Review by Booklist Review
Fifteen incisive and varied essays present the points of view of many individuals and groups living "precariously" in the contemporary U.S., from child immigrants from Central America to those on the economic fringes seeking gender affirmation to food delivery drivers struggling to make ends meet during the pandemic. The book's editors and essay selectors, Caligiuri and 11 others, were or are inmates of the Minnesota prison system and are involved with the Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop (MPWW). (The collection is a collaboration between MPWW and nonprofit Minneapolis publisher Coffee House.) Each piece is followed by a wide-ranging, thoughtful conversation among five of the editors, an MPWW teacher, and an intern. Contributors range from the lesser known, like T. M. "Redd" Warren, who pays lyrical tribute to a former cellmate, to award-winning writers like Kiese Laymon, Valeria Luiselli, and Inara Verzemnieks, who writes about a community living at an Oregon rest area. Wrenching but ultimately hopeful, the collection suggests that those of us living on the edge in one way or another would benefit from understanding our common condition.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Caligiuri and 11 other incarcerated men from the Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop serve as the editors of this eye-opening compilation, which brings together essays about economic insecurity from a diverse array of writers. In "The Last Days of the Baldock," University of Iowa writing professor Inara Verzemnieks tells the stories of unhoused people living out of their vehicles at an Oregon rest stop, among them a carpenter who lost his house in the 2008 financial crisis and has struggled to get steady work since. An anonymous delivery driver provides an infuriating account of the indignities they suffered working in New York City at the Covid-19 pandemic's onset, when they regularly got stiffed on tips by the uber-wealthy they delivered to. Each contribution is followed by a brief transcribed discussion of the piece among the editors. For instance, contemplating the ending of essayist Angela Pelster's "Saskatoons," in which a teen endures physical abuse from foster parents and other caretakers for years before running away and "disappearing into the cracks of the city forever," editor Chris Cabrera muses: "Is it a sad ending? I thought it was pretty happy. He's finally on his own." The variety of selections impresses, and the stories outrage. The result is a searing overview of how America's financial and social systems fail ordinary people. (Nov.)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A collection of essays and conversations about living in America without a safety net. There is a growing class, especially in the U.S., not characterized by politics, race, or religion, but by economic uncertainty and lack of stability. Defined by the British economist Guy Standing as "the precariat," this class cuts across broad swaths of the population: immigrants, prisoners, and gig workers, but also college graduates, homeowners, and artists. "We build community," writes Caligiuri, "because we can't expect, demand, or control the machinations of the captivity business." Featuring contributions from Kiese Laymon, Valeria Luiselli, Steve Almond, Lacy M. Johnson, and other prominent writers, this book, edited by a collective of incarcerated writers in Minnesota, demonstrates what it means to live a life dominated by uncertainty. Among the subjects are a teacher struggling to free herself from a $386,000 debt from loans her gambling-addicted mother took out in her name without her knowledge; people living at a rest stop in Oregon; a gig worker delivering food to the Manhattan wealthy during the worst days of the Covid-19 pandemic; and a group of U.S. Forest Service scientists working to save trees in Oregon and California as climate change decimates forests and other natural habitats. Almost all of the essays are enlightening, speaking to the resilience with which these people address their despair. Trees share this determination, notes Lauren Markham. "The living will do whatever they need to survive," she writes. "I had seen one desiccated former tree whose branches were covered in hundreds of cones….Sensing it will die, the tree bursts forth into cones in a frantic final act of hope: not so much for itself, but for its species." A thoughtful conversation among the editors caps each moving essay, and the book features an introduction by Eula Biss. Important stories of the unseen and unspoken that illuminate a growing class in America. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
