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SOLD OUT by ROBERT LLEWELLYN

Published by Octopus Books / Released October 2008

Like most of us Robert Llewellyn, the actor/comedian/writer/presenter, has become increasingly disenchanted with our rampant consumerist society and following one gruelling Christmas shopping expedition too many, he took, what many would see as quite an extreme decision, to buy absolutely nothing for an entire year (although once he had chance to think about it he did realise that he would actually need to buy food), a decision that would have a huge impact on both himself and his family.

Sold Out takes us on a funny journey through his year of holey socks and avoidance of shopping malls as he realises that having four computers is maybe not as important as reducing your imprint on the world. Each chapter marks off a different point throughout the year and Rob spends as much time telling us about his life (and family) as he does about not buying things, but as the year progresses, his year of "making do" suddenly takes on a very real and unexpected dimension as a couple of years of putting money into his house renovations and not his tax fund sees him hit with a major tax bill that he is going to struggle big time to pay.

Llewellyn is an intrinsically funny guy and there are plenty of laugh out loud moments but he also has valid points to make, especially when he talks about the differences between his grandparents lifestyle and his own, it's incredible really how much waste we all produce, although when I say we I really mean the retail industry, so much packaging in the food and products we buy is completely unnecessary and his comments about how almost every bit of waste his grandparents produced was put back into the land, even the cinders from the fire were used to make the pathways for their vegetable garden, it really brings home how different our own lives are.

A thoroughly entertaining and thought provoking read. You should also check out Rob's You Tube series of "making do" reports that he filed throughout his year of not buying anything.

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