Reviews with content warning for Addiction - The Year of Less: How I Stopped Shopping, Gave Away My Belongings, and Discovered Life Is Worth More Than Anything You Can Buy in a Store

Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

The Year of Less: How I Stopped Shopping, Gave Away My Belongings, and Discovered Life Is Worth More Than Anything You Can Buy in a Store by Cait Flanders

19 reviews

hal2499's review

challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring fast-paced

3.5

This book is very inspiring in the fact that Cait tells you when she started it and when she would go for so long and then break the habit. It wasn't a total book of I wanted to do this thing, I did the thing, and I finished the thing. She talked a lot about her set backs and how you can start over and keep going.

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ellanorte's review

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emotional informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

4.0

The year of less ha sido una lectura que no esperaba que me gustase tanto. No suelo leer autobiografías, pero al final es un formato que en cierto modo me termina atrapando. Me ha gustado saber el contexto y las motivaciones de la autora para emprender ese reto de comprar exclusivamente lo necesario durante un año. No sé si es algo que haría o llevaría a cabo, el minimalismo es algo que me llama la atención definitivamente y he de reconocer que algunas cosas de las que menciona en este libro ya las he puesto en marcha.

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madisongturner's review against another edition

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4.5

In a world where most minimalist evangelists are men, I really appreciated the difference in perspective. Cait does a really good job of discussing her personal motivations in a way that simply pushes you to live more aligned with your own values. I found the specificity and personal stories to really make this a lovely read.

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strongchonk's review

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emotional informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.0

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mildnothing's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.75

Nicely written, inspiring and reflective. I didn't (and still don't) know the blog she wrote, but it shows and I found her writing very close to the reader. Although some passages and sentences felt repetitive, I can't blame her. I'd probably do the same when I find a nice sentence or expression. It also didn't happen too often.

Although this is more of a report than a guidebook on decluttering or minimalism, Flanders still included a list of things to do if you also wish to embark on this adventure to not spend money (on things you don't need) for a year.

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nutfreenerd's review

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emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

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amjone12's review

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inspiring reflective slow-paced

2.75

I felt like this could have been made into a long blog post instead of a whole book. It wasn’t entirely about the shopping ban but also somehow didn’t feel as personal as other memoirs despite talking about very personal experiences. The first and last chapters are the most true to the title.

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e_mcdowell's review

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It was ok at the beginning but about halfway through it got super judgy and preachy. She says often enough that everyone is different but she sure makes it seem like hers is the right way. I’m all for saving money and reducing consumption but I’m not about to learn how to sew just so I can fix my old navy pajama pants.

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cavernism's review

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reflective medium-paced

1.5

I read this expecting something totally different based on the book jacket description. I can't blame the author for writing more of a memoir, but I can blame the editor and publicist for marketing it as a self-help book when it really isn't. I was frustrated the with the lack of depth as to why it's hard to resist buying things and the cultural and environmental implications of this. I guess it's unfair for me to rate a book low based on what I wished the book was versus what it was trying to do, but I found it frustratingly surface-level on the issue of having lots of things in general, while also being unhelpful for the general person wanting to simplify their lives beyond very intuitive, basic things. Also, if it's going to be an effective memoir, the author should have a compelling story to tell. I got so bored hearing about her travel itineraries and disjointed details about her family, friends, and addictive habits. To paraphrase The Office, this book could on a list of memoirs titled 'People I Don't Care About.' That sounds really harsh - I think even the most "typical" lives can be made fascinating by a good writer. The writing is simply not compelling enough to make it a good memoir, nor is it insightful or informative enough to make it a good self-help book.

I also was not expecting the blithe fatphobia the author directs at herself (casually throwing in phrases like how much she weighed and how unattractive that made her at her lower points) or the pretty detailed descriptions of alcoholism. Overall, this book didn't have the content I was looking for, and even the resources section was laughably bare-bones.

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asexualslut's review

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challenging informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

3.5

Really informative and I loved some of her points, my favorite being “Your values should not be your aspirations”.

Some of the writing was repetitive to me but I’m glad i took the time to read it!

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