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
The audience for this long-winded but well-meaning memoir will consist of TV-biz nerds and Cagney & Lacey devotees.
A memoir for hardcore fans of Cagney & Lacey, penned by its former producer.
From 1982 to 1986, the acclaimed TV series was one of CBS’s prime-time anchors, garnering huge audiences, critical plaudits and numerous awards. Producer Rosenzweig was there from the beginning to the bitter end. The author adored the show; it was his baby, and he made certain that everything about it–the writing, acting, casting and costumes–met with his exacting standards. His love for the show was so enduring that more than 20 years after it was cancelled, he was compelled to share the entire experience in a lengthy memoir. Though the author’s heart is in the right place, the book is detailed to the point of tedium: Each battle with the network, financial negotiation, encounter with the actors and the writing staff is related in painful detail. The book is written in bite-size, episodic chapters, which makes the narrative uneven, and the prose is often clumsy–“Scoff and titter are not commonplace verbs in my vocabulary. They are the only terms I can conjure to portray the behavior to which I felt I was being exposed.” Readers won’t begrudge Rosenzweig for sharing his moment in the sun with the TV-watching public. His passion for the show and television in general is palpable, and this book might well inspire budding producers to follow their aspirations.
The audience for this long-winded but well-meaning memoir will consist of TV-biz nerds and Cagney & Lacey devotees.Pub Date: Dec. 26, 2006
ISBN: 978-0-595-41193-2
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Neither helpful nor humorous.
A self-help book disguised as humor.
On the surface, veteran self-help guru St. John is a good guy. He’s offered advice for the masses in print and on television, and wrote advice book Get Out of My Way–I’m Late For My Life (2003). In the introduction to his sophomore outing, he breezily discusses how important humor is to personal growth–a concept that seems like a fine launching point for an advice book. Unfortunately, one page later, we learn that St. John’s idea of helping is to insult and demean. A slight book, every page of this alleged parody consists of a cartoon rendering of one of eight “clueless characters,” each offering up two or three sentences of daily affirmation beginning with the promise, “Today I will...” St. John’s clueless characters are imbued with what most will consider stereotypical and offensive qualities. There’s Aquanetta Jackson, an African-American single mother of four who “takes her kids to see their fathers in prison annually.” (Yes, it says “fathers.”) There’s Soo Yoo, a 20-something Korean woman who manages a small manicure business and “screams for no reason.” And there’s Spencer Sterling, a metrosexual who “frequents gay clubs only for the attention.” The advice is, at best, unfunny, and at worst, inflammatory and obnoxious. For example, under the header “Karma,” Aquanetta tells us, “Today, I will intentionally inflict pain on stupid people. They have it coming.” In his ham-fisted, nasty manner, St. John is obviously telling us to do the exact opposite of his characters, but the whole project is so mean-spirited that readers may choose to ignore the author’s “lesson.”
Neither helpful nor humorous.Pub Date: March 7, 2007
ISBN: 978-0-595-41655-1
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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