Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)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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