Breaking The Bank
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REVIEWS & PRAISE
REVIEWS
Yona Zeldis McDonough scores in Breaking the Bank. —Vanity Fair
Mia makes some poor choices throughout the book, culminating in a doozy of an odd relationship toward the end, but McDonough’s skillful characterization has the reader sympathizing rather than despising…Readers who enjoy well-written fiction with hints of magical realism such as Merrill Markoe’s “Walking in Circles Before Lying Down” will likely be charmed by McDonough’s third novel. —Library Journal
Imagine going to the ATM and getting free money. Yona Zeldis McDonough¹s new and remarkable novel Breaking the Bank explores this very idea in a modern day fairytale in which its main character, Mia, is our new superhero…[BREAKING THE BANK] is a truly spellbinding tale that will force you to think about money and social class in a new way. Mia¹s voice is strong and speaks to all of us, especially in these tough economic times. —The Brooklyn Rail
Breaking The Bank is a charming mix of the bitter and sweet of life. Ms. McDonough snags your heart and keeps a firm hold on it to the very end of this captivating novel. The infusion of a bit of fairy tale magic is sheer genius, and in combination with hot sex, it lifts this delightful read beyond the ordinary. —Heide Katros, Winter Haven News
Recently unemployed, Mia Saul is trying to support her daughter, Eden, as a freelance editor. She receives little compensation from her ex-husband, Lloyd, who left Mia for a manicurist. So when the bank machine gives Mia $200 instead of the requested $100, she is sure the bank will discover the error and remedy the situation.
She cannot believe her good fortune when the error goes unnoticed and continues to occur. Throw in a drug dealer, a bartender, and his tarot card-reading mother, a prison fling and $10,000, and Mia is in for one wild ride! What will she do with her newfound windfall? —Leslie L. McKee, Romantic Times, Four Stars
PRAISE
Book clubs: here’s your new selection! Breaking the Bank is masterful, modern and magical. The odyssey of Mia Saul, left by her husband to raise their daughter alone is filled with surprises, heartbreak and hope. Ms. McDonough’s craft is in full bloom: her sure hand is evident in this cast of original characters who live in a story that keeps you on the edge of your seat from start to finish. Breaking the Bank will enthrall readers everywhere. —Adriana Trigiani, Very Valentine and Lucia, Lucia
Yona Zeldis McDonough’s star-bright new novel, “Breaking The Bank,” is not really a fable of our times—it accurately portrays our times, where the improbable is sometimes made real. By showing the way we live now, Ms. McDonough illustrates, in language and situations no one else could have created, just how strange and fascinating and true urban life is for the witty hopeful pragmatists that populate this lovely and fully realized work. —Hilton Als, The New Yorker
Yona Zeldis McDonough has written a deliciously intriguing black comedy that perfectly captures the zeitgeist–with a dash of magic for good measure. —Christina Baker Kline, The Way Life Should Be
A modern-day fairytale, with a twist. McDonough’s characters’ flaws only serve to underscore their humanity. I couldn’t put it down! —Megan McAndrew, Dreaming In French
Unlike anything I’ve ever read before, McDonough’s book gleefully dissects the cachet of cash, the broken heart of divorce and the struggle to single-mother when your bankbook’s more than a bit depleted. Slyly witty, deeply felt and full of magic, it’s a wonderful page-turner to fall in love with page after page. —Caroline Leavitt, Girls in Trouble, Coming Back To Me
Yona Zeldis McDonough has hit the jackpot, with a quirky, moving modern fairy tale about a woman and her daughter, abandoned and near destitute, saved by magic. Like a modern day genie, McDonough pulls out breathtakingly alive characters and sly commentary on how our lives are shaped by the money we have—or don’t have. —Rochelle Jewel Shapiro, Miriam the Medium
Husband leaves wife, child acts out, financially strapped mother is consumed with anger and guilt. Sound familiar? It won’t be after you’ve read BREAKING THE BANK, Yona Zeldis McDonough’s heartbreakingly poignant and witty story about one woman’s struggle suddenly ameliorated by a magical ATM that begins to dispense wads of extra (and unrecorded) cash, along with a sizeable bundle of hope. —Victoria Zackheim, The Other Woman: Twenty-one Wives, Lovers, and Others Talk Openly About Sex, Deception, Love, and Betrayal
