Maryanne Murray Buechner
It would be easy to dismiss The Leap as just another self-satisfied saga of risking it all on a dotcom dream. Don’t. Ashbrook’s tale of how he went from disillusioned newspaperman to co-founder of the home-design empire HomePortfolio.com serves up heavy doses of self-examination and occasional melodrama (“Maybe we don’t get to choose our madness”). But it is saved by self-deprecating humor and gut-wrenching suspense (Will the money run out? Will his wife?). By the end, you’re praying for this guy to make it.
–By Maryanne Murray Buechner
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