All My Life for Sale [Hardcover]

John Freyer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 9, 2002

The classic American passion for the road meets the current obsession with internet consumption in one of the most original illustrated books to come along in years.

One day, John Freyer decided to sell everything he owned on the internet. He invited his friends over to tag all the possessions in his apartment, and he systematically put them up for sale on eBay. An unopened box of taco shells, half a bottle of mouthwash, almost all of his clothes, his favorite records, his sideburns (in a plastic bag), his family's Christmas presents (not yet given), furniture: John didn't let sentiment or utility stand in his way. Soon his belongings were sold all over the world, with a bag of Porky's BBQ Pork Skins making its way to Japan, and a chair ending up in the Museum of Modern Art. With almost all the objects in his life now gone, he started the second phase of his journey: to go visit his one-time possessions in their new surroundings.

All My Life for Sale is an extraordinary book that functions as an autobiography, a travel narrative, and a meditation on what the objects we surround ourselves with actually mean to us and what happens when we set them free. Designed by the author himself, it is visually striking, surprisingly moving, and will change the way you look at the things that surround you.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

All right, 'fess up: at some point you've been in the apartment of a hipster friend and looked long and covetously at his or her collection of vintage View-Masters or '50s kitsch ashtrays. But then, why would anyone collect such cool knickknacks if not to impress their friends? Filmmaker John D. Freyer knows this feeling well, and from this impulse he's written a fascinating autobiography, charting his own story and a web of relationships with like-minded eccentrics via the cataloging in words and pictures of all the odd but neat stuff he spent twenty-something years accumulating.

As Freyer was preparing to leave graduate school in Iowa City to return to a typically small New York apartment, he decided to sell all his worldly possessions through eBay and his own Web site, allmylifeforsale.com. People bought his used socks, a can of Chunky Soup from his pantry, his Planet of the Apes LP, and a bag of small, roasted cuttlefish. The things Freyer sold would be junk to most, but they were treasures to him and his pals--a generation searching for a unique identity in an increasingly mass-produced, cookie-cutter age. Discovering how he came to own these things and who took them off his hands makes for a surprisingly intriguing and funny read in this beautifully designed and fabulously illustrated tome. --Jim DeRogatis

From Publishers Weekly

When Gen-Xer Freyer decided he owned too much stuff, he invited friends over to tag anything they thought was "representative of his life in Iowa City" to be auctioned on eBay. He sold over 600 items and made several thousand dollars on the project, but one can't help thinking he had this book, which features pictures and descriptions of the objects, plus updates on where they landed, in mind from the get-go. The volume is a great conversation piece, or at least a compelling record of what alterna-kids thought was cool in the late 20th century, and Freyer's descriptions are quirky and faux-philosophical. Highlights include a box of Girl Scout cookies sold to someone in Mumbles, Swansea, U.K., Mexican chewing gum that went from Freyer's "weird food item" drawer to a wall display in Mitcham Junction, England, and Freyer's sideburns, which the new owner tried to donate to the Pittsburgh Museum of Art. Freyer's place in the world reveals itself through such amusing vignettes: there was the half-bottle of mouthwash no one bid on "no matter how many times I listed the item," and the annoyance of a friend when he sold her dad's ski hat. Items' new lives are priceless: a woman from Dallas, Texas, buys a white toy Cadillac and sends Freyer a still from the Zapruder film of the Kennedy assassination that has the car superimposed in, while someone from the New York Times buys a Freyer shirt and then includes the sale in a book he writes about eBay. Of the latter, Freyer wonders, "Could my shirt be considered a legitimate business expense on his taxes?" Color photographs throughout.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Bloomsbury USA; 1 edition (November 9, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1582342512
• ISBN-13: 978-1582342511
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 7.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #792,896 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars most entertaining of the genre...., October 28, 2002

By 

M. Stevens-Becksvoort "challenged1" (Maine) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: All My Life for Sale (Hardcover)

eh? I was immediately attracted to the cover of this book. I know, you can't judge a book by its, etc. Well, let me tell you John Freyer had more stuff than my two slighty-past-teenagers combined. He had stuff you thought you threw away, he had stuff you saw last week at a yard sale, he had stuff you saw at an antiques store. The photos, writing and results are entertaining and indicative of the "one man's trash" theory of stuff in general. I was struck by the kindred spirits John encountered as he made his odyssey to visit his former stuff; all in all, entertaining, thought provoking, and certainly worth a conversation or two. Made me wonder, "what if everyone sold all their stuff at the same time.....?" Picture the postal deliveries, and the friendliness which stuff-swapping could engender. I would have given this 5 stars, really consider it 4.75 rather than 4. Add this book to your stuff.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A new kind of memoir, November 23, 2002

By 

Tacky Julie - See all my reviews

This review is from: All My Life for Sale (Hardcover)

I was a participant in John's effort to sell everything he owned (I bought his Jesus night night). Before the book came out, it was hard to see where he was going with this project. But due to my own fascination with other people's possessions (thrift stores, flea markets, etc.), I wanted to see where he would take this. The book is the culmination of a mental, spiritual, and actual road trip to follow the paths his possessions took. It seems to me that, yes, his former possessions do reveal what kind of person he is, but he does not need to own these things to be who he is. This is a memoir formed by a mosaic of these possessions, and what he says about each one. He links each object to a friend, or a member of his family, or a personal experience. It's funny, insightful, and at times poignant. There is an evolution in John's thinking about his project that is evident as he begins to sell things with a more personal meaning. The book is also influenced by the events of September 11, 2001, on which day he was leaving New York to visit more of his stuff. This is a book that began as a web site, and made a successful transition to print, which is a growing trend. So much for the death of the book by Internet!

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Makes you want to sell stuff!, October 21, 2003

By 

Lisa Johannes (Carrollton, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: All My Life for Sale (Hardcover)

John Freyer realized that when he first arrived in Ohio, all he had were the objects in the trunk of his car. He has accumulated much stuff since living there, and now that he's thinking of leaving and heading back to New York City, he wants to reduce his belongings to practically nothing.

From this notion was born the allmylifeforsale plan. John invited over some friends to help him tag his belongings, and then he slowly but systematically sold them on eBay.

All My Life for Sale is the true story of Freyer's quest to get back to the basics. He is quirky and honest in his writing, and the pictures of objects, how he sold each one, and who bought it are eccentrically wonderful. There's a certain inspiration one feels after reading this book-a yearning to put belongings in proper perspective.

The style of the book allows the reader to choose whether to read it cover to cover or to skip around the book. The introduction and conclusion are must-reads, however, since they offer insight into how the project got started and how it ended.