SKIP - THIS - BOOK.
I'm not even going to put a picture of it here, it was so bad. As a librarian, I am embarrassed that OverDrive named Jennifer McGaha's memoir Flat Broke with Two Goats the 2018 "Big Library Read." I'm disgusted that my library bought this drivel and contributed to the author's apparently continuing overspending by providing her with more income with which to do so.
I made it partly though chapter 3 when I decided my irritation with the author's antics was too great to continue. Life is too short and there are far better books to read out there.
So why I am fed up with Jennifer McGaha? She's clueless and entitled. She's irresponsible and whiny. She's completely out of touch with reality - and she expects the reader to sympathize with her. She blames others for her stupidity.
Jennifer and her husband overspend and wind up owing over $100,000 to the IRS - because they just didn't pay their taxes. And her husband is an accountant, for heaven's sake! Jennifer tries to put all the blame on him, but she willfully ignores the signals that all is not well with their finances (flickering lights and outages? repo man comes to take your car multiple times? HELL-O!). Furthermore, she doesn't do anything to try to help, sticking to her 10K a year college adjunct job, not even applying for a second job at a local department store because she likes to dress funky. AND they continue to send their kids to a distant private school (requiring a lengthy twice-a-day drive) even after the home they bought from friends (who provided them private financing for it) is foreclosed on. And Jennifer wonders why said friends locked them out and don't want to be friends any more? HELL-O again!
When I stopped listening to the audiobook (a wasted effort by an excellent reader, Pam Ward), I started reading reviews, and I was glad I quit reading this book. Apparently Jennifer goes on to do stupid things like:
- move into a (three-story!) "cabin" (with a dishwasher!) on 50+ wooded acres -- but they BUY the wood to heat the place;
- irresponsibly continues to own her FIVE dogs and eat out at restaurants, and drink merlot wine and craft beer;
- buys fancy chickens and goats, feeds them organic yogurt and sunflower seeds and goats milk (!) and hopes to someday use her goats' milk to make cream caramels and fancy soap (!);
- gets reconstructive bladder surgery for an impotent designer goat and wastes hours waiting for a female goat to give birth;
- apparently starts adding recipes, of all things, at the ends of later chapters (like people really struggling to pay their bills have time for fancy cooking???);
- leaves her husband for a temporary academic job in another state (yes, more pay, but twice the expenses) and a new male friend, but then goes back to her husband, apparently not learning anything; and
- takes out thousands of dollars of student loans to get an MFA - before paying off the IRS;
What's worse, by the end, the author is still acting the same. She has not learned ANYTHING from her situation.
Yes, I am deliberately spoiling the book, because I don't think anyone should waste their time or money on this one. Although I have never been flat broke, a diminished income post-divorce led to my children qualifying for free breakfast and lunch at school, and free clothing from the school district's clothing bank. I worked three jobs at one time to make ends meet and get out of this hole. At least I did something - unlike the author.
I will save my sympathy for people in a financial bind for reasons truly out of their control - those devasted by illnesses or a natural disaster, for example. Not whining idiots like this author. This book is insulting to the truly poor.
© Amanda Pape - 2018
This e-audiobook was borrowed from and returned to my university library.
I'm not even going to put a picture of it here, it was so bad. As a librarian, I am embarrassed that OverDrive named Jennifer McGaha's memoir Flat Broke with Two Goats the 2018 "Big Library Read." I'm disgusted that my library bought this drivel and contributed to the author's apparently continuing overspending by providing her with more income with which to do so.
I made it partly though chapter 3 when I decided my irritation with the author's antics was too great to continue. Life is too short and there are far better books to read out there.
So why I am fed up with Jennifer McGaha? She's clueless and entitled. She's irresponsible and whiny. She's completely out of touch with reality - and she expects the reader to sympathize with her. She blames others for her stupidity.
Jennifer and her husband overspend and wind up owing over $100,000 to the IRS - because they just didn't pay their taxes. And her husband is an accountant, for heaven's sake! Jennifer tries to put all the blame on him, but she willfully ignores the signals that all is not well with their finances (flickering lights and outages? repo man comes to take your car multiple times? HELL-O!). Furthermore, she doesn't do anything to try to help, sticking to her 10K a year college adjunct job, not even applying for a second job at a local department store because she likes to dress funky. AND they continue to send their kids to a distant private school (requiring a lengthy twice-a-day drive) even after the home they bought from friends (who provided them private financing for it) is foreclosed on. And Jennifer wonders why said friends locked them out and don't want to be friends any more? HELL-O again!
When I stopped listening to the audiobook (a wasted effort by an excellent reader, Pam Ward), I started reading reviews, and I was glad I quit reading this book. Apparently Jennifer goes on to do stupid things like:
- move into a (three-story!) "cabin" (with a dishwasher!) on 50+ wooded acres -- but they BUY the wood to heat the place;
- irresponsibly continues to own her FIVE dogs and eat out at restaurants, and drink merlot wine and craft beer;
- buys fancy chickens and goats, feeds them organic yogurt and sunflower seeds and goats milk (!) and hopes to someday use her goats' milk to make cream caramels and fancy soap (!);
- gets reconstructive bladder surgery for an impotent designer goat and wastes hours waiting for a female goat to give birth;
- apparently starts adding recipes, of all things, at the ends of later chapters (like people really struggling to pay their bills have time for fancy cooking???);
- leaves her husband for a temporary academic job in another state (yes, more pay, but twice the expenses) and a new male friend, but then goes back to her husband, apparently not learning anything; and
- takes out thousands of dollars of student loans to get an MFA - before paying off the IRS;
What's worse, by the end, the author is still acting the same. She has not learned ANYTHING from her situation.
Yes, I am deliberately spoiling the book, because I don't think anyone should waste their time or money on this one. Although I have never been flat broke, a diminished income post-divorce led to my children qualifying for free breakfast and lunch at school, and free clothing from the school district's clothing bank. I worked three jobs at one time to make ends meet and get out of this hole. At least I did something - unlike the author.
I will save my sympathy for people in a financial bind for reasons truly out of their control - those devasted by illnesses or a natural disaster, for example. Not whining idiots like this author. This book is insulting to the truly poor.
© Amanda Pape - 2018
This e-audiobook was borrowed from and returned to my university library.
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