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More or Less: Susannah Pratt discusses a Year of No Buying

Learn how to live well in a culture of consumerism and not be defined, and confined, by what you own.

In 2017, novelist Ann Patchett wrote in the NYT about planning "a year buying nothing" other than what she would consume-and Susannah Q. Pratt took the hint. In 2018, after some convincing (that included a family PowerPoint!) Pratt and her family decided to buy nothing, too: "We undertook a 365-day moratorium on the purchase of new clothes, toys, games, books, electronics, gear, furniture, housewares, and other things that fall in the general category of 'stuff.' For twelve months we purchased only essentials - food, toiletries, light bulbs, and a few pairs of shoes for my growing boys. We stayed out of stores and off of online shopping sites. We fixed things. We made things. We went without."

The twenty-one essays in More or Less are much more than the story of that year. Pratt thoughtfully considers what might bring someone to step outside the usual American consumerism, coming to examine the ways in which what we buy and own can change who we are or want to be. Intertwining scenes of home life with sustained reflection on notions of utility, disposability, and community, the book addresses the central question of how to live well in a culture of consumerism from which there is no meaningful exit.

Susannah Q. Pratt is a Chicago-based writer whose work has appeared in Literary Mama, Motherwell, The Mindful Word, Chicago Parent, Under the Gum Tree, Essay Daily, and The Week, among others. She has also served as a regular contributor to The Waking, the blog at Ruminate Magazine. Pratt, her husband, three children, and two dogs make their home—still full of too much stuff— in Evanston, IL. More or Less is her first book.

Signed copies of More or Less will be available for purchase.

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