O'Connell is a fascinating protagonist ... The picture that emerges over the course of the absorbing, inspiring Rough Sleepers is that O'Connell is not only one of the good guys but a good guy who is vigorous, self-critical and even funny ... Kidder describes with modesty and compassion.
Tracy Kidder, a master of narrative nonfiction, is drawn to self-effacing, unsung heroes who work tirelessly to make the world a better place. Kidder delves deeply into his subjects, deftly weaving the fruits of his research into a strong narrative line that keeps readers turning pages. He doesn’t hide his admiration for his subjects ... Rough Sleepers is yet another enlightening reminder from Kidder that we should, and can, do better.
Excellent ... As Kidder relays the stories of the women and men whom O’Connell and his colleagues serve, Rough Sleepers becomes a detailed portrait of the lives of homeless Americans. We hear about their backstories, their struggles, their hopes for the future. We come to understand their decisions to avoid shelters and the factors that conspire to deny them apartments of their own ... Kidder, to his credit, never gives short shrift to the larger context. He just asks us — correctly, I think — to consider that in a world of far too much cruelty, the compassionate person standing at the bottom of the cliff is part of the story too.
The book, a chronicle of Dr. Jim’s work and the city’s unsheltered population as seen through his eyes, is at its most moving when Kidder’s camera zooms in tight on the semi-dysfunctional relationship between Dr. Jim and Tony, who look to each other for solace from the horrors they’ve witnessed and experienced on the streets. As Rough Sleepers progresses, their relationship becomes its primary focus, culminating in a brutal revelation that may provide the key to unlocking the mystery of why, exactly, Tony has been on the streets so long ... Nearly all Kidder’s encounters with the homeless are mediated by Dr. Jim, whom he shadowed on and off for five years. It’s a problem endemic to much reporting on the unhoused: Journalists tend to see them through the eyes of doctors or advocates, who are more familiar and comfortable sources. In Kidder’s case, the result is that he never establishes the rapport with Tony that might enable him to probe deeply into key aspects of his experience. But writing about the homeless ethically demands treating them with as much scrutiny as any subject of nonfiction; respecting them means asking the hard questions. Kidder instead relies on his prodigious skills as a reporter to round out his portrait, digging into public records and social science research, and drawing on his months of observation. But even as he movingly captures Tony’s ultimate collapse, the reader never fully understands its etiology.
A model of storytelling ... Masterful ... Kidder has humanized a sprawling, thorny subject by focusing on people, not policy. Nor does it hurt to have the likes of Jim O’Connell, a certified mensch, at the heart of the story.
With a straightforward scrutiny that somehow sees, describes and reveals without flinching or judging, Pulitzer Prize winner Tracy Kidder offers a long, hard look at the lives of people without housing in Rough Sleepers: Dr. Jim O’Connell’s Urgent Mission to Bring Healing to Homeless People.
Poignant ... Drawing on five years’ worth of reporting, Kidder vividly portrays life on the streets and in the program’s health clinics, and sheds light on various legal and policy matters, though the focus is less on the institutional forces that contribute to chronic homelessness than on the individual lives it touches. Keenly observed and fluidly written, this is a compassionate report from the front lines of one of America’s most intractable social problems.
