emilyjmasters's review
slow-paced
3.0
this one didn't really seem to have a focus all the way through, it felt like it was all over the place and lacked cohesiveness
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness
Moderate: Rape
amymo73's review
4.0
This was a Libby book (so not the hardcover edition indicated above, but I was too lazy to change it, so there). Libby is the e-book loan app from my fabulous Buffalo & Erie County Public Library system. It also means that I have seven days to read a book. So I dive in fast and usually become absorbed.
I knew little, if anything, about this book. It was part of the Chautauqua Science and Literary Circle picks for this year, and I decided to dive into the CSLC this year. So here I am.
I found myself relating a lot to what Eliese was writing. Growing up in the Rust Belt, not Cleveland but a reason facsimile in Buffalo, I understood a lot of her interactions with the lawyers who seemed to look down on Cleveland. I'm a little bit older than she is, a late Gen Xer, but I also grasp what she is saying about this "if you can dream it, you can do it," platitude that we were fed as kids. I don't want to dissuade dreams. And at the same time, there are things that limit your choices and ability to make those dreams a reality that are not in your control. Sometimes it's the socio-economic-political system. Sometimes it's illness. Sometimes it's poverty. Pulling yourself up by your bootstraps is not easy, and as much as Eliese had issues with her conservative parents (and those were real issues) she did have them there when she needed them most. She had that support. And that's a big reason why she was able to get out of her hole.
I did like the way she unfolded her story. It kept me interested. Kept me reading. Because she uncovered her story in layers -- and don't we all have layers to our own stories.
I also found her treatment of Trump's election interesting. She showed the nuances of people -- they can be multiple things. And also how Trump and the conservative agenda hijacked the Republican party, how it played on people's fears which are nuanced and complicated as feelings often are. We have to sit with a lot of stuff and it's easier to just say, "that person over there is the problem," then in realizing that sometimes life just isn't fair and circumstances change.
I knew little, if anything, about this book. It was part of the Chautauqua Science and Literary Circle picks for this year, and I decided to dive into the CSLC this year. So here I am.
I found myself relating a lot to what Eliese was writing. Growing up in the Rust Belt, not Cleveland but a reason facsimile in Buffalo, I understood a lot of her interactions with the lawyers who seemed to look down on Cleveland. I'm a little bit older than she is, a late Gen Xer, but I also grasp what she is saying about this "if you can dream it, you can do it," platitude that we were fed as kids. I don't want to dissuade dreams. And at the same time, there are things that limit your choices and ability to make those dreams a reality that are not in your control. Sometimes it's the socio-economic-political system. Sometimes it's illness. Sometimes it's poverty. Pulling yourself up by your bootstraps is not easy, and as much as Eliese had issues with her conservative parents (and those were real issues) she did have them there when she needed them most. She had that support. And that's a big reason why she was able to get out of her hole.
I did like the way she unfolded her story. It kept me interested. Kept me reading. Because she uncovered her story in layers -- and don't we all have layers to our own stories.
I also found her treatment of Trump's election interesting. She showed the nuances of people -- they can be multiple things. And also how Trump and the conservative agenda hijacked the Republican party, how it played on people's fears which are nuanced and complicated as feelings often are. We have to sit with a lot of stuff and it's easier to just say, "that person over there is the problem," then in realizing that sometimes life just isn't fair and circumstances change.
candacemressler's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
reasie's review
4.0
My favorite parts were the glimpses inside the steel mill. It's cool she had different jobs in different areas to talk about! The hot dip was the coolest, though.
It's interesting to see how different someone's life can be when they live in the same city and are almost the same economic level. There were a couple times I thought "oh hey, I was there, at that event -- a person in the crowd described on the page."
It's interesting to see how different someone's life can be when they live in the same city and are almost the same economic level. There were a couple times I thought "oh hey, I was there, at that event -- a person in the crowd described on the page."
miguelf's review
4.0
Somewhat in the mold of other recent self-experiential books about growing up in the heartland (Hillbilly Elegy, Educated), Rust presents the journey of a woman taking a job at a local steel mill post-college and a following a job painting walls in Cleveland. The angle here would purportedly be showing the socio-economic realities on the ground in the Midwest, but the reality is that the number of extant mills has been ever shrinking and this is more a window into the economic past rather than a commentary on our present. More pertinent to our times would have shown a service related job. Still, the personal story itself is compelling and deeply felt and Goldbach competently tells her plights including bouts with bipolar disorder, overcoming a harrowing incident in college, all the while without asking for pity or requiring judgment. I had put this book on hold thinking it was more of a discussion on heartland job and economic conditions, but stayed for the well told story.
yilliun's review
challenging
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Mental illness
Minor: Suicidal thoughts