Brooke has just started a new job, working for a retired billionaire as he looks to give away his vast fortune. She thinks this new role may be the purpose she has been looking for, a way to effect change, impress her mother and friends, and begin to feel like she can be successful on her own. As she works to find worthy causes and projects deserving of these life changing funds, she begins to think about the ways that money could better her life. New clothes, car service, a new apartment, all things that Brooke wants badly. She's not needy but she is just as deserving, right? As she works side by side with a man of incredible wealth, her role as his protégé takes on a new meaning as she starts to see herself wanting to be in the world that he inhabits.

The thing that I love most about Rumaan Alam's books is that he can explore issues of class, race, and privilege in the most intriguing ways, and "Entitlement" is another excellent example of this. This book takes our own preconceived notions of these issues and holds up a mirror to ourselves and our beliefs, especially about the ideas of need and philanthropy. Alam is never afraid to make the reader uncomfortable with his writing and there were quite a few sections that made me question my own understanding and biases about these topics. Who is deserving in this world? What is independence when strings are often attached? This sharp and biting novel will have you asking these questions and more.