Review by Booklist Review
Homelessness is one of most persistent ills plaguing society; for those who possess any level of empathy, hearts go out to those living on street corners or sleeping rough. But few truly understand how people born into healthy circumstances can end up in such dire straits. Fagan, a journalist who has covered the issue of homelessness for most of his career, has taken a deep dive into the lives of two individuals to understand the paths that led them to living on the streets. Rita, a former surfer girl and beauty queen, and Tyson, a troubled former Cub Scout, both battled substance-abuse problems, among other issues, that led each of them to homelessness. Their stories are shocking and painful, and one has to fight the urge one often feels when encountering someone like them on the street: the urge to look away. For those who seek to understand how anyone could end up this way, and who might want to help in some way, this book provides an often difficult--but necessary--experience.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Seeking to put a human face on the homelessness crisis, San Francisco Chronicle reporter Fagan took to his city's streets to experience the lifestyle firsthand. In this riveting account, he describes camping out on a concrete median nicknamed "Homeless Island" by those who sleep there, forming close-knit relationships with Rita, a former surfer girl now in her 50s, and Tyson, a young man suffering from undiagnosed bipolar disorder. In detailing their stories, Fagan traces the uniquely American slippery slope that leads to homelessness--a combination of high rents, precarious employment, drug addiction, lack of mental health care, a penchant for free-spiritedness verging on stubbornness, and a commitment to individual responsibility that wears away at family ties. Rita, a mother of four, always rebellious by nature, as an adult fell into a bohemian lifestyle in the Florida Keys that eventually led to drug addiction. Tyson, raised middle-class, had an erratic personality that left him floating from job to job, eventually ending up on his grandmother's couch until she passed away. In an emotional turn, Fagan reports that after publishing profiles on Rita and Tyson, he was contacted by their siblings, who were eager to help. Fagan then chronicles Rita's and Tyson's passages through rehab, halfway houses, and on to what seem to be successful new beginnings. The result is a haunting proposal that the homelessness crisis is caused above all by a startling lack of compassion in American society. (Feb.)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
Putting a face on people who don't have homes. The homeless epidemic afflicts every American city, and yet San Francisco has often been designated by the national news media as the homeless capital of America. After all, as veteranSan Francisco Chronicle reporter Kevin Fagan writes, "If you have to be homeless, there's no better place than San Francisco. This is where the booze and dope are plentiful, the cops are lax, and the homeless culture is so widespread you can disappear into it." With compassion, an eye for detail, and an instinct for the human stories behind the statistics, Fagan gives voice to the often-anonymous individuals propelled on downward spirals that take them from suburbia and middle-class comforts to mean streets rife with panhandling, AIDS, fentanyl, disease, and death. When needed, Fagan brings in facts: 35% of San Francisco's unhoused are Black, yet they make up only 6% of the population. Born and raised in the Bay Area and briefly homeless himself, Fagan knows what it's like to be without a bed at the end of the day. In his book, he focuses on a traffic island that's dubbed "Homeless Island." Perched between the Tenderloin and Mission districts, it's not far from City Hall. Fagan contrasts Homeless Island with the beauty and wealth of a city that has long prided itself on its caring--but that often doesn't want to acknowledge the waves of refugees from elsewhere who arrive without resources and must find a space on a sidewalk or under a bridge. "The Shame of the City," aChronicle series on homelessness that Fagan produced, helped inspire California Gov. Gavin Newsom to create "Homeward Bound," a program that reunites the unhoused with family and friends. Like that series, this book is powerful, offering a humanizing and hopeful portrait of an abiding problem. A rare look at citizens often denied their dignity. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
