33 of 42 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
A quick and mildly entertaining read, March 2, 2005
This review is from: Save Karyn: One Shopaholic's Journey to Debt and Back (Paperback)
I read this book to gain insight into why Karyn Bosnak became such a phenomenon. It's difficult to understand why her "cyber begging" gathered so much international attention. What she did was unusual at the time, but certainly not unique. Her website was honest and marginally interesting, but hardly worth more than a casual perusal (to me, at least). She had no paid advertising, and by her account, even the free advertising she did (on Craigslist) was very brief, and only at the beginning. Yet *something* caused her to reach the "tipping point," after which the publicity became self-feeding. My conclusion: She experienced a series of fortuitous events (chatty people saw her initial ads, and the right people read what the chatty people said). To be fair, it was not entirely a matter of luck. She came up with an unusual idea and actually DID something about it. Then (and most critically) she had good follow-through (she immediately consented to radio interviews - lots of them, she answered her mail, etc.).
However, I was somewhat surprised to find that despite the enormous amount of international media coverage and millions of hits to her website, in the 20 weeks it took her to pay off her debt, she actually only received $13,328 in donations from 2,718 people. (After that she claims to have quit accepting donations.) A windfall of $13K is nothing to sneeze at, but it seems out of proportion to the enormous amount of attention she got. No doubt she has financially benefited far more from the *story* of her website (through this book, movie deal, and future deals) than she did from the website itself.
The book is actually not as bad as I expected. What it is:
* An interesting tale of "life in the big city" from the perspective of a professional, yet naïve Midwestern girl.
* Relatable for anyone who's ever been overworked in a job they weren't enthusiastic about.
* An honest account of foolish - yet common - overspending habits.
* Conversational and confessional.
* A mildly humorous look at urban single life.
* Inspirational to take charge and fix your life if it's not going the way you want.
What it's not:
* Great literature. Bosnak tells a good story, but she's not a great writer. And some of her naïveté, which I'm sure she thought would come across as charming, actually came across as rather ignorant and uneducated.
* A "how-to" book for people who want to duplicate her success. While she does tell how she made her website and her thought process behind it, this will not do you any good. She experienced a very unlikely turn of events any imitators would almost certainly not come across.
* A guide on how to get out of debt. There are much better books on the subject, and that is WAY beyond the scope of this book. Beyond a few simple recommendations (available on her website), most of her strategies for saving money (making a cup of coffee serve as both breakfast and lunch, for example) are ill-advised (and also available on her website as the "Daily Buck").
* A tale of redemption. Despite her claims to the contrary, I don't think Bosnak really grew much from the experience. She was scared for awhile and lived humbly for a few months, but then her experience was over. She did perhaps get her priorities a little straighter, but her observations about life remain shallow. She had a life-changing experience, but it doesn't seem to have actually changed *her* very much.
Overall, there is not much to recommend this book, but it is not totally without merit, and as long as your expectations are in line with what it actually contains, you won't be disappointed.
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12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
INTERNET PANHANDLING AS A WAY TO DEBT REDUCTION..., November 20, 2005
I was surprised to find that I enjoyed this funny, quirky book, in which the author recounts how, as a woman in her late twenties with a low six figure job as a television show producer, she still managed to accumulate twenty thousand dollars worth of credit card debt in about a year's time. She did so by charging expensive personal services and designer merchandise. While I thought the author a shallow and silly sort of woman, I have to give her credit for moxie.
When the author found herself suddenly unemployed and saddled with this large debt load, she did not decide to go the bankruptcy route. Instead, she showed ingenuity by creating an interactive website whereby people could send her money to help her get out of debt, if they wished. Her website kept the public posted as to her progress in terms of her debt reduction. Her debt was reduced through donations made by the general public, her sale of her personal belongings on eBay, and whatever money she was able to pay from whatever job she could land.
The author details how, when she moved from her native Chicago to New York City, she got in debt. I found her story to be funny, although the writing is prosaic and somewhat juvenile, at times. It is also hard to believe that these were the antics of a woman in her late twenties. She showed little judgment and virtually no introspection. Still, the author managed to get rid of her debt in a matter of months and land a book and movie deal to boot. So, she is not a total ditz. If one takes this book at face value, one will enjoy this easy, breezy little read.
As for those who stand in judgment of the author and her frivolous accumulation of debt, keep in mind that she paid every last penny of her debt. She just chose a somewhat novel and imaginative way in which to do so. I suspect that those who are most irked by her success and the way in which she got rid of her debt, are those who only wish that they had thought of it first.
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20 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Did Karyn Learn Anything?, September 15, 2003
This review is from: Save Karyn: One Shopaholic's Journey to Debt and Back (Paperback)
I liked this book in many ways. Karyn is an appealing person despite her shops-till-she-drops habit. And in many ways her single in the city tale is far more realistic and interesting than a lot of the chic lit out there. Her issues with work (too much of it), boys (inattentive, potentially gay, etc.) and over-spending (and HOW) ring true.
However, it does ultimately have flaws in two areas.
Firs, while Karyn created a web phenomenon and led an interesting life, she isn't much of a writer. Lots of "anywhos" and shifting between past and present within the same paragraph. Some stories (the rodent in her bathroom, her dating a guy named Brad) are funny; other seem self-indulgent. To some extent, this is mimics her website, so maybe this is okay. But she seems like a smarter person than this, so I kept wondering if this book would've been better with a ghost writer.
Also, while she ingeniously pulled herself out of debt, Karyn doesn't seem to have analyzed what happened very much, or to have learned from it. I was expecting more insight into why she thought she over spent like that, and how her life was different now that she is out of debt.
I don't begrudge Karyn asking strangers for money-it's a great idea in its way-but she seems more interested in having her story made into a movie than in figuring out how to move on and live life without charging $600 coats and hundreds of dollars worth of cosmetics.
That story would've been more interesting, and I wish she had filled us in! How DO you change from a shopaholic to a frugal gal?
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