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Nomadland
By Jessica Bruder
W. W. Norton & Company, 9780393249316, September 2017, 320pp.

The Short of It:

A thoughtful look at a community that has made the best of their financial challenges by living on-the-go.

The Rest of It:

In Nomadland, Jessica Bruder joins a select group of individuals for an opportunity to be “houseless”, not homeless. These folks, mostly the 65+ crowd, find that the only way to make ends meet is to live in a van or RV and then drive to where the work is. During a time when they should be able to sit back and enjoy life, they find themselves roaming the land for that perfect opportunity. One that can afford them the basics such as food and gas for their vehicle.

I can’t say that this book opened my eyes to anything I had not heard about before, but it did emphasize the community aspect which I enjoyed very much. These folks help each other out. They come together to share food and resources and provide support when needed. Although their incomes are very limited, they are often very generous with one another.

I guess one thing that I wasn’t aware of before is how organized this way of living can be. There are websites and books and all sorts of resources on how to live this way. Yes, they are surviving but these people seem to know what’s important and that “things” don’t make you happy. What they crave most is a place to settle down.

This book was chosen for a non-fiction club I am trying out. Our meeting was cancelled so I have yet to find out what anyone else thought but for the most part it’s a quick read and if you have any interest in how the recession impacted these folks, check it out.

Source: Borrowed
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

Nutshell
By Ian McEwan
Anchor Books, 9780525431947, May 2017, 224pp.

The Short of It:

A clever take on Hamlet as told by a fetus.

The Rest of It:

You don’t need to be familiar with Hamlet in order to enjoy Nutshell but it certainly helps.

Trudy leaves her husband John for his brother, Claude. Together, Trudy and Claude come up with a plan to murder John. The house they occupy is quite valuable. With John out-of-the-way, they could potentially make quite a bit of money. But their plan is not a secret to Trudy’s unborn child. The child is fiercely loyal to his mother and somewhat loyal to his paternal father, John, Mostly because he cannot stand the vile Claude.

This is not a new idea. Movies like Look Who’s Talking have provided platforms for the unborn to voice their opinions but in Nutshell, Trudy and John’s child is very well-spoken, a wine connoisseur (due to his mother’s affinity for drink) and hilarious with his high-brow take on the dim-witted plan these two have hatched.

Nutshell is very literary and clever and superbly written. I’ve read many of McEwan’s books and all of them have been good, with Atonement being my favorite. However, Nutshell was very enjoyable. It was a book club pick and many in the group agreed that it was humorous in its own way, but some felt it was a little over-the-top with its pretentiousness. I didn’t mind that part of it and had no trouble suspending my disbelief over the fetus telling the story, but the scheme these two come up was riddled with holes from the beginning so believability in that regard is non-existent.

Have you read it? I think some readers are intimidated by McEwan and if that’s the case, I recommend Nutshell because it’s not as heavy as some of his other books.

Source: Borrowed
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

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