kristidurbs's review against another edition
3.0
Fascinating tale of a young man's social experiment to live a summer as a tramp riding the trains across America. While this book was written some 25 years ago, you felt as though it could have taken place in the present day, and now I'm very curious if there are still tramps riding the rails. The characters are vivid and the author gives you snapshots of different types of people he meets on his travels, challenging you to see beyond your assumptions of who lives this kind of life. This book also uncovers some of the interesting culture and lingo, giving the reader a better understanding of the differences between bums, hoboes, and tramps (bums don't work and don't travel; hoboes don't work either but they travel; tramps work and travel).
hjfritz27's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
earlyandalone's review against another edition
2.0
I thought a book about hoboes would be more compelling, honestly. I liked the idea--a young, privileged, white college student takes to the rails to find out what it's really like to live this lifestyle. What's most compelling, to me, is that Conover didn't have a book deal or a travel stipend--he just wanted to do it, so he did it. The book came later.
However, I was hoping for more analysis, more context. What I got was a day-by-day account of Conover's experiences on the rails. In the introduction, Conover says he was reluctant to publish his inner thoughts, so I was expecting more interiority, more rumination on what drove him to take this kind of trip. Nearly halfway into the book, I wasn't getting anything I came for, so I abandoned it. I think Ted would understand. Life's too short.
However, I was hoping for more analysis, more context. What I got was a day-by-day account of Conover's experiences on the rails. In the introduction, Conover says he was reluctant to publish his inner thoughts, so I was expecting more interiority, more rumination on what drove him to take this kind of trip. Nearly halfway into the book, I wasn't getting anything I came for, so I abandoned it. I think Ted would understand. Life's too short.
docpacey's review against another edition
5.0
Conover was a recent college grad in '81, and decided to see the world through the eyes of freight-hopping tramps, or hobos as they are commonly called. What follows is an eye-opening exploration of the underbelly of american society.
Conover spends a summer and fall crisscrossing the american west alone or with every sort of companion, riding the rails, sleeping in the jungles (railyard camps) or missions, dumpster diving or getting handouts at the sally (salvation army). He has every sort of adventure as he learns the ropes, and in the process he learns a lot about the tramping life, life on the streets, loneliness, trust and america from the perspective of its least wanted citizens.
Surprisingly, he spends a week or so in Everett, Wa., and it seems that not much has changed in the 30 yrs since he was here.
Insightful if not poetic, it's realism is its strength.
Conover spends a summer and fall crisscrossing the american west alone or with every sort of companion, riding the rails, sleeping in the jungles (railyard camps) or missions, dumpster diving or getting handouts at the sally (salvation army). He has every sort of adventure as he learns the ropes, and in the process he learns a lot about the tramping life, life on the streets, loneliness, trust and america from the perspective of its least wanted citizens.
Surprisingly, he spends a week or so in Everett, Wa., and it seems that not much has changed in the 30 yrs since he was here.
Insightful if not poetic, it's realism is its strength.
shayneh's review against another edition
3.0
Couldn't decide whether to go with "honest but infuriatingly naive" or "infuriatingly naive but honest"; it's both, and neither wins out. The author was obviously young at the time of writing, and that is just part of the book. Still, it is a story of his adventure, told from his immature point of view. He mentions John Howard Griffin's Black Like Me along the way, but the big difference between these is that Griffin brings along a lifetime of perspective and wisdom to his work that unites the tale into more than a picaresque series of episodes; Conover's feels more disjointed, almost a series of vignettes. Also, he's constantly unsure of who he is in relation to the tramps with whom he lives, invoking a familiar "mid-twenties existential quandary" motif. I'm not sure that this is a coming of age story, but it certainly is a young man's adventure.
msjoanna's review
4.0
This book was read by the author, but read approximately 20 years after the book was first published. I thought he did a very nice job with the reading.
The book itself is a wonderful combination of a memoir and a slice of history. As the author notes in the introduction that accompanies the re-release of the book, train-riding hoboes are pretty much gone now. Between a reduction in rail use, the conglomeration of rail companies into larger and more bureaucratic corporations, improved computer tracking across state lines of welfare benefits, and decreased availability of welfare, the type of free-traveling hobo that Conover encountered is probably hard to find today.
I enjoyed seeing the author's own development over the course of his few months and watching as his own experience and attitude shifted.
A fun read.
The book itself is a wonderful combination of a memoir and a slice of history. As the author notes in the introduction that accompanies the re-release of the book, train-riding hoboes are pretty much gone now. Between a reduction in rail use, the conglomeration of rail companies into larger and more bureaucratic corporations, improved computer tracking across state lines of welfare benefits, and decreased availability of welfare, the type of free-traveling hobo that Conover encountered is probably hard to find today.
I enjoyed seeing the author's own development over the course of his few months and watching as his own experience and attitude shifted.
A fun read.
jfranco77's review against another edition
4.0
Rolling Nowhere was originally written in 1984, so it might not be quite as relevant today. This edition (published in 2001) has a foreword from the author acknowledging as much.
Conover took a few months to "ride the rails" as a tramp. He lived the tramp life, talked and rode with fellow tramps, and took notes to share his story.
The story has a lot of waiting around and times between train rides. The descriptions of the train rides themselves are better than the descriptions of tramp life, but both are interesting. Conover seems like he really immersed himself in their world - which is equal parts dangerous, boring and difficult.
Conover occasionally gets preachy about how the tramp problem could be "fixed" - at one point he even wanders into the world of illegal Mexican farm workers and explores their plight - but mostly keeps himself under control and doesn't get intrusive about it.
Conover took a few months to "ride the rails" as a tramp. He lived the tramp life, talked and rode with fellow tramps, and took notes to share his story.
The story has a lot of waiting around and times between train rides. The descriptions of the train rides themselves are better than the descriptions of tramp life, but both are interesting. Conover seems like he really immersed himself in their world - which is equal parts dangerous, boring and difficult.
Conover occasionally gets preachy about how the tramp problem could be "fixed" - at one point he even wanders into the world of illegal Mexican farm workers and explores their plight - but mostly keeps himself under control and doesn't get intrusive about it.
ottopivnr's review against another edition
5.0
Conover was a recent college grad in '81, and decided to see the world through the eyes of freight-hopping tramps, or hobos as they are commonly called. What follows is an eye-opening exploration of the underbelly of american society.
Conover spends a summer and fall crisscrossing the american west alone or with every sort of companion, riding the rails, sleeping in the jungles (railyard camps) or missions, dumpster diving or getting handouts at the sally (salvation army). He has every sort of adventure as he learns the ropes, and in the process he learns a lot about the tramping life, life on the streets, loneliness, trust and america from the perspective of its least wanted citizens.
Surprisingly, he spends a week or so in Everett, Wa., and it seems that not much has changed in the 30 yrs since he was here.
Insightful if not poetic, it's realism is its strength.
Conover spends a summer and fall crisscrossing the american west alone or with every sort of companion, riding the rails, sleeping in the jungles (railyard camps) or missions, dumpster diving or getting handouts at the sally (salvation army). He has every sort of adventure as he learns the ropes, and in the process he learns a lot about the tramping life, life on the streets, loneliness, trust and america from the perspective of its least wanted citizens.
Surprisingly, he spends a week or so in Everett, Wa., and it seems that not much has changed in the 30 yrs since he was here.
Insightful if not poetic, it's realism is its strength.