I’ve actually been meaning to read this for a long time. I’m fascinated by tiny living, nomadic or otherwise, and the cover alone would have attracted my attention. But then it was always out at the library and I sort of forgotten about it until it got turned into a movie, now an award winning movie, that refreshed my memory and reignited my interest. So now I’ve read it and I’m profoundly depressed and going to need happy books (my version of, probably dark psychological thrillers) to balance this out. But also…and maybe I should have led with this…wow, what a book. What a terrific timely important book.
It took the author three years to compile the stories that comprise this book, to follow around the main character and meet all the side characters, to actually live or at least sample the lifestyle from van living to getting seasonal jobs the people in this book survive on. It’s a humongous undertaking, a really stunning work of investigative journalism. Bravo. Like many true stories, the ones featured here are very sad. Not merely on a personal level for featuring people beaten down by circumstances, thrown off the conventional trajectory of the American dream, people who’ve done all or most of the right things and still got waylaid by the vagaries of life, but also because these people and their lives signify a much larger fault within the society itself. These people epitomize the failure of the American dream, the ugly reality of the most economically divided country in the developed world. They are the ones the wealthiest nation in the world left behind and if you believe (as you should) that a society should be judged by how it takes care of its neediest citizens, it represents a really bleak picture indeed. The overwhelming majority of the tiny living videos I watch on youtube kind of feature the same motif…a millennial or a couple of millennials get fed up with the 9 to 5, trick out a van or an RV and hit the road, to travel and have fun and become Instafamous. Or a single older person mostly for financial reasons chooses to go small and wheely. But mainly it seems these decisions were made by choice more so than dire necessity and the motivations are mainly to travel and thread lightly upon the world. Seldom if ever (or maybe I’m not watching the right kinds of videos) do they feature people like in this book. People with no choices, displaced, discarded. People who have been economically destroyed by 2008, who have no place to live, who became unemployed with no means of regaining employment that suits their experience and education levels and would allow them to be financially solvent, etc. And yet apparently there’s a large number of these individuals, all or mostly all older, forced to go on the road, live on the road and work short contract gigs to get by, because, of course, Social Security alone doesn’t even come close to providing for them in their old age. It’s absolutely harrowing to read about people in their 60s and 70s, forced (with often no other options) to work in Amazon warehouses in the notoriously brutal conditions and, of course, Amazon gets a generous credit for providing jobs for older folks and the entire system is just so f*cked. It’s equally harrowing to read about them trying to survive in the tiny cramped mobile quarters often not built or suited for all weather and often featuring no basic conveniences like showers. In fact, it makes you rethink conveniences, rerate them based on the levels of sheer necessity, and when it boils down to it, it’s amazing what people can learn to live without. This isn’t quaint, this isn’t optional, this isn’t minimalism for the sake of the trend, this isn’t only having the things that spark joy, this is basic desperation driven survival. And the fact that it’s so prevalent is an absolute disgrace, in fact the entire book is a well researched and well written opprobrium of a society that has bought into its glowing self image and became all too good at ignoring its faults. To be fair, while the stories within this book and the lifestyle it depicts are emotionally devastating, it isn’t all doom and gloom. Americans are, after all, a nation so obsessed with being happy, they find cheer and optimism against all reason if needs be. And these Americans, though more dragged down by life, still rally, alone and together, find friendships and support, create communities, etc. It’s difficult to impossible to hope for a happy ending, considering the facts and the ages of them, but there’s something to be said for the older generations’ sheer get up and go determination. The thing is, though, it shouldn’t have to be subject of the conversation because people in general and specially senior citizens of a first world country shouldn’t have to live like that. Which is why it’s great that this book exists and especially great that it’s been made into a well received movie, which will reach many more people than a book, even a popular and famous one, would ever be able to in this day and age. I, for one, can’t wait to watch it. The thing is, though, movies tend to not go quite as dark as books and this story needs to be known it its original form, so whether you watch a movie or not, do read this book. It’s a socioeconomic nightmare that deserves attention. Just prepare yourself for an emotional wallop. Recommended.
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