Without a Net: Middle Class and Homeless (with Kids) in America

Hi! I just wanted to respond briefly to "corrivo" who felt that some things in my book were untrue. First off, I remember the article to which the reviewer is referring and it does state that I am a college graduate - but I did not say I was one - this was misinterpreted by the interviewer when I told her I went back to college later on. But again, it isn't a direct quote. Further, I did have a little web site which - in addition to frugal mom tips - helped out with some investment advice - but this was long after my summer as a homeless mom. Any other issues? Please let me know. If anything, I can be accused of not telling the truth about my past in the article, as it was not a story I was ready to tell. And if I quoted myself...well then - I'm sorry - I'm afraid I've never heard of it being a crime to plagerize oneself! The book, I'm afraid, is true. Sorry to disappoint your desire to create a scandal! All best, Michelle Kennedy

Without a net. This is a story of a young lady who makes a few bad decisions in life but possesses the ware with all to get though these bad decisions, accept responsibility, deal with the consequences and overcome all of this. It starts with a marriage of convenience. She marries her boyfriend not really for love but for tuition assistance Unfortunately few months later she quits school. She continues to stay married. Her husband is gone a lot of the time so she fills the void with children who intern provide her with love and give her a cense of being needed. She settles into middle class society but discovers that it's not all it's cracked up to be. Over several years she hangs on to the idea that she can make things work with her husband. They only problem is that he is not committed to her or the children. Finding herself married to a self centered man who through lack of awareness endangers the children lives. With essentially a loveless relationship with her absentee husband who when he is home is not really there, and three kids, she decides that life could be better for her children and herself. The best decision she makes is to leave the relationship, take the kids and make a new life for her self and children. At this point she really shines though her ability to overcome adversity and rises above all of the self inflicted handicaps and not only survives but conquers. As bad of a birth Father as these children had in my opinion Michele more then made up for it. Her children are everything to her. She lived in a car with her children to get them away from a father who was not capable of handling the responsibility of being a Father. She did not eat so that her children would have enough to eat. Every thing was planed around her children's needs. She possesses the ability to look at things that most people don't give a second thought to use it to help her. In the end for me this is story of love, inner strength, sacrifice and the ability to handle adverse situations through confidence, perseverance and the innate ability to survive with three children under some tough circumstances with very little assistance. The only bad decisions are the ones you don't learn anything from. Michelle learned a great deal about herself as a person, human being and a mother through these decisions so in the end perhaps they weren't so bad after all. While I am a computer technician, I work in the Human assistance field. I have heard a lot of stories that start like hers but unfortunately for one reason or another they fail. This was a wonderful feeling for me to read a story of success in this situation. This is both an emotionally interesting and enthralling read. When I read the book I kept loosing track of time and had a hard time putting it down.

I read this book in 3 days! Hard to put down even at night when reading in bed and tired! Amazing what this woman did with 3 kids and how she got thru such a time. I don't even know how she lived in that cabin with her ex-husb. Maybe that helped her live out of her car?? Most would have tried to live with friends or family but she didn't want people to know and toughed it out. I'm sure there are more people out there like her that we don't know about. We only see the people who sleep on the park bench or beg for money at the over pass. She did what she had to to survive. How wonderful that her story has a happy ending.

It takes guts to expose one's weaknesses and awful experiences to the world -- knowing there's always going to be someone who says, "...but she should have (finished college..stayed with her husband...moved to a shelter...whatever)" but for many women who have been where Michele Kennedy found herself, young and determined to provide a better home for her children, Without a Net is an affirming and healing account of stubborn resolve. Because we are human, we do make bad choices (all too often to please other people) but it takes extreme courage to start over again in another direction. I loved this book. A.S. Friedell Author, Bitter Persimmons: An Unlikely Story

I have just finished Michelle Kennedy's excellent memoir "Without a Net" and am planning on giving it to friends to read, especially the female ones. Bad decisions happen to everyone and Ms. Kennedy honestly writes about her bad decisions and how they led her and her 3 children to living out of their car. The United States, being a country that is wealthy, has just as many people who are hungry and "living without a net" and Ms. Kennedy writes a powerful story. For those of us with roofs over our heads and food on our tables, we should be extremely thankful.