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A former model's shocking and visceral literary memoir about the shopping addiction that almost destroyed her
After spending her formative years reading fashion magazines voraciously, Avis Cardella found her calling writing about photography, fashion and culture. She has written for British Vogue, American Photo and Surface, among other publications. She lives in Paris with her husband.
"bracing... Avis Cardella's "Spent" relates how the author's
"compulsive shopping habit" pushed her to the brink of financial
and existential bankruptcy. This riveting, painfully candid memoir
exposes the dark side of the belief that we are what we
wear."--Caroline Weber, The New York Times Sunday Book Review
"Cardella, now in her late 40s, has an elegant, serious voice in
Spent; a bauble-decked shopaholic straight out of a frothy chick
lit novel, she's not. Clothes...are described earnestly, and she
casts the fashion industry...in an occasionally deeply unflattering
light. But Spent is less an indictment of an industry as a whole
and more an examination of Cardella's own vulnerability to its
particular pitfalls: insecurities placated by dressing well and
buying luxe, as well as an exhausting run with a fast
crowd."--Sarah Haight, Women's Wear Daily
"For anyone who has felt the thrill of snapping up a bargain or
buying something extravagant, this glimpse of the far side of
shopping's emotional kicks can be fascinating."--Malcolm Ritter,
San Francisco Chronicle
"In this intimate and revealing portrait, Avis Cardella
unapologetically invites us to bear witness to the devastating
effect that her mother's sudden death had on her life, and the
ensuing serious shopping addiction that temporarily took away her
fragility and numbness and bolstered her shaky sense of self. It
came with a very high price, however. Spent is a cautionary tale
for the millions of women who try to build a sense of themselves
based on fashion or images presented in the media--and don't
realize that 'in the process of trying to create a new self,
another self that is more central may be annihilated'."--April Lane
Benson, Ph.D., author of To Buy or Not to Buy: Why We Overshop and
How to Stop
"These are the confessions of a real shopaholic, riveting to read
and painfully self-aware. Avis Cardella speaks truth to power--the
power of delusional thinking that is peculiarly female in nature.
As in: Never mind that I'm already 20 grand in Visa debt, I
desperately need that Prada suit to make my life-to make
ME-perfect. If this sounds scarily familiar, what you need even
more desperately is a copy of Spent, right now."--Susan Squire,
author of I Don't: A Contrarian History of Marriage
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