Statements (a book review)

Garrison Keillor has his Lake Wobegon; Dave Berry has his “I’m not making this up!”; dooce.com has intestinal distress, and Amy Borkowsky in her book “Statements” has American Express. As the cover of the book says, “She was too busy to keep a diary… Luckily AmEx kept one for her."

Using what she claims are her American Express statements for the past several years and actually including lines from those statements, Borkowsky treats us to the adventures of a single thirty-something ad copywriter turned comedienne. This book is the hardbound equivalent of a chick-flick so some guys may not be able to relate but there’s enough cute situations and humor that it is worth trying.

An example in one of her tales is her wanting (as an adult woman) what she had always wanted as a little girl and had never gotten. She writes “Every birthday and ever Chanukah throughout my childhood I’d beg for one, and each year I’d get the same thing. Underwear. Fine for warming buns but totally useless for baking cakes.”

There are plenty of credits on her American Express statements along with the charges. As she states in the chapter called Returns: I have my own Return Policy: if I happen into a store with a policy that “All Sales Are Final,” I won’t return there. Closet space and money are too scarce. She even had the balls to charge a ticket to France on the Concorde to meet eligible men in the elegant Concorde airport lounge. She got her refund by canceling at the last minute.

I found her funny without being slapstick, sensitive without being maudlin. I recommend it for a good, light read.