IWant: My Journey From Addiction And Overconsumption To A Simpler, Honest Life (2009) - Plot & Excerpts
Pros: I learned a lot about alcoholism and the 12 Step Program. There is much to learn from the many "issues" beyond alcoholism that JVM has worked through. I was impressed by how thoroughly and how much JVM has worked and continues to work at reviewing and improving her life, and I was impressed at what a committed vegan she is. I already practice a lot of what she does - reducing what I consume, recycling everything I can, using vegan food and products, thinking about who (humans and animals) was affected and how they were affected by things I might buy - but she inspired me to try even harder, but not to the point of asceticism.Cons: horrible design! double-spaced, 12-point Times New Roman with black and white pictures shoved in at the end of each chapter (color insert would have been better)Emotional moments: I cried when her dad gave her beloved childhood dog away without telling her first. He didn't want the dog to ruin the carpet in their new apartment. She never knew where he went. I was so glad that she purposely knocked over a lamp in the new apartment, and it burned a whole in the carpet. The one thing that made this story better is that it sounds like she adopted the reincarnation of this dog later in her life.Favorite quotes: "To those people I say, 'I'd rather be a hypocrite one percent of the time than be a heartless individual 99 percent of the time." - her response to people who might take a shot at her veganism because she rides on airplanes sometimes (airplane engines may be tested using animals) or does whatever other grey things might come up.Place read: in-laws' media room and spare bedroom nook Host of her own Headline News show, journalist Velez-Mitchell addresses a number of her own issues in this honest but ultimately unremarkable narrative, focusing largely on former addictions to alcohol, cigarettes, food and money: "I've consumed all of those in massive quantities, and they've just made me miserable. Now, I want... the opposite of material. As sappy as it might sound, what I want is spiritual." Velez-Mitchell then recounts a childhood with parents who taught her to shun all authority but their own; a young adulthood in which she nearly drank herself into oblivion; her decision to get sober; how she came to terms with her homosexuality; and her climb to success in the world of television news. Despite these revelations, though, Velez-Mitchell's off-putting, self-righteous tone may make readers feel they're being scolded, rather than invited to understand or sympathize.**Rate this book 2/5. While I thought that her addiction and recovery from alcohol would be interesting reading, it was not. She did attend AA, but this is briefly mentioned. She spends most of the book acting self-righteous and self-absorbed. She not only had an alcohol addiction that she overcame, she also was a compulsive shopper, became an animal rights crusader and a vegan, hug the trees, save the whales. It is a little bit of a stretch to believe all of her 'good deeds'. I was disappointed in this self-serving book.
What do You think about IWant: My Journey From Addiction And Overconsumption To A Simpler, Honest Life (2009)?
Started out fine until it started to go off on how if you aren't vegan you aren't human.
—Holdyourbreath27
Lame story. Life of addiction turned to overzealous veganism. *yawn*
—leemjvd
