Rachel and Her Children

¶ … Rachel and Her Children: Homeless Families in America, by Jonathan Kozol. Specifically, it will contain a journal review of the book.

RACHEL AND HER CHILDREN

Rachel and Her Children" is the story of homeless people in New York. It is at times poignant, at times depressing, and most of all a reality check for just about anyone who believes they could never become homeless. The carpenter and his wife who open the book are a perfect example. They lost everything in a fire that destroyed their home, including his carpentry tools, which was how he earned his living, and so, he could not earn a living since. The story is tragic, because the family does not bounce back, in fact, their children are taken from them and placed in foster homes, and the adults end up panhandling on the street. Even more tragically, their story is not unusual, and that is the heart and soul of this book.

All of the people interviewed by the author in the book are or were homeless. Each one has a different story, but each one wants desperately to get off welfare and have a home again. These people are hungry, depressed, and live in horrible conditions in the Welfare Hotels of New York City. It seems ridiculous that the city would pay so much money to the hotels, (up to $3,000 per month); when they could rent decent housing for these people and give them back some dignity while allowing them to get back on their feet. The homeless situation depicted here seems hopeless, and for many people it is. Perhaps that is what is so memorable about this book. It depicts people in hopeless situations, and then questions why it has to be that way. The book leaves the reader not only feeling depressed over the situations of these people, it leaves the reader even more depressed about the powers that be who keep allowing it to happen. People should not have to live is such conditions, and there should be somewhere for people to turn who are in desperate situations, such as the people interviewed in this book.