character and her journey.

[Nancy Graben · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a novel about a addict who sells real estate for a living. She is a fighter who struggles with relationships and her demons. Lots of poor choices are made.

[Claire Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is about how do you live in the world as a trauma survivor and how does it influence the choices you make in life

[Perry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a feel good type book and not what I was expecting but I'm open-minded and this strikes me as being very real, like this author is writing about what they truly know about

[Tiffany G · Rating 5 out of 5]

Transgressive fiction, which I like.

[Kenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

good read

The book was great and short. The characters were developed and the world that the author built was well done. The story was enjoyable and fleshed out. Great writing from the author.