Lost and Found: BlogHer Book Club

The latest BlogHer Book club selection is Geneen Roth’s Lost and Found. My edition of the book has the subtitle One Woman’s Story of Losing Her Money and Finding Her Life. “Lost Her Money” is right – Roth and her husband were heavily invested with Bernie Madoff, and lost their life savings in his Ponzi scheme.

I had never read Roth’s other books, so I admit I was expecting this to a very different read for me. I don’t read many self-help books – not that there’s anything wrong with them, they’re just not my go-to book choice. Possibly because of this, it took me some time to adapt to Roth’s writing style.

Her main goal in the book is point out that most people do not talk about money, prefer not to discuss it or in many cases even think about it, and that distance is damaging. I admit I was disappointed to read so much about becoming aware of our issues, without much actual discussion about how to overcome them. I can read this and say, “Yes, I understand that my personal issues with money can be traced to XYZ,” but without concrete steps to move past these issues, I’m not sure what to do next with this information except to say, “Now what?”

All that said, I ultimately enjoyed Roth’s writing style, which is conversational and self-deprecating. She is absolutely willing to be honest about her feelings and failings, and this honesty is refreshing. If you’re looking for a step-by-step guide to get over your money problems, this probably isn’t the book for you. But if you want to consider the emotions and experiences that led to your problems, this book might be what you’re looking for.

If you want to read more about Lost and Found, check out the BlogHer Book Club site for more discussions about this book and others.

This is a paid review for BlogHer Book Club but the opinions expressed are my own.

 

Filed in: Books