The Mole People: Life in the Tunnels Beneath New York City

by Jennifer Toth | Nonfiction |
ISBN: 1556521901 Global Overview for this book
Registered by violetaparra of Boston, Massachusetts USA on 8/18/2003
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1 journaler for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by violetaparra from Boston, Massachusetts USA on Monday, August 18, 2003
Ooh, it could have been such a good book but instead it sinks into sensationalism before you've even finished the damn introduction.

At first I was reluctant to even cross this book because I felt so disturbed by the way it must be misrepresenting the exact people it purports to honor: the people who make their homes under the streets of New York City. After some thought I've decided it would be intriguing to see if anybody else reads it and find out if they, too, have this same negative reaction.

It's not that the author isn't trying-- it's that she is so obviously NOT homeless herself, and so she's automatically cast herself in the role of Benevolent Outsider. She claims to try to avoid voyeurism, but that is precisely what much of the book feels like.

Nonetheless, it is the *only* book I know of so far to even attempt to write about this sub-group of an already shunned society. And despite the frequently sensationalist style she chooses (or her editor chose for her?), you find small glittering real stories of creating community in the face of great hardship. So in that way it is, just maybe, worth reading.

Released on Friday, August 29, 2003 at Boston - Downtown Crossing orange line T stop in Boston, Massachusetts USA.

Left in front of an employee's only door on the Oak Grove-direction orange line platform.

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