TITLE: Up for Renewal
AUTHOR: Cathy Alter
GENRE: Memoir/self-help
RATING: 3 stars
I managed to read this book on an Amtrak train between Montreal and Port Kent, New York, so I am grateful that it was entertaining.
Entertaining would be the best word to describe this book. While I thought the concept of subscribing to a dozen magazines and then spending one month on different self-improvement ideas - taken from these magazinesw was a clever ploy - it somehow does not translate all that well on paper for me.
For one thing, this book goes against everything that we keep being told "don't believe everything you read" - I must admit that the author, herself, says this frequently during the story, however, I also found that the author spent alot of time twisting herself up in order to follow the "golden rules" as set out by the magazines.
The other thing I did not like was the perceived end message - that if you are a good girl and try to change who you are, you will get the guy, the ring and live happily ever after. That's right, at the beginning of this experiment, Adler is single and not all that happy, however as she goes along, month by month, following the magazines mantras, she miraculously meets a man who loves her and finds her inner goddess!!! she also manages to show up or complain (not sure which it is) the fact that they "only" have sex 7 days a week!!!
Although the author tries to be honest and funny in her book, somehow this book is off the mark for me.
1 comment:
I was looking at this book at Chapters the other day and was thinking of getting it. I think perhaps I will wait now to see if the library gets it. Thanks for sharing the review.
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