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This was interesting because each writer had a different angle on the same broad topic: money. My complaint is that the writers have a bit too much in common for the perspectives to be as varied as the collection has the potential to be. Just the fact that they are all or almost all writers by trade means they have certain things in common, personality-wise & in how they make & view money. (Like, they tend to have unpredictable income, expensive urban lifestyles, etc) I got the definite sense th...
I requested this book from the library because I’m on the wait list for a book of short stories by Elissa Schappell that came highly recommended. Money Changes Everything is edited, not written by Schappell, which I failed to notice when I looked at the catalog record. Don't tell my librarian friends, okay?Each essay covers some aspect of money -- how much the writer has, how much they’ve spent, how little they had growing up -- you get the idea. Basically, money = problems. The better essays we...
I read these essays in fits and starts. (I am adapting to an upgrade in responsibility.) My opinion about money is: 1) it is an incredible tool and 2) it magnifies the truth of a person if they acquire much of it. Stay humble about blessed circumstances because none of us have immunity to unpleasant events. One lesson from hard times: it is hard to go to sleep on a hungry stomach.
This book really isn't about money, but more the "everything" that it references in the title. "Everything" encompassing social class, feelings, experiences, things that have to do with money but aren't really money and could be interesting or boring but end up just being there at the end. I guess it wasn't what I expected, but re-reading the title and emphasizing "everything" rather than "money", I can see how I may have been sold on a different perception of this book. But really, if you were
These essays provide a perspective of how money has affected circumstances of 22 writers lives. I felt the essays seemed to have a greater focus on inherited wealth (versus attained) and it was interesting how $$ impacted each writer's lifestyle. Considering I have always worked for the steady (and safe!) paycheck, these essays gave me a vicarious perspective.
Oh, the stories I could tell about my journey as a financially struggling author. I loved this book. It was so open and honest and true. Thanks Elissa and Jenny for compiling this excellent collection.
Most of these essays are excellent and I found the book thought provoking and useful. Four of the essays are terrible duds- two are offensive (racist/sexist and I cannot believe the editors approved them) and two are just terrible (Isabelle Rose and Jill McCorkle). Daniel Handler is the only rich writer who manages to be meaningful and insightful about wealth.
Offill and Shappell edited another book I started a few years ago, The Friend Who Got Away, a collection of stories by women who had "broken up" with a best friend and which I found too depressing to finish. Money Changes Everything, while definitely having its depressing moments, also has some wildly good ones too. Twenty-two writers talk about their material wealth (or lack thereof) and how they ended up there. From trust-funds to schooling paid with porn-writing to "the money train" arriving,...
Another anthology by the authors who wrote "The Friend who Got Away." Thought it was really cheap to have the husband and wife team each write an article, and not have them be located back to back. They were way too similar to belong in the same compilation. Most of the stories, however, were fairly riveting-although Daniel Handler's about the $1200 bottle of wine just came across as though he was pretensious and defensive, a bad combination.
Interesting essays about money--the book is refreshing because so few people talk openly and honestly about money. Unfortunately, the quality and interest level of the essays was too uneven to give this book more than 3 stars.
The quality of the essays in this collection is uneven. Some of them are great, and some of them were terrible. A good book for subway reading, although it did leave me feeling an acute sense of anxiety about my finances.
The book was certainly very culture-bound (lots of stories about new yorkers with more money than most people). But that said, I found the stories genuinely revealing and enjoyable.
Many of the essays strayed from the topic, but four were excellent:Nouveau Poor by Ruth KonigsbergSafe by Charles D'AmbrosioDesperate Creatures by Felicia SullivanPreexisting Condition by Jonathan Dee
The stories were insightful and many were entertaining. But I realize I'm much more interested in the fiction I've been reading. Right now, I'm reading Jenny Offil's newest book "Weather." She is the editor (along with Elissa Schappell of the essay collection "The Friend Who Got Away" as well. I think I liked that one a bit better. They have stayed with me longer. It might just be that reading so many essays in such proximity, I simply can't remember them. They're engaging while reading, but don...
I really liked most of these. Sometimes I have trouble rating collections, whether by one or several authors; invariably some stories are good and some are less good. So this time I made a point of rating each one of the 22 (true) stories here 1-5. The resulting average was 3.68, lower than I would have expected because overall, I would rate the collection at least 4, and probably 4.5 if we had half stars in this thing.Anyway, as long as I've already bothered to do them (and the WorldCat record
Essays of varying interest on money, by writers. A 9/11 widow ends up with millions sent to her by total strangers and struggles with how to use it. Indian women are bilked from their family's wealth by the men in the family. Daniel Handler spends thee $1200 he gets for his essay on a bottle of wine. Talking about one's own money is taboo, so it was interesting in a way to read many case studies of different people's situations.
I thought I was pretty well read but only recognized 2 of the authors who contributed essays. I can't articulate exactly what I was expecting from this book, but I didn't get it. Some stories were definitely better than others, but overall this book was just okay.
Hm. I guess I expected something else from this book -- I thought it'd be more about writers and how money affected their writing lives. While the writing quality was okay, it was difficult for me to get around my disappointment. Ah, well.
Uneven editing with only a couple of solid essays. Most stories fail to impact, or in some cases, to decide exactly they want to say.
Didn't seem to break many taboos, or much raise my interest either.