"The Bag Lady Papers" Review

 

"The Bag Lady Papers"

 

by

 

Alexandra Penney

 

1/10

 

My Synopsis:

"The Bag Lady Papers" is the story of Alexandra Penney.  It is a true tale of her losing her investment money in the Bernie Madoff financial catastrophe.  She talks of her jobs, family, and life in general as she spend her adult years in New York City intermingled with her reaction and coming to terms with what recently, financially happened to her.  She discusses her fears of becoming poor (a bag lady) and how she has worked her whole life to keep that fear at bay and prevent it from becoming a reality.  However, you can't control everything . . . or can you?

 

My Opinion:

Oh my God!  I could not wait for this book to be over.  The only thing that helped me persevere was the length of the book (only 216 pages long) and the anticipation of the book I planned to read next.  This book was horrible.  The subtitle is "The Priceless Experience of Losing It All"  and she claims in the introduction that she is "not writing this book to whine or complain" but she sure does a lot of it.  Ms. Penney is the former editor of a well known magazine, an accomplished artist, and a published author.  She doesn't understand "losing it all".  She has options.  She has opportunities.  She says in one chapter how while at one of her favorite luncheonettes her brain said she shouldn't spend three dollars on a piece of carrot cake.  Maybe its more traumatic for her having fallen from the heights of the wealthy to the depths of the "poor", but I have truly poor.  I have had nothing.  I couldn't afford to eat at a luncheonette let alone have a favorite one.  It was peanut butter and jelly for every lunch and spaghetti for every dinner.  I have nightmares about being back in that situation but having to sell your two extra homes because you cant' afford them anymore is not "losing it all."  I am writing this review with thirty pages yet to go and I am furious that this book is what it is.  I feel deceived.  She didn't lose it all.  She lost her savings, her nest egg, her retirement money, something lots of people never have - not EVERYTHING.  I thought it was going to be a realistic tale of falling from normalcy to destitute, not from lofty wealth to normalcy.  Maybe my expectations were entirely wrong but . . . be wary before you read this one.  1/10

(Update upon finishing the book:  It was a lost cause.  The last chapter she talks of her minimalist party thrown for a friend - something some of us consider normal not minimalist and even couldn't have considered throwing at one time in their life.  I bet Walmart didn't carry this book because that audience would have been outraged at her listing all the luxuries she can no longer afford and most of us will never in our lives experience.)