Helen Wan’s 2013 debut The Partner Track is a clever novel that follows protagonist Ingrid Yung as she navigates love and work. It unmasks the true nature and inside workings of powerful law firms, and one woman’s willingness to rise to the top.
First published in 2013, the book was critically acclaimed with the New York Times bestseller writer Susan Cain calling it ‘A sparklingly readable look at the inner workings of a Wall Street law firm – from the vantage point of a brainy, beautiful and self-doubting Asian-American associate’ while The Wall Street Journal dubbed it as ‘Engaging and suspenseful’. The Partner Track was optioned and produced as a Netflix series in 2022, enjoying 16.7 million viewers in its opening weekend. It made the Top 10 for Netflix’s Weekly English Language Series in 58 countries, peaking at No.4.
The Partner Track invites the reader to see how a young Chinese-American woman deals with an old-boy culture at a prestigious law firm Parsons Valentine & Hunt. From the outset, Helen Wan is intent on making unpredictability a central theme as Ingrid is constantly tasked with succeeding in an environment that seeks to sabotage her at every turn. Ingrid’s goal of achieving ‘partner’ from her current position of ‘associate’ consumes her. She questions whether her Chinese American background is being diluted by the culture of the company. This coupled with pressure from her parents to prioritise her personal ‘status’ – to settle down, find a husband over the job, unveils the tough balancing act women in the workplace face: sacrifice their career goals or be seen as ‘worthy’ by their family and peers.
I was impressed by the fact that Wan presents Ingrid as ethically uncompromised, hard-working, and staunch in her values in the face of this adversity. In particular, the way her protagonist flies in the face of corporate America by starting up her own firm – thus asserting her agency and autonomy, and reigniting her passion for the law. The defining moment in the narrative is when Ingrid is closing the ‘SunCorp’ deal only to find it tampered. Her enormous effort goes unappreciated by her superior. This heartbreaking scene left its mark on me. At the start of my second year at university, the volume of assignments increased with word counts which seemed insurmountable. With this, came an abundance of research and reading into them which overwhelmed me. But Ingrid’s boundless energy and effort to close the deal and powering through resonated with me and brought a sense of calm to the whole ordeal, allowing me to submit them before the deadline.
The Partner Track is a timeless narrative that I urge anyone to read or delve into on Netflix.
Preetum Shah is an English student, in his second year of his Undergraduate degree at the University of Leicester. He is currently reading the book White Teeth by Zadie Smith.
