レビュー

• オーウェル賞受賞作です。ディストピア。現在進行形の。

  面白いかも。SFです。

• 貧困の生中継かと思ったら、まるで解説書でした

  ヒルビリーエレジーのようにストレートな半生記でないので正直、ひかれませんでした。意外なことに難しい単語が多く（スラングではない。気張って難しい単語を使いたかったのか）読みにくくてタラタラ日にちもかかり期待外れでした。初めて目にしたのがNeds、なんでもChavのスコットランド版だそうです。P102.Neds, In Scotland、a"ned"is like a "chav";a poor person, usually young,who causes disruption in their community thorough antisocial behavior. アルコールやドラッグ依存にいたる過程や下層階級の思考パターン（なんでも世の中のせいにする）は実感たっぷりでした。グレンフェルタワーについては序文で触れられている程度でこれまたガッカリ。

• グレンフェルタワー大火災事件の反響を受けての英国「貧乏地域見学ツアー」本！

  高層スラムであるグレンフェルタワー大火災事件の余韻も冷めやらない絶好のタイミングで書かれた神曲まがいの「貧乏地域見学ツアー」本である。現代は、「全世界のエリートよ団結せよ！エリートだけで金持ちになりましょう！」というスローガンの下、「エリートの裏切り」により腐敗した資本主義諸国の混乱に付け込んで、復活を果たしつつある共産主義ルネッサンスの時代である。 英国も例にもれず、ますます強化されるEUの環境規制、ヘッジファンド規制、タックスヘイブン規制を回避するために、移民問題を利用して国民をだまして、なりふり構わず、EU離脱を強行する始末である。 この本で重要なのは、貧困地域における住民を支援する多様なサービス（図書館等）を提供する公共施設の重要性を強調している部分である。現在、著者自身も大いに利用したこの施設は、中間層向けのシルバーバーンという米国型のモールに代わってしまったようである。 なお、注目すべきは、グレンフェルタワーが、可燃性の外壁を塗られた経緯である。もともとは、外壁は耐火性であった。ところが、ちょっと離れた周辺に多くの風致地域（中間層が住む趣のある地域）があり、その住民から、「グレンフェルタワーが景観を壊しているので、外壁の色を変えてほしい」という要望があった。そこで、行政は、落ち着いた色の耐火性ペンキを塗ろうロしたが、費用がかさむことが分かった。そこで、可燃性で安いペンキを使うこととなったのである。

• Titolo perfetto!

  Darren Mc Garvey guida il lettore attraverso la savana della povertà e del degrado post industriale. Il viaggio si concentra sui bambini, prime vittime di genitori afflitti da abuso di alcool e/o droghe, spesso destinati a crescere con gravi conseguenze psicologiche e a ripetere i percorsi dei loro genitori, come accaduto a Darren. Un libro autobiografico scritto per liberarsi definitivamente dai demoni dell'alcolismo, dell'apatia e soprattutto dell'autocommiserazione, dove vengono approfonditi i meccanismi psico-sociali legati all'emarginazione e dove viene illustrato bene anche il rapporto con la politica e il mondo dell'assistenza. Lettura impegnativa ma essenziale.

• Most perceptive, original work

  I enjoyed Poverty Safari for many reasons. It is both a deeply felt, honest portrayal of growing up poor to an alcoholic mother and at the same time an insightful, sometimes brutally critical political analysis of the forces that make poverty a complex problem to solve -- not only in Britain but anywhere in the world. It delivers the most refereshing criticism of "identity politics" and the limits of its usefulness as a construct that I have read anywhere. It provides a really good analysis of class and the lifelong impact of class not only economically but culturally, emotionally, etc. It successfully argues that solutions to poverty must involve the voices of those effected as an integral part of the decision making process. It demonstrates the gulf between liberal middle class good intentions and a real understanding and concern for the poor. Mostly, McGarvey brings a fresh perspective to everything he writes about. While the writing could have used some grammatical scrutiny (I have a hard time with sentence fragements), it is often brilliant. I highly recommend this book.

• Wow!

  One of the most powerful and revealing books I have ever read, exposing a raw underbelly of poverty and just never having enough money. Always struggling. Wondering where one is going to sleep or eat or have a hot shower and wear clean clothes. And addiction. So many threads to this unravelling story that gripped me from beginning to end. I recommended it to a family member who found it as revealing and elucidating as I. A must-read. (Submitted by Liz Rettenbacher, spouse of the amazon account holder.)

• Perspective is Everything

  In Poverty Safari, McGarvey captures the frustration, anger, resentment and anxiety from an upbringing in poverty in an expertly way. His voice is at times lyrical and extremely descriptive, which makes for a wonderfully engaging and visually stimulating read, but never loses its authority on the subject matter. Just as in chapter 12, where he explains that many institutions have done things TO the poorer communities rather than WITH them, McGarvey writes FROM the community, rather than ABOUT it, like so many other social commentaries. A fantastic read, highly recommend it.

• Challenging and Important

  Words and perspectives matter to Darren McGarvey so any reviewer has to be careful. I heard this fellow on Radio 4 and was attracted to his idea that personal responsibility and agency can play a part in seeking solutions to the lived problems of poverty. I wanted to read this book to find out more. For the first one hundred pages or so it is part memoire and part (leftist) rant. He rails against the high rise tower blocks in which he grew up then rails against them being pulled down; he complains about lack of resources and attention then explains how he had half a dozen (mental) health care and support workers looking to him and thousands of pounds given to him in benefits and unpaid DLA; he complains about the barriers to social and economic progress then states - with little explanation unfortunately - that he was soon working with the BBC, attracting aufdiences for his work and generallly making his way out of the poverty trap, etc. Underpinning all this is a tragic personal back story which is truely grim. By the end of the first half of the book I was feeling by turns depressed, frustrated, angry, confused, and powerless. Pretty much like the individuals and communiities described in this book in other words, with the exception that I had the option of closing the book and they do not. After effectively pulling the rug from under the feet of all of us - political left and right - who think we know what the answers to poverty are, the author then embarks, in the second half of the book, on the most coherent and sustained social, political, economic, and moral case for rethinking how we address poverty that I have ever read. It is a shift of perspective and a set of arguments which are both profoundly challenging and hugely important in terms of the public good. Perhaps equally importantly it throws down a gauntlet to the political left and right and calls for meaningful action. Anyone with support from J.K.Rowling and Irvine Welch on the front cover has no need of further endorsement, but: this is an important book and therefore it is important that as many people as possible read it.

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