A provocative guide that could embolden those with substantial debt to pursue evasive action; some consumers may not be...
An audacious playbook focuses on absolving one’s debts.
This instructional book by Newbery (Burn Zones: Playing Life’s Bad Hands, 2015), who wangled his way out of $26 million of debt, could be a panacea for the millions of Americans owing large sums of money. The author’s “debt cleanse” plan is described in considerable detail, both as it pertains to overall strategy and to specific forms of obligations. At the heart of the proposal is a notion some consumers may find unsettling: Newbery recommends, rather bluntly, to “stop paying every debt you have.” He couples this with additional advice that could be regarded as surprising, if not financially controversial: Move assets out of one’s name, “ignore creditors,” dispute debts “even if you owe them,” and “welcome lawsuits.” The author applies this basic methodology to the most common forms of debt consumers face, devoting a chapter each to mortgages, vehicle loans, student loans, business loans, secured personal loans, credit cards and unsecured personal loans, medical bills, payday loans, and collection accounts. Every chapter is written in perky, consumer-friendly language, detailing a step-by-step approach to either settling a debt “for pennies on the dollar” or not resolving it at all. The 25 steps in the chapter on vehicle loans, for example, are characterized as “Mile One,” “Mile Two,” and so on; Mile Eleven is “Get an Attorney in Your Pit,” while Mile Twenty-One is “Try to Find the Middle Road.” Regardless of the type of debt, the overarching theme is that, rather than be intimidated by creditors, the consumer should use every means available to delay or avoid paying it off. As a testament to this approach, the author boasts “over 900 deficiencies, document requests, interrogatories, requests for admissions, deposition questions, and letter templates” in a final section of “action tools” that may have some readers playing amateur attorney. Thankfully, the book includes a levelheaded chapter that discusses how, after ridding oneself of crushing bills, to strive for a debt-free life.
A provocative guide that could embolden those with substantial debt to pursue evasive action; some consumers may not be comfortable with the volume’s unconventional, sometimes confrontational approach.Pub Date: Feb. 11, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-61961-322-5
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Community Books
Review Posted Online: June 22, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A superb book about doing his job by a master of his craft.
The renowned writer offers advice on information-gathering and nonfiction composition.
The book consists of eight instructive and charming essays about creating narratives, all of them originally composed for the New Yorker, where McPhee (Silk Parachute, 2010, etc.) has been a contributor since the mid-1960s. Reading them consecutively in one volume constitutes a master class in writing, as the author clearly demonstrates why he has taught so successfully part-time for decades at Princeton University. In one of the essays, McPhee focuses on the personalities and skills of editors and publishers for whom he has worked, and his descriptions of those men and women are insightful and delightful. The main personality throughout the collection, though, is McPhee himself. He is frequently self-deprecating, occasionally openly proud of his accomplishments, and never boring. In his magazine articles and the books resulting from them, McPhee rarely injects himself except superficially. Within these essays, he offers a departure by revealing quite a bit about his journalism, his teaching life, and daughters, two of whom write professionally. Throughout the collection, there emerge passages of sly, subtle humor, a quality often absent in McPhee’s lengthy magazine pieces. Since some subjects are so weighty—especially those dealing with geology—the writing can seem dry. There is no dry prose here, however. Almost every sentence sparkles, with wordplay evident throughout. Another bonus is the detailed explanation of how McPhee decided to tackle certain topics and then how he chose to structure the resulting pieces. Readers already familiar with the author’s masterpieces—e.g., Levels of the Game, Encounters with the Archdruid, Looking for a Ship, Uncommon Carriers, Oranges, and Coming into the Country—will feel especially fulfilled by McPhee’s discussions of the specifics from his many books.
A superb book about doing his job by a master of his craft.Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-374-14274-2
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 8, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2017
The memoir of George Dawson, who learned to read when he was 98, places his life in the context of the entire 20th century in this inspiring, yet ultimately blighted, biography. Dawson begins his story with an emotional bang: his account of witnessing the lynching of a young African-American man falsely accused of rape. America’s racial caste system and his illiteracy emerge as the two biggest obstacles in Dawson’s life, but a full view of the man overcoming the obstacles remains oddly hidden. Travels to Ohio, Canada, and Mexico reveal little beyond Dawson’s restlessness, since nothing much happens to him during these wanderings. Similarly, the diverse activities he finds himself engaging in—bootlegging in St. Louis, breaking horses, attending cockfights—never really advance the reader’s understanding of the man. He calls himself a “ladies’ man” and hints at a score of exciting stories, but then describes only his decorous marriage. Despite the personal nature of this memoir, Dawson remains a strangely aloof figure, never quite inviting the reader to enter his world. In contrast to Dawson’s diffidence, however, Glaubman’s overbearing presence, as he repeatedly parades himself out to converse with Dawson, stifles any momentum the memoir might develop. Almost every chapter begins with Glaubman presenting Dawson with a newspaper clipping or historical fact and asking him to comment on it, despite the fact that Dawson often does not remember or never knew about the event in question. Exasperated readers may wonder whether Dawson’s life and his accomplishments, his passion for learning despite daunting obstacles, is the tale at hand, or whether the real issue is his recollections of Archduke Ferdinand. Dawson’s achievements are impressive and potentially exalting, but the gee-whiz nature of the tale degrades it to the status of yet another bowl of chicken soup for the soul, with a narrative frame as clunky as an old bone.
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-375-50396-X
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1999
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