Smashbomb

"I can’t nor do I want to unsee the essays in this collection. Irby is well known as a humorist, and the essays in “We Are Never Meeting in Real Life” are, indeed, very funny. They are also poignant, and incredibly honest. Humor makes way for vulnerability and by the end of this book you will have cried as much as you laughed about what it means to be a black woman, what it is to live with chronic illness, how poverty marks you, how love always finds a way."

Source

Kudos

Roxane Gay recommended We Are Never Meeting in Real Life in Books (curated)

We Are Never Meeting in Real Life

Samantha Irby | 2017 | Essays, Humor & Comedy

(0 Ratings)

Book Favorite

"I can't nor do I want to unsee the essays in this collection. Irby is well known as a humorist, and the essays in “We Are Never Meeting in Real Life” are, indeed, very funny. They are also poignant, and incredibly honest. Humor makes way for vulnerability and by the end of this book you will have cried as much as you laughed about what it means to be a black woman, what it is to live with chronic illness, how poverty marks you, how love always finds a way."

Source

Kudos

Suswatibasu (1701 KP) rated Down and Out in Paris and London in Books

Sep 9, 2017

George Orwell, a man of many experiences

I adore George Orwell, not only is he an incredibly gifted writer, he's a cat with nine lives. From living in Burma to fighting in the Spanish Civil War, Orwell has a lived a life rich with experiences hence he is able to make observations many journalists cannot. In this case, Orwell lived in squalor and absolute poverty in both Paris and London, not out of choice mind, but because he had become destitute and extremely poor during his early 20s.

His life living with an extrovert Russian in Paris is vivid, describing real hunger, having had nothing to eat for several days. He ends up working in a few godforsaken squalid hotels in Paris as a dishwasher, with long hours just to make ends meet and quench his hunger. Eventually, after working with rats, he has no choice but to return to England (borrowing money) and finds that it isn't much different. The homeless shelters are basically prison cells, dark and dangerous, but a way to keep off the streets.

In the end, he attempts to give recommendations to what can be done to alleviate the plight of the poverty stricken. It is another interesting chapter of his short but eventful life.

Kudos

The Moonlight School

Suzanne Woods Fisher

9.5 (2 Ratings) Rate It

Book

Haunted by her sister's mysterious disappearance, Lucy Wilson arrives in Rowan County, Kentucky, in...

Historical Fiction Christian Fiction Fiction Adult Fiction Romance

Suswatibasu (1701 KP) rated Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City in Books

Jul 28, 2017

Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City

Matthew Desmond | 2016 | Essays, Philosophy, Psychology & Social Sciences

9.3

(3 Ratings)

Book Rating

Grim, detailed outlook on the American poor

Absolute kudos to Matthew Desmond for his detailed look into the heart of America's troubled capitalist system. His research and first-hand accounts of people living in poverty in Milwaukee is desperate, heartbreaking and dire, at the same time he offers an alternative to attempt to remedy an age old discriminatory system.

Eight individuals and families in this book represent an ongoing endemic situation that has perpetuated over the last century. Desmond explains circumstances that many i.e. institutions are familiar with but choose to not deal with. Definitely deserved of the Pulitzer Prize.

Kudos

ClareR (5721 KP) rated Dubliners in Books

Oct 28, 2019 (Updated Sep 8, 2020)

Dubliners

James Joyce, Terence Brown | 2000 | Fiction & Poetry

7.5

(4 Ratings)

Book Rating

I was sure I’d read Dubliners before - possibly during my English Literature A Level, but I couldn’t remember what the stories were about. They really give the reader a feel of what life must have been like at the turn of the last century in Ireland. They’re not all ‘pretty’ stories either. We see alcoholism (or at least heavy drinking that impacts life and family), poverty, suicide, missed opportunities and hard decisions. So, normal life for a lot of people.
I now wonder if I should go back and reread one of his novels?
Many thanks to The Pigeonhole for serialising this book.