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The Secret Currency of Love: The Unabashed Truth about Women, Money, and Relationships
by
Hilary Black
Money. It affects us all. So why is it so difficult for us to acknowledge its enormous impact on our private affairs?
In this riveting and provocative anthology of original essays, more than two dozen of America's most esteemed women writers share their deepest feelings about personal finance and how it profoundly influences their relationships with parents, children, spou
...morePaperback, 300 pages
Published
December 29th 2009
by Harper Paperbacks
(first published January 1st 2009)
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Not nearly as daytime talk show as the stupid title indicates. Officially, only a third of the book is specific to the money-love connection. Then a third for money-families (relationships with parents, single parenthood, etc.) and a third for basically money when you're completely on your own. As with all these essay collections, the fact that all the contributors are freelance writers really limits the perspective you get. Then again, if they can manage on such a variable income... There is a ...more
Like many other reviewers, I was irked by the fact that almost every essayist lived in New York City and seemed to have the same socioeconomic background. Quite a few trust-fund types become freelancers, it seems. Living in New York City, where many supposedly middle class people insist on strapping themselves down with private schools and fancy vacations, limits the economic horizon across which these authors can travel, regardless of whether they're writing about money in a romantic relations...more
I really liked the topic--relationships and money. This would be a good book club book simply because it lends itself to a broad discussion. The contributors to the book, however, are a very specific group of women--writers, predominately living in New York. I could have read only half of the essays and gotten the same amount out of it because while each story was personal, they seem to have the same backgrounds, chose their careers for the same reason, and live in the same place. I also think t...more
I choose to read this after reading an article on MSN.com. Each chapter is a story about how each woman deals with money. Most of the women are writers and have had periods of little to no income. Some of the women were raised in affluent households and some were raised in poorer households. In 80% of the stories , it didn't matter. Most of the women had trouble with money-credit card debt, poor paying jobs, poor money management. And money always played a role in their relationship. They marrie...more
This anthology of essays about women, money, and love (all kinds of relationships--not just romantic love) was one of the most interesting and thought provoking anthologies I've read. As I was reading I kept wishing that someone I knew was also reading so we could discuss! I really enjoyed the interpretations about money and the the way in which having money--or not--shapes us all. Highly recommended and I hope one or two of my friends will want to read so we can talk about it!
a collection of personal stories from women in their 20s-60s about how financial circumstances have influenced their personal love/family/career choices. I found it extremely helpful to identify with parts of each story, to remind myself that love is intertwined with economics from childhood and into adulthood no matter how we resist it--and punishment for that reality is just not reasonable.
Really it's a book of personal essays about how women writers structure their money and relationships, although the income ranges and personal situations involved are diverse enough that they lend themselves to extrapolation to suit the reader's needs. Still, it mostly just made me wish I were a writer rather than evaluate my relationship with my beloved or with money.
Insightful book. Made a good case for how power is tied to money, especially in interpersonal relationships. I read this a while ago, but I remember thinking that this book relied a bit too much on people in professional services fields, rather than including perspectives from those in lower-income industries.
Good book of essays by women about money and relationships. It gets a little repetitive by the end because most of the women are freelance writers, and most of them have sections in their essays talking about freelance writing and money. But, lots of great essays here. I really enjoyed it.
Very interesting, but I would have liked a little more diversity from the contributors. I know they're all going to be freelance writers, but I would have loved to see more perspectives from writers raised in different cultural communities within the US, or even in other countries.
This is a book that I read an excerpt from recently and requested the book. Then I got the book and began reading it only to realize I was re-reading that same essay! So far I have jumped around and read a few when I returned from work last night and they are good.
2/10/09 update: I just couldn't bring myself to read more of these essays so I returned the book! Oh well, maybe another day.
2/10/09 update: I just couldn't bring myself to read more of these essays so I returned the book! Oh well, maybe another day.
Great writing by many different women authors, telling their own stories about love, relationships, and the insidious influence of finances. I was touched by many of the stories, despite the similarity of these women's career paths as freelance writers. And everything that builds my compassion and recognition that, while money is important, other things truly are more important...the responsibility is mine to create a comfortable financial existence.
Very interesting read about women and their relationship to money. Really got me thinking about my own upbringing and how that's affected my choices in life: to have a career and my strong need to be independent & maintain that independence. I wish the author had chosen some essays by women besides freelance writers - A more diverse group would have made the book more powerful. Still, I enjoyed it and recommend it highly.
This book is a collection that highlights the different experiences of women from all walks of life and the changes (good and bad) that always come into play when you mix love and money.
Love and money aren't always compatible. These women all have unique (and true!) tales of $$$ and their relationships, so deeply intertwined.
This is a quite interesting collection of vignettes about how financial situations impact couples, families, etc.
This book was quite insightful and honest about women's relationship with money. It was also really depressing.
Excellent collection of nonfiction essays by women on the many ways money figures into relationships.
While the stories were not as powerful or informative as I was expecting, this book definitely got me thinking about my relationship with money, how my family has influenced the way I view money and how I want money to factor into future relationships. An interesting read.
I gave this an extra star for the topic. I think it is a fascinating one and would like to see more literature on this subject: women and money. My main criticism is that it represents a narrow slice of women. But since it was the first to open the subject and you would want good writers, it is forgivable. I would love to see books with a more academic approach on the subject and maybe essays (co-authored) from women in other walks and socio-economic layers of our society and then maybe bra...more
This should be required reading for women's studies programs and for any woman getting married. Women should never put their head under the rug when it comes to money and this will make you face your own relationship with the stuff. I found pieces of myself in more than one essay....and how comforting it has been to find that others have felt the way I do.
Janee Chung
added it
Honestly, I couldn't put this book down. Money really is the last taboo(everyone talks so freely about other itimate subjects), and it was quite juicy looking into the financial lives of other women. Made me evaluate what my financial leanings are... which is to say ambivalent at best.
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Erynn
added it
Really honest talk about how money affects relationships.
An intricately woven anthology of short stories about women writers and their relationship to money. They tell their tales through powerful self-analysis of class, power, sociology and psychology.
An OK read overall. Stories about money and relationships (both romantic and platonic).
The big downside of this book is that every story is written by a professional writer. Even though the stories differ in concepts and themes, the authors share obvious similarities in intelligence, education level and passion. This makes the sweeping view one might be expecting to be almost quaintly myopic.
Still, I made it all the way thru the book and even stayed up late to try...more
The big downside of this book is that every story is written by a professional writer. Even though the stories differ in concepts and themes, the authors share obvious similarities in intelligence, education level and passion. This makes the sweeping view one might be expecting to be almost quaintly myopic.
Still, I made it all the way thru the book and even stayed up late to try...more
Katrina
marked it as to-read
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