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Hardcover Grand Central Winter: Stories from the Street Book

ISBN: 1888363576

ISBN13: 9781888363579

Grand Central Winter

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Format: Hardcover

Condition: Like New

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Book Overview

A New York Times Notable Book

Whether Lee Stringer is describing "God's corner" as he calls 42nd Street, or his friend Suzy, a hooker and "past due tourist" whose infant child he sometimes babysits, whether he is recounting his experiences at Street News, where he began hawking the newspaper for a living wage, then wrote articles, and served for a time as muckraking senior editor, whether it is his adventures in New York's infamous Tombs jail, or performing community service, or sleeping in the tunnels below Grand Central Station by night and collecting cans by day, this is a book rich with small acts of kindness, humor and even heroism alongside the expected violence and desperation of life on the street. There is always room, Stringer writes, "amid the costume" jewel glitter...for one more diamond in the rough."
Two events rise over Grand Central Winter like sentinels: Stringer's discovery of crack cocaine and his catching the writing bug. Between these two very different yet oddly similar activities, Lee's life unwound itself, during the 1980s, and took the shape of an odyssey, an epic struggle to find meaning and happiness in arid times. He eventually beat the first addiction with help from a treatment program. The second addiction, writing, has hold of him still.
Among the many accomplishments of this book is that Stringer is able to convey something of the vitality and complexity of a down--and--out life. The reader walks away from it humming its melody, one that is more wise than despairing, less about the shame we feel when confronted with a picture of those less fortunate, and more about the joy we feel when we experience our shared humanity.

Customer Reviews

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Rated 5 stars
Absolutely FANTASTIC book

As Kurt Vonnegut says in the opening pages of this book, Lee Stringer can write. Vonnegut isn't lying.Lee Stringer is ruthless in his description of how corruption and greed overcome the true hearts of men - how the problems of homelessness can never be solved unless there is true caring, courage and compassion on the part of our leaders. The most encouraging part of this book is the excerpts from "Ask Homey," a column written...

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Rated 5 stars
Interesting reading

Lee Stringer can write! This book is what more books should be, entertaining. It's amazing to get this man's thoughts and philosophies from the precise time when he was homeless and addicted to drugs. Wonderful to read and fun to discuss. I speak with confidence when I say "You will enjoy this book."

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Rated 5 stars
Replacing a myth with a face

When I became homeless, I suddenly began seeing people on the street that I had never noticed when I was a white-collar professional commuting from suburbia. They were now my neighbors in the shelters and on the streets. But there were still a few that I did not feel empathy with. Sympathy maybe, but not empathy. I did not identify with the street drunks and the drug addicts. Then I read stories in poetry by a local alcoholic,...

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Rated 5 stars
His Publisher Never Jacked Him Over

Although I have not yet read Mr. Stringer's memoir, I did have the pleasure of meeting him this morning--at the Body & Soul Ministries, here at Dallas' St. Paul's Methodist Church--right before the free feed. Having written for many years myself, and having been homeless for over two years, I listened to him read a chapter from his book to the crowd of over 100 homeless men and women gathered for the weekly occasion...

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Rated 5 stars
great unsentimental descriptions

Not since "Tropic of Cancer" by Henry Miller have I read such an unsentimental and totally realistic view of existence outside of "normal" society. The reader experiences a perceptive man taking responsibility for his choices while others indulge in illusions of respectablity. The beauty of the writing lies in its directness, as the book tells stories of suffering people. That our rich society permits such dreadful conditions...

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