The following version of this book was used to create the guide: Etter, Sarah Rose. Ripe. Scribner, 2023.

Sarah Rose Etter’s first person narrative, Ripe, follows the life of Cassie as she navigates the tech industry in San Francisco, copes with depression, and an unwanted pregnancy. At the outset of the novel, the narrator explains that she has lived in the Valley for a year. She moved there after accepting a job with VOYAGER, a data startup. Unlike the other employees, she is not a Believer. She does not thrive off of digital advancement and yoga. However, the job promised to pull her out of middle-class mediocrity and propel her toward capitalistic success. After a year in the west coast city, Cassie is unhappy and struggling to make it through her days without dissociating. She lives with a black hole that no one else can see, though it is ever present. It follows her to work and expands when she is alone. She uses screens and cocaine to dull its pull, but it continues to eclipse her emotions and thoughts. Toward the outset of the narrative, Cassie realizes that her period is late but comforts herself with the fact that the drugs, undereating, and stress could be contributing factors.

The narrator is seeing the chef. They meet when she is at a restaurant alone and he is in the kitchen. However, after several dates, he reveals that he has a girlfriend and is in an open relationship. He can continue to date Cassie as long as he does not fall in love with her. Cassie does not want any part of this arrangement, but she fears losing the chef altogether. She goes along with this facsimile of romance in order to assuage her loneliness. Her days blend into one another as she goes to work, shops at the discount grocery store, and attempts to ignore the draw of the black hole. Her days are more stressful at the office after Sasha fires the PR team for ignoring her and makes Cassie fill the position while hiring someone new. Cassie works tirelessly but Sasha and Corbett constantly chide her for falling behind and blame her for their shortcomings in the office. As the weeks progress, Cassie’s period is still late. She purchases a pregnancy test at the grocery store. At home, when the second line shows up, she is overwhelmed and numb. She snorts cocaine before scheduling an appointment with the clinic. When she arrives, protesters yell at her for betraying God and she pictures the plastic fetuses the nuns gave her in catechism class as a child.

Cassie contemplates telling the chef about the pregnancy when he comes over on Friday night. She imagines a future in which they raise their daughter together. However, she reminds herself that he cannot give her anything real and she straddles him instead of opening the conversation. The day Cassie goes to the clinic for the procedure, the city is locked down, though she is unsure if it is because of the virus or the wildfire smoke. She thinks of her mother’s abuse and her continued desire for motherly love. As she lies on the table, she tells herself that the doctor is going to let some air in. Afterward, she calls the chef to disrupt the silence. He talks about his girlfriend. When Cassie goes into work, she cannot perform her false self. She sits silently in the meeting before walking out. When she gets off the train, she calls her father. He reminds her that there is nothing for her at home and she should focus on her fancy new life. After they hang up, Cassie walks into the black hole.