Flat Broke With Two Goats: A Memoir by Jennifer McGaha

Flat Broke With Two Goats: A Memoir by Jennifer McGaha

Flat Broke With Two Goats: A Memoir

Author: Jenifer McGaha

Length: 370 pages

Release date: January 23, 2018

Content notes: literature meant for adults

“When you have gone through a sort of travesty of your own making, failure begins to feel like part of you. You get used to it.” 

Brief synopsis:

This is the story of how Jenifer McGaha and her husband survive devastating bankruptcy including huge amounts of back taxes. She and her husband are good people who have allowed themselves to make foolish financial decisions. McGaha accepts responsibility for her part in the mess, and she goes on to find purpose and happiness in her new “strapped” situation. Somehow, this beaten couple save their marriage and their sanity as they face the effects of their actions. Also, they go on to find purpose and happiness in their new impoverished life.

My thoughts:

This book is the current “Big Library Read” book and is not the usual type of book I enjoy reading. However, I did enjoy reading this because of the hope and the experience that McGaha imparts to the reader. We all know people who have suffered financial set-backs and problems with money. However, the overwhelming tax bills these people have seem overwhelming and insurmountable. You can not bankrupt yourself out of tax responsibilities and I really wanted to know how they are digging themselves out of the mess. 

HOWEVER, this story is not about digging out of the money issues. In fact that is barely mentioned. Instead McGaha shares how she and her husband put the pieces of their personal life, including their battered marriage, together. It is about getting purpose and new meaning to their lives. They do this through raising chickens and goats at their new "dirt cheap" rented dilapidated house and farm. They seem to be people who jump into life before thinking (maybe this is how they got into financial trouble) as they buy chickens and goats armed only with information they find on the internet. The farm-animal experience is all on-the-job learning but, because they love animals they persevere and endure in their animal raising efforts. I found myself surprised to realize that they are happier in their  humble life with their goats (and each other) than they were before. But then, who can be happy when they are stretched financially while living on the edge of catastrophe?

The McGahas:

I like Jennifer and I like her husband. They never give up on each other. Jennifer does take a little detour in the marriage as she grieves for her grandmother who passes away during this stressful time. But overall, love, dedication, kindness, and a few goats win out and the two triumph over all the scariness. However, I kept hoping to hear Jennifer say that she would never again "NOT" know what is going on in their finances ever again. She seems to get so wrapped up in her cooking and her animals that she loses focus on how to protect herself and her family from future financial problems. I want her to not only take responsibility for their problems (which she does), but to also become part of the solution and part of securing their future.