Rating: 
Summary: Flophouses
Review: I live in a modern day "flophouse", but it is a palace by comparison to the Bowery beaus. Marginalized by themselves and society, many still find community and purpose in their shared
space. Some do not make it out alive. Most seem to have given up on big dreams but it's the little ones (like the shoeshiner) who states that if one of us can make it, we can all make it. I love reading about of these mens' lives, but I also admit to an uneasiness that they will never leave the relative safety of a flophouse. That this is the best there is for many of them, and watching them adjust to these facts in each vignette is tender.
Rating: 
Summary: attention human beings
Review: i walk thru the pages of this book and the breeze of karma elevates my mind gentling me in the breath of blithe reverie... hmmm... ahhh... in the darkest places there is light. what can a meager eye really discern.we see the people of skid row with the eye of wang's camera.the camera hasn't the subtlety of the human eye,thus in all critique take into your own limitations. in the buffer of that quanta i peer thru veneer,and muse... this book is a realization of all our interest in all the great scenes we heard about.a lot of us have dreams about the circus some about wandering the maze of new york's underground labrynths and of course what life is like for those who have "gone wrong".flophouse is fledgling first look at life on the skids.an important work. a needed work.but i feel it is a might taste superficial.orderves before the main course.you could say it's a bit of a tease,cheescake.i long to know more i want a real meal.flophouse leaves me hungry.i have a confession to make i am one of the people portrayed in the book. so when i read the book,it's with a more authoritative point of reference.i see the book from inside out.i've lived with all the guys, smelled their beer and nicotine breath, and know whether or not they were lying to david when he interviewed them.i have more detailed and acute focus then the average reader so necessarily my analysis has to be more intense.my opinion of the work? for it's adventurousness 5 stars.for it's motiff and aesthetique another 5 stars.for it's depth of scrutiny though it is some what lacking i rate it 2and1/2 stars.and for it's overall impact i don't even dare to rate it.why? because firstly my mind is so uneven, it changes from day to day. secondarily events are so multidimensionally significant who am i to say?i can tell you this though, this book has changed my life considerably.it's given me a little hope.when dave and harvey were interviewing me for the project i was in the process of being evicted(page 136) now there seems to be always a place to turn,someone who recognizes me,a fine work with my mug within it's covers.even if it leaves me a bit wierded and wanting... like i said there but for fortune go you or i!take every thing with a grain of salt,and always take into account your and everyone's limitations when you read this book or read it again.
Rating:
Summary: attention human beings
Review: i walk thru the pages of this book and the breeze of karma elevates my mind gentling me in the breath of blithe reverie... hmmm... ahhh... in the darkest places there is light. what can a meager eye really discern.we see the people of skid row with the eye of wang's camera.the camera hasn't the subtlety of the human eye,thus in all critique take into your own limitations. in the buffer of that quanta i peer thru veneer,and muse... this book is a realization of all our interest in all the great scenes we heard about.a lot of us have dreams about the circus some about wandering the maze of new york's underground labrynths and of course what life is like for those who have "gone wrong".flophouse is fledgling first look at life on the skids.an important work. a needed work.but i feel it is a might taste superficial.orderves before the main course.you could say it's a bit of a tease,cheescake.i long to know more i want a real meal.flophouse leaves me hungry.i have a confession to make i am one of the people portrayed in the book. so when i read the book,it's with a more authoritative point of reference.i see the book from inside out.i've lived with all the guys, smelled their beer and nicotine breath, and know whether or not they were lying to david when he interviewed them.i have more detailed and acute focus then the average reader so necessarily my analysis has to be more intense.my opinion of the work? for it's adventurousness 5 stars.for it's motiff and aesthetique another 5 stars.for it's depth of scrutiny though it is some what lacking i rate it 2and1/2 stars.and for it's overall impact i don't even dare to rate it.why? because firstly my mind is so uneven, it changes from day to day. secondarily events are so multidimensionally significant who am i to say?i can tell you this though, this book has changed my life considerably.it's given me a little hope.when dave and harvey were interviewing me for the project i was in the process of being evicted(page 136) now there seems to be always a place to turn,someone who recognizes me,a fine work with my mug within it's covers.even if it leaves me a bit wierded and wanting... like i said there but for fortune go you or i!take every thing with a grain of salt,and always take into account your and everyone's limitations when you read this book or read it again.
Rating:
Summary: One paycheck away...
Review: The reason we are so drawn to (and, in the same breath, repulsed by) books such as this one is that they show us the truth that is locked up inside of us. They present a side of reality many do not see in pursuit of the paycheck running from the fears presented in this book. And, yes, the reasons why they are at the 'flophouse' is infinitely complicated.The photos are stunning and the stories are minimalist which has a gripping effect. The photos and the stories open up a world that is almost mythical. Penetrating is the word that comes to mind. Study them, feel them, connect with them, learn to love them. But do not judge them and do not run from them. Hold onto them and, in the midst of our bustle and struggle, keep them dear in our hearts. And, if one is so compelled reach out, not as veoyeurs, but with compassion, sharing with, realizing that our human wholeness is dependent upon such individuals as these whose lives may be unlike anything we could imagine. For only when we are willing to get 'real' and walk in the valley of the shadow of death, and this with others, can we ever really become human. These characters are but a shadow of aspects of our own selves.
Rating:
Summary: Classic...
Review: This book is an intimate look at the inside world of life on the desolate Bowery. It is as much intriguing, as it is mind-blowing. I have to admit, this book, is something to be read, not necessarily as a bedtime story, but more of a quiet, alone story. I suggest this book completely. wonderful!!! GOOD JOB DEAR FATHER! ATTA BOY DAVID!
Rating:
Summary: Classic...
Review: This book is an intimate look at the inside world of life on the desolate Bowery. It is as much intriguing, as it is mind-blowing. I have to admit, this book, is something to be read, not necessarily as a bedtime story, but more of a quiet, alone story. I suggest this book completely. wonderful!!! GOOD JOB DEAR FATHER! ATTA BOY DAVID!
Rating:
Summary: TOTALLY UNIQUE - AMAZING READING EXPERIENCE!
Review: This is a fantastic, ground breaking book. Both beautiful to look at with stunning black and white and color pictures next to smart, compelling text. What a terrific hybrid of art book and social commentary. Well written, well documented, well researched and thoughtfully edited. This is a must-see, must-read, must-experience type of book. Buy it immediatly!
Rating:
Summary: There But For the Grace of God Go We
Review: This strikingly beautiful book of photos of the destitute is filled with stories of talented, gifted, intelligent men who through poor fortune, poor choices, poor health, or all of the above, ended up in one of the few remaining Bowery flophouses. They could be us. The line between the secure and the destitute is nowhere made more clear than in this stunning, frightening, profound book. Every citizen of America should be required to read it.
Rating:
Summary: Eye-Opening
Review: Turn away. Turn quickly away. My first instinct upon glancing at this title was consistent with Middle Class America's natural reaction to social despair. Cautiously intrigued, I reached to the top shelf in my suburban neighborhood's local library, and pulled down into my comfortable suburban world an enlightening pictorial in brief. With mixed horror and wonder, increasingly awed at these victims of circumstances, reading "Flophouse: Life on the Bowery" was a real look, a first look, into sunken faces and disheveled lives. Black and white photos say the thousand words their subjects never will. The human condition, bare, innate, is plainly presented without pretense or censoring. How very similar, how frighteningly normal, were the lives of these men before the loss of job, wife, or sanity deposited them here, teetering on the brink between life and death, heaven and hell, New York City's Bowery. Read this book, count your blessings and your spare dimes.
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