The Girl's Guide To Homelessness: A Memoir (2011) - Plot & Excerpts
This book pissed me off. Everything was well and good until the part where she goes to meet this guy and waits outside for him and ends up killing her baby. I was so disgusted at her selfishness and lack of common sense. I mean because standing outside in the winter for over 24 hours while pregnant is essentially putting your stupid needs above your unborn child's and I really believe she was the cause of her miscarriage. I finished the book thinking she would wake the hell up and somehow struggle towards redemption but it never happened. I got a really bad taste in my mouth after reading this book. I didn't even know how to rate it at first. The only thing I was sure of was that the more I thought about it the more annoyed I felt. Karp is so full of bullshit it is unbelievable. The sad part is that I don't think she realises it. She is not writing to help provide a face to homelessness or to provide guidance to others who are lacking proper housing. She is writing only for the sake of telling the world how mad she is, how let down she is, and to justify herself. Karp does a good job of making everyone feel sorry for her.. up until the point that it just gets to be too much. I don't know, and I don't care to know, how much of this book is actually true. To me, it makes no difference. It is the way that Karp carries on and on in trying to victimize herself. There is no storytelling here, just a lot of expostulating about how sucky her life is. Karp makes many foolish decisions in this book- None that she tries to hide, but she certainly tries to defend these choices and, when she isn't sure if that has worked, she goes off into blaming other people for them. Karp has some limited writing skills, but they are not at all helped by her editor or the sheer intensity of built-up anger that she pens with. The way this book was put together is just awful. It is like a hodgepodge of her needlessly defending herself with a lot of angry statements and narcissistic drivelling. How any publisher could allow this girl to humiliate herself in public by publishing this nonsense is beyond me. I agree with other commenters with the words "hot mess" and "train wreck." Yes, I am being harsh here but - Karp needs to stop pretending she is trying to do the world good by selling her story and spend more time getting some good counselling rather than unleashing her rage on the world. That is just my viewpoint. As for the book itself, I suggest you burn it.
What do You think about The Girl's Guide To Homelessness: A Memoir (2011)?
My first foray into Harlequin Non-Fiction. Wow. What a story. Compelling and humbling.
—Sweths
It took a bit to get through the first chapter but this memoir unwittingly touched me.
—ngranados
