A Penny for Alyssa Nissel!

 I always thought non-fiction was all about a person writing a boring story about themselves but that view altered after I was introduced to the book, The Broke Diaries by Alyssa Nissel. This book is about a college student, Alyssa Nissel, who ends up being broke because her school fees are incredibly high. Instead of sulking in her pain of being broke, she decides to write blog entries in her adventures of dealing with this struggle. Some stories she includes is when she goes to New York City to visit a friend, but he was late picking her up at the train station, so she found a phone booth that allowed her to make calls with her debit card. She assumed that the call just wouldn't connect if she didn't have the funds in her account to pay for it but instead she ended up making ten calls on her debit card and didn't think any more about it until she got her bank statement, which included ten $30 overdraft charges--one for each call. Her statement arrived on the same day her student loans were deposited, so the bank went ahead and took its $300 from that check, which she had been counting on to cover food, groceries and other bills. Nissel closed her bank account, but then couldn't open a new one until five years later because her former bank had reported her to Chex systems. She had to start cashing her checks at a check-cashing place, which takes out tons of ridiculous fees with every transaction. Another story is when her brother comes to visit her and instead of actually helping her out with some money, he hands her a book of food stamps. All these stories want to make you feel bad about her situation but her writing style makes it impossible for you to feel bad. You can’t help but not laugh at her misery. I have only read a little bit of this book but I am eager to read more and more and enjoy what Nissel has in store for her readers. She is incredibly funny and sassy and her sassiness makes this such a fun read.