Reviews tagging 'Pandemic/Epidemic'

Hey, Hun: Sales, Sisterhood, Supremacy, and the Other Lies Behind Multilevel Marketing by Emily Lynn Paulson

12 reviews

bmpicc's review

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challenging hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

3.0

 My current rabbit-hole is the cult of MLM's. I do have a few reservations about this one. For instance, her new sober business makes me nervous because it has a slight MLM vibe for me. That being said, I think her heart is in the right place and what she shared was 100% relatable. It is easy to be sucked in, but beware... they pray on the weak. You may be on someone's "dirt list".

I'm not sure I know anyone at this point who has not been invited to a "party", let alone how many of us have been an active part of one. Yes, even me. I sold ********* when our son was first diagnosed with allergies because we didn't know how deep his issues went. I didn't know where to turn for safe cleaning & hygiene products. I was a new mom and an easy target. We all have a story.

 
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alisonrcscheide's review

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challenging dark emotional funny informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.5

This book was so fascinating. I could not stop listening to it.  
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raereads23's review

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hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

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tinytrashqueen's review against another edition

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informative reflective medium-paced

3.5

Didn't condemn MLMs as much as I feel like was warranted based on the facts and her own experiences. Also didn't dive into the issues of racism and lack of diversity as I would've expected given that white supremacy is referenced in the title. 
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winter_loves_cookies's review against another edition

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funny informative inspiring medium-paced

4.5

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miss__manga__'s review

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informative fast-paced

3.0

Way too long and repetitive. Every chapter was “I realised it was bad but told myself I was being silly”. And then when she finally listened to herself she’s like “I’ll coast on other people to get paid instead of quitting”, this was despite being unsatisfied with her job and the industry and knowing people in her company were terrible and that she was consistently benefiting off of the work of other people who were struggling. 

There was a lot of “these schemes don’t allow anyone who isn’t white upper middle class to succeed” but I don’t think she fully acknowledged or understands how much she harmed those below her and how terrible she was. This was definitely written to make herself look reflective and inclusive but it doesn’t seem like she’s actually done a lot of reflection to how she harassed others into essentially going into debt and her inclusiveness seems surface level. 

She discusses a lot of issues about how these schemes are bad but never with depth or thorough analysis. A lot of surface level arguments. This book needed to decide if it wanted to be factual or a memoir - the mix did not work.

I’m also confused because she mentioned Facebook still being smallish at the start but then she doesn’t quit until the pandemic? But the time line didn’t seem to add up with the amount of years she worked…

If this had been chopped in half I would have liked it more, but the repetition got to the point where I was listening at over double speed. 
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tinyoceankingdoms's review against another edition

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informative reflective slow-paced

2.75

I think this book would have benefited from more careful editing. It felt about 100 pages too long to me, there’s a lot of rinse and repeat (naturally), and it all becomes a bit convoluted. 

What is most frustrating is where Paulson alludes to how MLMs are a symptom of larger destructive structures, but never really articulates her arguments clearly. I feel these could have been separated out into more defined sections to allow for more concise analysis,  as opposed to yet another description of some gathering and coveting of studded heels mixed in with passing reference to supporting studies and research. 

It also takes almost 300 pages to tackle the intersection of low information literacy and MLMs. Perhaps others have thoroughly covered this aspect, but I feel this is an enormously important issue in tackling MLMs.  It seems a bit disingenuous to believe that this only becomes apparent to Paulson during the infodemic, but there is a lot of wilful dissonance throughout the book. 

A lot of what attempts to be critical analysis is reminiscent of Elle Woods’ “due to… uh… habeas corpus…” moment. Just words being thrown around in attempt to confound a less informed audience (presumably her former peers). 

In short, she’s strongest when she’s recounting the grift because that’s what she understands best.  I would recommend it for that reason. 
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rockyroadbutch's review against another edition

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informative reflective medium-paced

4.25

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elderwoodreads's review

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informative medium-paced

3.0

I truly believe this book would have been better off if the author just stuck to the story of her experience (which she immediately makes less interesting as she states the characters are mash ups of different people she knew). Her attempts at analyzing the MLM movement were surface level and juvenile at best, and at worst sounded like a desperate attempt to not be canceled. If you have done any reading on MLMs the analysis sections will be old hat, but the memoir sections are interesting. 
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lilybear3's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative reflective tense fast-paced

5.0

I might be a little obsessed about reading cults and MLMs.  I think it's because myself and people outside of them can't fathom how powerful and influential they are on people.  It's a car crash you can't seem to look away from.  What makes this book stand out from others is the fact that Paulson was high up in the MLM scheme.  She is brutally honest about her privilege as a white woman with a heteronormative family, her addiction recovery, and the inner workings of an MLM.

Writing is casual while giving readers information.  At times, it is humorous with little quips, but overall, it is vulnerable and honest.  I also appreciated the design of the cover.  Best of all, the beginning of each chapter had flow chart/pyramid graphic of how her rank and downline continued to grow (and diminish).  Absolutely genius.

While I'm super interested in the topic, objectively, this book is great and should be on everyone's reading list.  I also appreciated that she says people who are in MLMs are simultaneously victims and abusers (may have used a different term, enablers?).  It can seem like only fools would fall for these scams but the scams prey on vulnerable people and use compelling rhetoric.  She says the book isn't to scold people, but to hopefully help them realize the danger these companies are.  In addition, there's a paragraph about how be there for someone you know in an MLM.  Importantly, she has resources for help with MLMs and addiction in the back of the book.
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