Rough Sleepers

Outstanding

As is legally required for all Peace Corps volunteers, I read and loved Kidder's book [b:Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World 10235 Mountains Beyond Mountains The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World Tracy Kidder https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1433156001l/10235.SY75.jpg 1639628] so I was eager to check this one out. I really admire both these books for the honest way Kidder treats their subjects as men who are doing admirable work but who also, maybe, wouldn't be the easiest people to live or work with. I think Rough Sleepers does more than Mountains Beyond Mountains in terms of also profiling and interacting with the patients too (in this case ofc there's much less of a language barrier between Kidder and the patients). I think of myself as someone who's relatively well-informed about the garbage state of social services (since as a public librarian I'm often trying to work as an ad hoc social worker...) but whew even I had no idea how convoluted some of these fucking issues were. Anyway I think Kidder is great at both showing how fucked up it is while giving some optimism. And also creating a compelling narrative. Just really skilled journalistic work highlighting important medical/social work.