Publishers Weekly
11/13/2023
Pendleton, founder of the clothing company Tunnel Vision, shines in her idiosyncratic debut memoir-cum-finance guide. Raised in a money-strapped household in Fresno, Calif., Pendleton took a series of low-paying jobs before getting hired in the marketing department of a “high-end jewelry brand” where her boss taught her how to negotiate and the basics of personal finance. In 2011, she decided to start her own business redesigning and selling secondhand clothing. Describing her struggle to structure the company equitably, she explains that she initially strived for a cooperative-style arrangement that gave employees far-reaching autonomy over clothing sales, but found that this merely foisted the “stress of business ownership” onto each employee, leading her to reconfigure the business more traditionally while distributing compensation and profit evenly among employees, including herself. Pendleton is a penetrating critic of economic injustice and the shortcomings of traditional personal finance programs, noting that it’s “intrinsically impossible for everyone” to follow such common suggestions as becoming a landlord. Her substantial guidance on “how to run an equitable business” is a refreshing alternative to the lip service found in other manuals (“Be radically transparent about all things financial”; “Pay everyone equally for their labor”). This stands out from the pack. Agents: Caroline Marsiglia and Rick Richter, Aevitas Creative Management. (Jan.)
From the Publisher
With punk optimism, cinematic storytelling, and a moral center undeterred by what ‘everyone else does,’ this book presents the life and death money scenarios real people face. Madeline covers class, college recruiting, home ownership, and workplace rights with a brilliant sense of community and warmth.”
—Gabe Dunn, podcast host and author of Bad with Money
“A witty and profound commentary on navigating the harsh terrain of poverty, inequality, class, and an oftentimes unforgiving, unfair financial system that all of us are forced to participate in. Drawing on her rich personal experiences and hard-won financial lessons, Pendleton’s path to financial stability is inspiring. This book is a transformative call to action to build a better, more just, equitable world.”
—Paco de Leon, host of the Weird Finance podcast and author of Finance for the People
“A vivid account of the many challenges millennials face while trying to make it in an unforgiving economy. . . Illuminating. . . Move on, Jim Cramer. Here’s the real deal—smart, undaunted, and eminently wise.”
—Kirkus Reviews *starred review*
“[Pendleton] shines in her idiosyncratic debut memoir-cum-finance guide. . . Pendleton is a penetrating critic of economic injustice and the shortcomings of traditional personal finance programs. . . Her substantial guidance on “how to run an equitable business” is a refreshing alternative to the lip service found in other manuals. . . This stands out from the pack.”
—Publishers Weekly
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2023-11-14
A vivid account of the many challenges millennials face while trying to make it in an unforgiving economy.
Pendleton opens her illuminating book with a tragedy: the suicide of a boyfriend who was suffering from the torments of money trouble and could see no way out of it. “That day,” she writes, “I learned a horrible lesson: capitalism is a matter of life and death. The stakes are high, and if you lose, it might come for you in ways you’d never expect.” As the author notes, the economic landscape could be characterized as dog-eat-dog, except that dogs are more cooperative and better socialized than all that. Exhibit A is a photographer the author worked for who effectively bilked her out of a quarter of her paycheck; fortunately, she jumped studios to work for another photographer who was far more honest. This story leads to a sobering observation for the corporation-haters in the crowd: “Businesses are not intrinsically any more ethical just because they are small. If anything, data shows they tend to be less ethical overall.” Pendleton, like so many of her generation, trained hard for life in the economic doldrums, growing up poor in Fresno, California (“one of the poorest cities in the country”), and entering the workforce just in time for the Great Recession. A punk rock ethos also helped the author cultivate a mutual-aid, fight-the-power outlook on life, which plays out in both her personal story and in the short chapters of enumerated points of advice on things like what a credit score means and how to navigate workplace relationships (“Remember that your coworkers are not your friends”). All of this is extremely helpful to those who, like Pendleton, would otherwise have to figure it out for themselves.
Move on, Jim Cramer. Here’s the real deal—smart, undaunted, and eminently wise.
