Customer Reviews

The Bag Lady Papers: The Priceless Experience of Losing It All

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

The complete title of this book is "The Bag Lady Papers, the priceless experience of losing it all", but it is a misnomer. Alexandra Penney did not, by any stretch of the imagination, lose it all. She was never at risk of being a bag lady, not for one second. Yes, she lost all of her cash savings to "MF" (her acronym), but she still has an apartment in NY, owns homes on Long Island and in Florida, has a fine collection of Baccarat glasses, fine linens, expensive china (and who knows what else), some fine jewelry, an Hermes bag (do you know how much an Hermes bag costs? A good-sized house payment), ongoing royalites from previously published books, and obvious employablity. I found it hard to sympathize (or relate) to her struggle to polish her own fingernails, iron a blouse, give up ordering her favorite baked potatoes with white truffles, or let her maid go, you know - the necessities of life. She never did give up the maid. Nor did she give up buying tranquilizers, drinking wine, taking trips to Palm Beach, or seeing her hair stylist. (Yes, Alexandra, some people do successfully color their hair without it falling out.) She even takes up seeing a pricy psychiatrist to help her with her "bag lady syndrome." Oh, the suffering. Perhaps I'm unfair. I did try to realize that this world she describes so well is her reality. Everybodys reality is totally different and is the truth to them. But this is certainly not the norm for most Americans. The excessively detailed descriptions of "things" and the near total disregard for relationships or other qualities in life was stunning. The odd thing is I might have liked this book if it were a work of fiction. I liked Bonfire of the Vanities, perhaps based on real people, but still a work of fiction. But to read "The Bag Lady Papers" as a true story and feel compassion was exceedingly difficult. I do think Ms Penney has some fine writing skills; I would suggest she try writing fiction. Also, I expect this newly published book will received many more controversial reviews (this being only the third). I'd love to hear what others have to say.

I have to agree with the others: some really rich person loses some money and freaks out. She isn't worried about putting food on her table; she's worried about cutting her maid's hours back. Her son offers to let her stay in his "guest house"! How will she ever sell her extra house?
It's a "pity-me" book but the average reader isn't going to care. What, the average American family carries over 10K in credit card debt and is living paycheck-to-paycheck, and we're supposed to care about some excessively rich person who can no longer take numerous luxurious international trips every year? Most of us can't simply give up an well-paying job on a whim to spend more time being an artist.
In addition, the author is too vain or embarrassed or reserved to let us know facts that actually might lead to empathy. If her son left for college in '87, assume he's 17 at the time and she was 20 when she had him (a conservative estimate), she's probably around 60 or so when this happened. And she never tells the reader how much she lost.
Here's the book I wish had been written: average person works for Enron, puts all their money in Enron stock, struggles to keep a roof over their head. Or average person's spouse gets cancer, insurance won't cover much or they lose insurance because when you're sick you can't keep working with the only job that has insurance, and they struggle. Or something along those lines. "Nickel and Dimed" was infinitely better.
Reading a book about how the ultra-rich becomes a "PoRC" is boring. Because for her, being "person of reduced circumstances," she's still better off than the vast majority of her readers, or 99% of the people on the planet.

She also has this really boring part where she asked her friends to make lists of things money can and can't buy. While she could've incorporated these observations into her narrative in a meaningful way, she missed the boat by simply listing them out. The magazine editor needs to realize that this is book and not a one-page spread in a magazine.

This book was painful to read. I constantly wanted to put it down but thought it might get better - it didn't. The author wants us to feel sorry for her for losing her savings when she has a house in NYC, Florida, and Long Island as well as a car, a rarity in NYC, family and friends who constantly lavish her with gifts and free Four Seasons meals, as well as a constant stream of all her possessions- Louis Vuitton bags, Baccarat, Christian Louboutin shoes, jewelry, and on and on. It was so materialistic and petty that there is no way with someone who is not extremely wealthy and materialistic to sympathize with the author. Additionally, her writing style is disjointed and annoying. And she did lose her savings, she wont' say how much, but she did not become homeless or a bag lady. Poor Ms. Penney might have to quit getting the NY Times or cancel her home phone, both of which she kept when she cut out everything but "necessities."

After reading this book I felt as ripped off as she may have felt when Bernie Madoff scammed her. It is a book simply filled with fluff and no substance. The bottom line of her book and a more appropriate title would have been..."Keep Moving." That was her solution. I have little empathy for a person who is so self-centered, self-focused and void of character. There was absolutely nothing of value in this book.

A lukewarm tale consisting of many pages of "filler," lists of items the author can or cannot bear to live without. With good editing this might have been a good magazine article.

At first I was sympathetic with Penney when she received such harsh comments from readers of her blog on the DailyBeast. After finishing the book, I agreed with them. This woman was never in any fear of living on the streets. Talk about connections!? She had more than a Peruvian Coke Lord. She stays in Florida at a rich friend's house & gets an offer to be Editor of "Self" magazine?! She pitches a magazine story that she turns into a best selling book, that leads to another & another...?! Of course, all this happened BMF, but have all these connections dried up? What about her shrink that turned her on to MF? She spent thousands in therapy with him & he never called to make sure she was okay? No, she has to call him. Does he offer a hand? No. Sure, he has his own problems, but as a shrink, wouldn't he feel a bit responsible for getting her into this mess? I know I would. Then, there's the housekeeper. Why does she even need one? When she's in a funk, she scours her house operating room clean, unlike me who would never get dressed & watch tv & eat cheetos until I exploded if I was in Penney's loafers. No, this is a book of fantasy from a woman who is so unlike most of us. For example: eat an egg white omelette, followed by a piece of carrot cake? Why eat the disgusting egg whites to begin with? What did her anorexic friend say who only managed to choke down half her egg-white fare? Pretty cruel in my book. What if the friend had bought six Hermes bags while shopping with HER? That's a pretty apt simile'. Anyway, like me, get this book at the library, but don't buy it!

Alexandra Penney lost her life savings in the Bernard Madoff ponzi scheme. How much did she lose? Why do you want to know Penney asks? Umm, maybe because she is publically selling her story? Well, too bad because Penney can't give exact amounts (or even a ball park idea) because of "legal reasons." So have fun speculating on the enormity of her loss! And how old is Penney? Is she able to mitigate her losses as she has many years of career life ahead or is she in the retirement stage of life? Her age, Penney retorts, isn't any of your business either because "the surface facts of chronological age are meaningless . . . you are what age you think you are." Okay so forget about facts and indulge in vanity seems to be Penney's modus operandi.

So what exactly does Penney share in The Bag Lady Papers? Her fear of becoming a bag lady ala Park Avenue style. Apparently, in certain monetary circles, being a bag lady means selling the "cottages" in Florida and Long Island, contemplating releasing one's housekeeper (who will iron the white shirts, change the Frette sheets, and polish the wood floors to dark gleam?!), giving up premier cable and terminating the New York Times subscription. Thankfully, Penney gets by with a little help from her friends with the necessities in life such as highlights from Kyle the hair colorist; a lift on a private jet to warmer climes during the winter; gratis dinners featuring $200 bottles of Cristal; and new Brooks Brothers white shirts.

Penney has suffered a significant and unanticipated monetary loss at the hands of the greedy and unscrupulous investment guru Madoff. Moreover, the lost money was earned through years of hard work. For this Penney has my sincere sympathy. However, she is as close to becoming a bag lady as I am to winning the Powerball lottery (and I don't buy lotto tickets). Penney's whining of losing it all is disingenuous as she still has a fair amount of assets (the proceeds from the Florida "cottage," not to mention the luxury personal property including fine china, crystal, sterling silver crockery and Hermes handbags). While she may not be able to afford overseas travel and the rent on her SoHo art studio, she may develop an appreciation for the "simpler" things in life that satisfy most Americans.

The Bag Lady Papers is heavy on the histrionics and light on substance.





Publisher: Voice (February 16, 2010), 240 pages.
Review based on borrowed public library copy.

I could never imagine how frustrating it would be to lose all of what I worked for my entire life, but did the author of this book really 'lose it all'? Seems a bit more like creative marketing if you ask me. I couldn't get over the fact that there seemed to be a great deal of name dropping of expensive brands throughout the book, was this supposed to impress us lowly average joes? Also, I could not get over Penney's constant whining about being 'poor'. I'm not sure she would know what being poor meant if it walked up and slapped her in the face.

I am curious as to how she is still able to maintain her Manhattan apartment plus still keep her housekeeper and her art studio. If she were really hurting for money don't you think she would downsize and cut out the aforementioned unnecessary expenses? I also do not understand how and why she is not seeking employment if she 'lost it all' From what I read in the book, she seems to be pretty well connected, and as we all know, this world is all about who you know. Surely with her background and connections she could land a job. She isn't destitute and on the corner begging for change, she is far from that safely tucked away in her Manhattan apartment. I found it hard to relate to Penney and found her book to be much longer than it should have been. I say skip it, or at the very least rent it from your local library.

Unlike some others here, I'm sympathetic to the plight of someone who's worked hard her entire life, only to have her savings wiped out in an instant, at the point in her life when she's chosen to pursue her artistic dreams. I'm also fascinated by its potential as a story. Partly as schadenfreude, partly as inspiration, the story has huge potential. Yet, Penney is all too right when she says she's an artist, not a writer. Her recounting of her experience is strangely bloodless, filled with redundancies, freshman-English metaphors, and awkward, truncated phrasings. (Because of her magazine background, I expected a bit more.) The reminiscences are more vivid, but to me, they interfere with the comeback story. I had a hard time with this, although I suspect I would really like this woman if I met her. But, the book reads like a bunch of blog posts slapped together - which I suppose is exactly what it is.

P.S. Well, I may have written too soon. I completed this review before I finished the book, which is never a good idea. It does pick up, and I ultimately found it inspiring. And, I was perhaps too hard on the writing. The initial chapters are blog posts, but you can see the work of an editor (or just the luxury of revision) later on.

This woman has no idea what it is like to be a bag lady and broke...absolutely no idea nor will she ever have to experience it. I was so turned off by her story. I am glad I got this out of the library and did not have to pay for it. Sad that the town library wasted there money on it. I am sorry for the victims of Madoff even this woman but her story was just obnoxious.