Ain't It Great: A Look Inside Amway

Rating:
Summary: Honest effort, but not a good book.
Review: First of all, a disclaimer: I am not, nor have I ever been, an Amway representative. I have no plans to do it--mostly because, like the author of this book, I think Amway is essentially a sophisticated pyramid scheme, where a few "heavy hitters" at the very top make millions on the back of a huge "downline" of would-be millionaires.

The author reached this very same conclusion, in his years as an Amway distributor. This is the story of his descent into the Amway cult and eventual reemergance. It certainly makes clear why the author doesn't like Amway: He tells us of deceptive recruiting ("I have a wonderful business opportunity for you..."), of brainwashing sessions knowns as "motivational meetings" and "dream weekend" (which, of course, you MUST come to because it will BLOW YOUR MIND, even if you miss a house payment to do it), of the constant pressure to be "educatable" (do exactly what your superiors in Amway--your "upline"--tell you) and a "winner" (don't look at how much money you are losing, or anything that isn't "positive" about Amway), and so on. He tells of the constant marital stress, sleep deprivation, ruined friendships, and neglected children that usually are the companions of a "winner" and "go getter" in Amway--the kind that spends every waking moment eating, drinking, and showing Amway to people, while ignoring "negative" friends and family who wonder why he isn't a millionaire yet.

The problem is in the WAY he tells it. The author makes all the mistakes of first-time writers who are dying to tell the world a story: he is repetitive without noticing; goes off on tangents about other interests and activities he was involved in that don't have much relevance to the main point; tells the story in an almost perfectly chronological order despite the fact that it makes it harder to understand; and (last but not least) makes the rading difficult by using an odd typesetting and font, printing the book in single-space while putting a space between paragraphs. In summary, the book shows all the tell-tale signs of someone who made two very common mistakes in writing: a). tries to tell us EVERYTHING that happened in his life when he was involved in Amway, relevant or not, forgetting that in writing, "less is more"; b). wrote the book in a font and style that looks good on the computer screen, and transferred it to paper without changing it.

This is not really criticism of the author. He never claims to have written the great American novel, or pretends to be a professional writer. He just tries his best to do what the cover says: to tell his story, the story of a "regular Joe", about Amway. And, to be fair, many books (even by professional writers) are MUCH worse than this one. If repetitive and unfocused, this book isn't bizzare, embarrasing, or painful to read, like so many "I-just-HAVE-to-tell-the-world-what-happened" books by first-time authors. The fault lies more with the editors and proofreaders, who published the book without serious revision.

This is a shame, since--all problems with the book aside--the author is right in his basic assumption: the story IS worth telling. It is the story of how it is inside what is probably the largest cult in America--one that, being a commercial and not a religious cult, gets little attention and ruins lives every day. It is both a rather shocking story and a warning. But, as the saying goes, "anything worth doing is worth doing well"--and this book, unfortunately, wasn't done well. If you want to learn about Amway, you would be better off visiting the many web sites dedicated to investigating it, or buying better books on the subject, like Ruth Carter's "Amway Motivational Organizations: Behind the Smoke and Mirrors".