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Not Buying It: My Year Without Shopping
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 301
Format: Bargain Price
Label: Free Press
Manufacturer: Free Press
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 288
Publication Date: February 27, 2007
Publisher: Free Press
Studio: Free Press
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Editorial Review:
Many of us have tried to call a halt to our spending at one time or another. But what if we decided not to buy anything for a whole year? Obviously, we would need necessities like food and soap, but how would be manage without new clothes, treats, entertainment? Funny, smart and self-deprecating, Not Buying It is a close look at our society's obsession with shopping and the cold turkey confession of a woman we can all identify with - someone who can't live without French roast coffee and expensive wool socks, but who has had enough of spending money for the sake of it. Without consumer goods and experiences, Levine and her partner Paul pursue their careers, nurture family relationships and try to keep their sanity and humour intact. Tracking their progress and lapses, she contemplates the meanings of need and desire, scarcity and security, consumerism and citizenship. She asks the big questions - can the economy survive without shopping? Are Q-tips a necessity? A thought-provoking account of the pleasures and perils of the purchase-driven life, Not Buying It will get readers talking about their reliance on the act of buying and the possibility of getting off the merry-go-round.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Not what I expected.
I thought the author would write more about her struggles to give up spending. There was a little of that but most of it was a political diatribe. I'm so sick of ultra-liberals preaching their weird philosophies to the rest of us. This women has two homes, three cars, and at one time didn't pay a student loan because "nobody else did" until forced to do so because her credit rating was bad. What a hypocrite. Don't waste your time or money on this boring book.
Rating: - Not buying it (this book)
First off, this book lost points with me for a fairly two-faced marketing strategy. The title and a review on the back of the book suggest that this book is about making do with a very minimalist approach to shopping, spending, and possession. Barbara Ehrenreich, who wrote the bit on the back, says "if you have to do without... Levine is the person to do it with." However, the blurb on the inside of the dust jacket paints the author in a markedly different light, and seems to suggest that Levine ... Read More
Rating:  - Thought-provoking, entertaining read
I was surprised to see the number of negative reviews that people have given this book. Expecting to read a book of what it's like to resist the urge to spend frivolously, I was pleasantly surprised to find an entertaining, deeper reflection on culture that surrounds consumerism and buying. I noticed many people seemed bothered by Judith Levine's "hypocrisy" and I feel they have failed to miss the point of this book. Levine is not preaching her experience, instead, sharing it as a human being with elements ... Read More
Rating: - dont buy it
dont buy "Not buying it" it not as enlightening as I thought it would be.
Rating:  - Wouldn't bother...
I flew through the first third of this book...when she was still having a hard time with not buying things.
Then, apparently, she adjusted, because the rest of the book didn't really have much to say about the lack of buying. It was mostly about politics at that point - which I'm not interested in reading about in the least.
Several hypocritical points, as other reviewers have mentioned. And by halfway through, I found I just didn't care anymore.
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