Reading Between the Lines: Fat, broke and desperate
Lifestyle changes are admittedly
tough and not everyone has the
resolve for self-improvement. But
sometimes getting your life back
on track requires a complete kick
in the ass. Not a “Tomorrow I'll
toss away my bread and stop getting
a daily double double at
Timmies to save myself a toonie.”
No, completely shedding away excess with a scorched-earth policy is probably the only way to make things right. It's exactly what journalist Sam MacDonald does in The Urban Hermit, a memoir of his journey through being a fat, broke alcoholic buried in debt. Urban Hermit may be oddly inspirational at times, but for the love of God don't follow any of the advice in it, it'll damn near kill you.
The book's premise really is born out of the author's poor life decisions. MacDonald is pretty forthright about his stupidity. After graduating high school, living a life of monetary and dietary excesses while in Yale, MacDonald ended up with a crushing amount of debt in the form of student loans, credit card bills, and a rather humongous bar tab. Although he seems to live the idyllic dream of a true bachelor, spending hundreds of dollars on bars and various drugs begins to catch up with him.
With the choice of either declaring personal bankruptcy or opting for an overhaul of his life, MacDonald went with the latter. Instead of taking it one step at a time, MacDonald devises the “Urban Hermit Plan,” a lifestyle to help him shed the excess debt and pounds, by accordingly living on $8 a week and 800 calories a day.
And how does one live on just $8 dollars a week?
Simple: a diet of lentils, 50-cent tuna cans, and boiled cabbage at the behest of your roommate. Also, occasionally trying to get away from the temptations of civilization with poorly planned camping trips, although a real-life Henry David Thoreau he ain't. Utterly insane and incredibly unpleasant? Even he thinks so. Yet, miraculously, he survives malnutrition and beer-starvation and lives to tell the hilarious tale.
Along the way to his journey of self-saving, you'll see him stumble between all kinds of temptations and mishaps, from refusing free cake from his fellow office workers, to an ill-fated journalistic trip to Bosnia as part of working for a small-town newspaper. The pages are littered with alcoholic warehouse workers, drug dealers, complete stoners, confused bosses and infuriatingly successful fellow university graduates. The book is consistently funny and never drags down on petty emotional pandering. There is no deep, tragic backstory to Sam MacDonald; he is fully aware and takes responsibility for the fact that outside of his parents' control, he makes for a rather poor adult.
There are no real lessons to be learned from The Urban Hermit, and I suppose that really is part of the fun. Rather than giving some wishy-washy Aesop about personal responsibility, the book really only implores the message, “Don't be an idiot.” Hopefully, if you aren't currently aren't that close in desperation, The Urban Hermit will serve as some entertaining light reading about a man who should've known better.
Reading Between The Lines explores books that you may have missed out on that are worth your while. If you have a book to suggest, email Eshaan at e_gupta@fanshaweonline.ca.
No, completely shedding away excess with a scorched-earth policy is probably the only way to make things right. It's exactly what journalist Sam MacDonald does in The Urban Hermit, a memoir of his journey through being a fat, broke alcoholic buried in debt. Urban Hermit may be oddly inspirational at times, but for the love of God don't follow any of the advice in it, it'll damn near kill you.
The book's premise really is born out of the author's poor life decisions. MacDonald is pretty forthright about his stupidity. After graduating high school, living a life of monetary and dietary excesses while in Yale, MacDonald ended up with a crushing amount of debt in the form of student loans, credit card bills, and a rather humongous bar tab. Although he seems to live the idyllic dream of a true bachelor, spending hundreds of dollars on bars and various drugs begins to catch up with him.
With the choice of either declaring personal bankruptcy or opting for an overhaul of his life, MacDonald went with the latter. Instead of taking it one step at a time, MacDonald devises the “Urban Hermit Plan,” a lifestyle to help him shed the excess debt and pounds, by accordingly living on $8 a week and 800 calories a day.
And how does one live on just $8 dollars a week?
Simple: a diet of lentils, 50-cent tuna cans, and boiled cabbage at the behest of your roommate. Also, occasionally trying to get away from the temptations of civilization with poorly planned camping trips, although a real-life Henry David Thoreau he ain't. Utterly insane and incredibly unpleasant? Even he thinks so. Yet, miraculously, he survives malnutrition and beer-starvation and lives to tell the hilarious tale.
Along the way to his journey of self-saving, you'll see him stumble between all kinds of temptations and mishaps, from refusing free cake from his fellow office workers, to an ill-fated journalistic trip to Bosnia as part of working for a small-town newspaper. The pages are littered with alcoholic warehouse workers, drug dealers, complete stoners, confused bosses and infuriatingly successful fellow university graduates. The book is consistently funny and never drags down on petty emotional pandering. There is no deep, tragic backstory to Sam MacDonald; he is fully aware and takes responsibility for the fact that outside of his parents' control, he makes for a rather poor adult.
There are no real lessons to be learned from The Urban Hermit, and I suppose that really is part of the fun. Rather than giving some wishy-washy Aesop about personal responsibility, the book really only implores the message, “Don't be an idiot.” Hopefully, if you aren't currently aren't that close in desperation, The Urban Hermit will serve as some entertaining light reading about a man who should've known better.
Reading Between The Lines explores books that you may have missed out on that are worth your while. If you have a book to suggest, email Eshaan at e_gupta@fanshaweonline.ca.
