I can't believe this is the ninth book written by this woman. NINTH!! Surely they can't all be like this, or publishers wouldn't keep publishing them, right??The writing is atrocious, and completely overwhelms what I'm sure is a very sincere message.What is meant to seem self-deprecating comes off as self-absorbed and annoying. Other reviewers have described her and her as hilarious, but I could not disagree more. Her efforts in the 7 project may have been to draw her closer to God in some way,

Last night I finished reading 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess. Every once in awhile I read a book that really affects me. This is one of those books. The author, Jen Hatmaker, takes 7 months to focus on 7 different areas of excess in her life. You see, Jen Hatmaker is rich. She's rich, just like you are. Just like I am.Yup, I just called myself rich. I just called you rich too. If you are reading this review, you are rich. If you make $35,000 a year, you are in the top 4% of the wealthi...

Almost 5 stars, but too religious. Of course, that is her POINT, but still. I just LOVE reading other people's experiences with downsizing and minimalism. I absolutely devoured this book in less than 24 hours, even reading by flashlight while our power was out. Minimalism is almost a religion for me. It makes life so much better. It is such a relief to get rid of possessions. The author learned those lessons and many more as she worked through 7 months of doing without in seven different categor...

Oh this book. This book took me completely and utterly by surprise. A friend gave it to me for Christmas because she thought I'd like what she took to be the general theme of the book from the blurb in the back-- this lady scales back in 7 aspects of her material life. Yeah I love that stuff. What is not glaringly obvious from the main blurb in the back is that this book is written by a pastor's wife who's also a speaker on Christianity. You have to look at the fine print for that pattern and th...

It pains me to not give 7 a higher rating. After all, it's filled with ideas I admire, strive to, and do in my daily life. Jen Hatmaker's writing style, though, gets in her way. She spends too much time on cultural cliches and mentions that are downright uncomfortable. It's distracting and completely unnecessary when she refers to her adopted children as "brown," or her favorite restaurant as "worth murdering for." It's a turnoff when she describes "First (Insert Denomination) Church" as full of...

I finished it this morning and felt like I had just had a really long weekend with a best friend. First of all, she's hilarious. I started following her on twitter which is equally hilarious, btw. I laughed several times out loud reading this...and sometimes I cried. Often, it was on the same page. What I loved the most is that this is her experience, not her preaching. She wrote in a kind of blog format, taking you with her through everyday of this experiment. Some days were deep and brooding a...

I really didn't want to read this book. A member of my mission team in Africa this June recommended the book to me. But my world had already been turned upside down by the beautifully broken country called Sierra Leone, not to mention my heart had been stolen by several of it's orphans.... so I fought reading this book upon my return home. Once I realized that I would never be the same, and trying to come to terms with living in 'The States' while half my heart longs for Africa and a more simple...

Ok. So, she is funny. She has a fun way with words and can write a little conversation into something that is fun to read. I'd love for my students to be able to do this. But I couldn't even get myself to finish this book. It is just not my style. When I read a book, I want a book, not something that reads like a bunch of blog posts. Even in her mutiny against excess, I saw excess. It was like reading, "Hey look at me. Look at what I'm doing. I'm this great famous person so I can limit my consum...

I'm torn about this book. On the one hand, I don't think I like Jen Hatmaker all that much. It may be that folksy on this level just doesn't do it for me, but when you start talking about chips & salsa as a food you'd be willing to "commit actual murder for," that's just too much needless hyperbole for a book that's supposed to about living a more Godly life. On the other hand, reading this made me quite uncomfortable in what I assume is a good way. Beyond the novelty of wearing only a certain n...

This book was quite a mixed bag for me. While I admire Hatmaker's heart and her decision to drastically simplify her lifestyle, the chummy/overly self-deprecating/oh-little-ol'-me? tone of her authorial voice really grated on my nerves. It was difficult at times not to feel like "7" was just a vanity project for Hatmaker -- many of the changes she implemented for each of her 7 focused months (i.e. eating only 7 foods, unplugging from all media) were simply unsustainable over the longterm or did

NOTE: not so much a review as a place-to-put-the-quotes-I-don't-want-to-forget-before-I-return-this-to-the-library.*"The careful study of the Word has a goal, which is not the careful study of the Word. The objective is to discover Jesus and allow Him to change our trajectory. Meaning, a genuine study of the Word results in believers who feed poor people and open up their guest rooms; they're adopting and sharing, mentoring and intervening. Show me a Bible teacher off mission, and I'll show you

I can understand others giving this book a high rating, but for me personally I struggled through it. I think most of this was due to the style and tone of the writer which I just didn't like on a simple personality basis, which may be my fault as much as the author's agreeably. I also thought some of the arguments and data peppered through out the prose were trite, presented one-sided, and not subjected to the proper judiciousness of the journalism she was bordering on. Finally, some of the sev...

Gulp. Just finished this incredible book, and believe me...it's shaken me. Through this book, I have had a major change in perspective. I cringe to see my sin revealed....the sin of self-pity and feeling sorry for myself for our money struggles, all while the air conditioner cools my home to a comfy 74 degrees. What would I be willing to give up for my children? Everything, duh. What about my sister's baby? Or my brother's children? If I knew that they were in need, hungry, unclothed, motherless...

I'll be honest, I grudgingly started this book. I downloaded the book on my kindle and strapped myself in for one of those self help/loathing books that makes you feel like a piece of crap because you aren't a better person and doing all you can for your fellow man...... My husband asked me what I was reading when I started and I gave him a grotesque look and told him it was a book for book club that I HAD to read and Misty (who recommended the book) owed me and I was going to put her to work sc...

 As the clock ticked past midnight, I was finishing up the last chapter of "Seven- an experimental mutiny against excess". I read the whole book yesterday and found it inspiring and a good way to start my 36th year. I'm thinking about the different categories that she fasted in: food- 7 foods for a month, clothes: 7 items of clothing for a month, Possessions: giving away 7 items everyday, Media: most of it except email, phone calls and some texting, Waste: begin gardening, composting, conserving...

Reads like a blog, which is mostly okay--I like reading blogs. That said, Ms. Hatmaker's copyeditor seriously let her down. The author tells us that she is a word person who corrects misspelled words in text messages, yet we see such errors as "sheek" instead of "chic" and, in a sentence in which the author declares that "there aren't words to express [her] devotion to Paula Dean" she shows that her devotion does not extend to correctly spelling Ms. Deen's last name. There are enough such occurr...

Oh. My. Gosh. This was a very good book. Why didn't I give it five stars? Because I'm not really into the whole Christian peptalk part of it, but, hey, the author is in women's ministry, so it's not like I wasn't expecting that.Jen Hatmaker is very amusing, and her smartass voice is clear in her writing. By the time I was finished with her book, I wanted to be her friend. I'll bet she'd be fun at a Bunko gathering. This is the part where I over-generalize, so here's my apology in advance. *Sorry...

Someone recently connected me with the most hilarious end-of-the-school-year complaint I had ever read, written by blogger Jen Hatmaker. After scrolling through her blog a little, I discovered she had written a few books. One of the most recent was this one, where she led her family to disconnect themselves from the stuff threatening to take over their lives. The plan was to identify seven areas of excess and cut things out of her own life. Her husband and children participated in varying degree...

Just finished the book "7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess" by Jen Hatmaker. The book came highly recommended by friends who are familiar with my tastes and the season of life in which I find myself, and it did not disappoint. Hatmaker recounts her "journey of less" as she pares down areas of her life where she believes she has substituted the American Dream for God's kingdom. Reminiscent of David Platt's, "Radical," and Francis Chan's, "Forgotten God," this book invokes self-reflection, a...

This book came highly recommended but I failed to see what was so great about it. Eager to hear of this amazing experiment and life changing book, I waited patiently by the door, waiting for the Amazon santa clause to deliver my gift. Once it came, I ripped it open and voraciously read chapter one. The excitement fizzled and I was left with nothing. So I read chapter two...and three...waiting for something. Basically, the book is about learning to live with less. The author takes seven months, e...