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Book Review of How Starbucks Saved My Life: A Son of Privilege Learns to Live Like Everyone Else

How Starbucks Saved My Life: A Son of Privilege Learns to Live Like Everyone Else
Leigh avatar reviewed on + 378 more book reviews


A feel-good, inspirational memoir of an old, white man down-on-his-luck who finds a sort of redemption in working a job as a barista/cashier at Starbucks. It was good to read about such a name-dropping (seriously - about 20 names from Hemingway to Sinatra) pompous jerk get a little humbled. I like the conclusions he drew from his experience and it reminded me a lot of "Who Moved My Cheese." It also made me miss working at Caribou Coffee, which I consider the best job of my life.

Although it isn't as inspirational as the author probably thinks it is, it's a good, quick read about a man's life and what change can do to it. I enjoyed reading it and I'm glad I did. The zen of finding happiness in anything in life, from a high-powered white-collar job to cleaning toilets - is a beauty everyone should know about. Gill does a decent job telling his story.