Flophouse : Life on the Bowery

Rating:
Summary: A STUNNING, LYRICAL JOURNEY...
Review: ... through the heart of hopelessness and retreat. The stories read like Tom Waits songs - vivid, emotional, and full of reflections that only the tragic can truely voice. How many times have you caught the eye of a broken man or woman - and didn't have the will to ask how or why? Flophouse delivers the hard answers.

Rating:
Summary: The Bowery life that can't be seen from the streets
Review: An excellent glimpse inside four of the colorful flophouse hotels along the Bowery. You'll be touched by the pictures and the stories behind the men whose lives have bottomed out yet still manage to carry on. Now that work is starting on $2,000 studio rentals on the Bowery, this a glimpse of a lifestyle that won't be around long.

Rating:
Summary: No Flop
Review: Flophouse gives America a rare glimpse into the underbelly of the American Dream. With photos and personal interviews of 50 residents of genuine Bowery flophouses this book reveals the raw grittiness and humanity of those at the bottom of American society. So often politicians and other such moral crusaders seek to demonize those on drugs and welfare. The real story why these men have fallen into the abyss is often more complicated than simple explantions provide. The story of these men asks each of us to re-examine our beliefs about the least among us. I should know-I live among them and am featured in the book with my bicycle. Many of you who read this are but a few paychecks away from similar circumstances. I encourage you to buy this book and keep it as a reminder to save every dollar you can in a 401K-lest you spend your last days in a Bowery Flophouse!

Rating:
Summary: Snapshots of the underclass
Review: Flophouse is a collections of pictures and words by and about people (mostly men) who ive in the dwingling number of flop houses on the bowery in New York. There are some 50 or so snapshots of these man the spread throughout four hotels, The white house, the providence, the andrews and the sunshine hotel. Don't let the names of these hotels fool you they're no four seasons. The men come from various races, creeds and generations. Some are old men who've lived on the bowery for tens of years and don't want to live to younger men who have hit rock bottom and are trying to get back on their feel again. Each man featured tells his own story about how they got to the bowery. Most of their stories are sobering and the pictures are even more powerful. Many of these men were woking productive members of society until something happened to them to throw them off track. It is hard to leave a book like this one unaffected. If your only opinion of the homeless and destitute is that they are lazy, mentally deranged or drug addicted men this book may change your perceptions. I left this book feeling very somber about how fragile life is and how easily it can be taken for granted yet also feeling uplifted in a strange way. Many of these man despite their conditions still continue to keep on living their lives and keeping a postive attitude. The men in flophouse are a dying breed of america's growing underclass.

Rating:
Summary: Snapshots of the underclass
Review: Flophouse is a collections of pictures and words by and about people (mostly men) who ive in the dwingling number of flop houses on the bowery in New York. There are some 50 or so snapshots of these man the spread throughout four hotels, The white house, the providence, the andrews and the sunshine hotel. Don't let the names of these hotels fool you they're no four seasons. The men come from various races, creeds and generations. Some are old men who've lived on the bowery for tens of years and don't want to live to younger men who have hit rock bottom and are trying to get back on their feel again. Each man featured tells his own story about how they got to the bowery. Most of their stories are sobering and the pictures are even more powerful. Many of these men were woking productive members of society until something happened to them to throw them off track. It is hard to leave a book like this one unaffected. If your only opinion of the homeless and destitute is that they are lazy, mentally deranged or drug addicted men this book may change your perceptions. I left this book feeling very somber about how fragile life is and how easily it can be taken for granted yet also feeling uplifted in a strange way. Many of these man despite their conditions still continue to keep on living their lives and keeping a postive attitude. The men in flophouse are a dying breed of america's growing underclass.

Rating:
Summary: a GLIMPSE into the life of flophouses
Review: Flophouse Life on the Bowery showcases 4 cheap hotels in the Bowery district of New York City. These places are rented out by men & they are a cubicle type room the size of a jail cell. About 100 to 200 men live side by side in these little rooms in 4 or 5 story buildings that are built over a restaurant or some other kind of business. There's a community bathroom. The book explores 4 hotels & a few residents of each. Most of these people stay inside all day & watch tv, sleep, eat, & get drunk or do heroin. The subject of flophouses is interesting, however, this book really lacked substance. There wasn't enough information about the history of the hotels or the residents. It didn't devote much space to the people who own these hotels or the people who work there. Each page has a picture of one of the residents, his name, room number, & his "story" or any statements he wanted to make. Some of them were only a couple of paragraphs long! It's just a glimpse into their lives & doesn't offer any solutions to the problems these people face either.

Rating:
Summary: a GLIMPSE into the life of flophouses
Review: Flophouse Life on the Bowery showcases 4 cheap hotels in the Bowery district of New York City. These places are rented out by men & they are a cubicle type room the size of a jail cell. About 100 to 200 men live side by side in these little rooms in 4 or 5 story buildings that are built over a restaurant or some other kind of business. There's a community bathroom. The book explores 4 hotels & a few residents of each. Most of these people stay inside all day & watch tv, sleep, eat, & get drunk or do heroin. The subject of flophouses is interesting, however, this book really lacked substance. There wasn't enough information about the history of the hotels or the residents. It didn't devote much space to the people who own these hotels or the people who work there. Each page has a picture of one of the residents, his name, room number, & his "story" or any statements he wanted to make. Some of them were only a couple of paragraphs long! It's just a glimpse into their lives & doesn't offer any solutions to the problems these people face either.

Rating:
Summary: A paradigm Shifting Journey
Review: I bought my 1st copy of this numbing book immediately after seeing Isay & Abramson interviewed on C-Span Booknotes. Since then, I've ordered 6 more copies for others. Mandatory reading! The forbidden journey through the fragile cubicles of the flop houses is an eerie dream where life's faceless are given faces, the nameless names, and the definitions of hope and hopelessness take on new dimensions. Isay & Abramson highlight the great talent and intellect of so many who have lost their way, reminding us that there, but for the Grace of God, go we. But with poignance and artistry they also show the consequenses of hope lost. Like Ghosts of Xmas Future, Isay & Abramson's work shouts at us not to let this life become an alternative for our fellow human beings. Brava!

Rating:
Summary: A paradigm Shifting Journey
Review: I bought my 1st copy of this numbing book immediately after seeing Isay & Abramson interviewed on C-Span Booknotes. Since then, I've ordered 6 more copies for others. Mandatory reading! The forbidden journey through the fragile cubicles of the flop houses is an eerie dream where life's faceless are given faces, the nameless names, and the definitions of hope and hopelessness take on new dimensions. Isay & Abramson highlight the great talent and intellect of so many who have lost their way, reminding us that there, but for the Grace of God, go we. But with poignance and artistry they also show the consequenses of hope lost. Like Ghosts of Xmas Future, Isay & Abramson's work shouts at us not to let this life become an alternative for our fellow human beings. Brava!

Rating:
Summary: THIS IS THE STREETS OF NEW YORK
Review: I just bought a copy of this book last night after attending a reading with the authors and photographer, along with some of the men who are profiled in the book. This book is so touching and achingly beautiful. It reads like poetry. The words of the men themselves are printed alongside poignant photographs that seem to capture the sentiment of their words. I feel honored to have met some of these men in person and even more honored to have had the pleasure of asking them to autograph their individual pages. The title of my review here is what one of the men, Bruce, wrote to me last night.

To be able to put a voice and a human face to those who have likely seen the best and the worst of life is a gift to all thinking and compassionate people. This book proves that every person has a story to tell and if the words don't quite express it, the photos do.