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The Mole People: Life in the Tunnels Beneath New York City
Narrado por Tanya Eby
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Thousands of people live in the subway, railroad, and sewage tunnels that form the bowels of New York City. This audiobook is about them, the so-called mole people, living alone and in communities, in subway tunnels, and below subway platforms. It is about how and why people move underground, who they are, and what they have to say about their lives and the "topside" world they've left behind.
Ações de livro
Comece a ouvirDados do livro
The Mole People: Life in the Tunnels Beneath New York City
Narrado por Tanya Eby
Descrição
Thousands of people live in the subway, railroad, and sewage tunnels that form the bowels of New York City. This audiobook is about them, the so-called mole people, living alone and in communities, in subway tunnels, and below subway platforms. It is about how and why people move underground, who they are, and what they have to say about their lives and the "topside" world they've left behind.
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Avaliações
I was intrigued by the title, but didn't really know what I expected when I picked this book up at a local thrift store. After the first couple chapters that focus on the tunnel people from the police and aide societies, I was enthralled. Reading the stories of the people who chose to go 'under' rather than live with society's expectations (including some who suffered from addiction and/or abuse histories or mental illness), brought me nearer to understanding their motive to build their own underground communities. Astounding to see the political, i.e. Mayor of the community, to the mental, i.e. nurse who stitched, nursed fevers, pregnancies, to the educators, who taught the children undergound in a self-made classroom. There are no easy answers to why or how/if we should work towards eliminating these communities, but that's not what this book was about. This was a first person spotlight on a condition that occurred due to any number of breakdowns in our society. I recommend this book to all. Coming away from this book with sympathy isn't the point - understanding of your fellow man and how easy it could be you or I, in the place of the "mole people" is.
Though the book is ten years old, it’s an excellent look at the infamous "mole people," homeless that set up house underground, levels and levels under New York’s subway. Even the most open-minded of us tend to look at these people as freaks, but Toth reminds us of the human element behind even the most hard-to-grasp story.Very well written, particularly for such a (at the time) young writer.
Fascinating, chilling account of NYCs society of homeless that live in the abandoned subways and tunnels under the city. I had trouble sleeping after reading this book. It is truly one the reader will never forget.
Fascinating book about the people who live underneath NYC in tunnels. Writing is a bit immature, but given that the author was only 23 at the time, this is acceptable.
I found this book fascinating! It was an easy read and well written. Who knew that many people were living "down there". I enjoyed reading about the different types of homeless in the city and how they group themselves. This book was more about homelessness in general in NYC than anything. It kind of jumped around a lot and some of the stories told I still have a hard time believeing. Though, I do believe Toth wrote what she was told. I am sure many of those stories were made up by the people she encountered rather than Toth herself. The most fascinating part of the book I think for me was the anatomy of the city and the underground. Learning about the different levels of the tunnels and subway is a bit mind boggleing.
Author, Jennifer Toth, embarked upon the bravest adventure of her life when she decided to research homeless people who lived in tunnels under NYC during the early 1990's. The book is filled with a wealth of personal stories from those who lived on the subway level to those seven stories below the city. Along with their experiences, trials, triumphs, fears, and sorrows, these so-called "mole people" showed the readers they are humans, not animals, as they had often been called in the past. Anxious to let others know why they have chosen their lives of freedom underground, rather than be exposed to the rules and crime imposed upon them in their old lives aboveground, their plight makes one feel sad that society has not been able to reach so many, and has turned its back on its own, yet one feels impressed by the strength and pride for their lives which shines through in the pages. Read, and judge for yourself.
This book is exceptional because also it shows the real underbelly of the world and the soul of man it is really creepy also there are some who say it does not exist for real but they are missing the point because in the tunnels truth does not mean the same thing like when she meets the devil and also there are the men with webbed feet it is so scary and the whole towns under the eath with thousands of mole people and the piano in the forgotten station it is like also the guns that are hidden everywhere under the City because of the conspiracy it makes you think what if the day is close and the rats the rats
Started reading this after reading Reliquary by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child in which "The Mole People" of New York City played a significant role. In their acknowledgements they noted this book as being crucial in their research. I read about half of it, not being a huge reader of much non-fiction, and found it interesting but the stories of various homeless becoming repetitive.
This book was published in 1995 and I imagine the problems, resources and public conception of “The Mole People” highlighted in Jennifer Toth’s writing have only become further exaggerated in the time since this book’s publishing. Readers will face an intriguing, eye-opening range of emotions.
I read a book some time ago about underground New York: the vast networks of cables, tunnels, sewers, caverns, old roads, (even complete old sailing ships) that have been found under the city's streets. Well, it turns out there's a whole population of people that live in these subterranean places. They are called "mole people," and young reporter Jennifer Toth got to know many of them during a year she spent seeking and interviewing them out.
In her introduction she says that, given the choice, she would never do the year's work again. "The sadness and tragedies are overwhelming." She received little assistance from the agencies officially charged with helping homeless people. And veteran tunnel dwellers don't like the agencies either. "They're as bad as city government. They have their agenda and we have ours. They need money to keep their jobs at their organizations. They make up the truth to support their platform so they get donations. We don't have a platform. We have the truth.... You tell them the tunnels rob you of life. No one should come down here.... You can't go back up"
No precise count of mole people is available. An imprecise census done in 1991 counter 6,031 in Grand Central and Penn Stations alone. Reasons for people going underground include drug abuse, mental illness, an( simply a desire to escape society It's not a pleasant world, In the deep railroad tunnels, often buried 15 stories underground, the rats run toward people, not away from them - each is a source of food for the other. The smell of urine and feces is overwhelming and it's not unusual for people to die quickly when they fail to get out of the way of a speeding subway train. Some of the communities have created quasi-governments, with mayors and other elected officials. Most are purely anarchical - many people go underground precisely because they can't abide the rules that society wants to place on them. Some live in holes behind concrete walls, others in relative splendor in old abandoned frescoed subway stations, one of which is rumored to even contain a running fountain and piano. But one Transit policeman who regularly patrols the area describes this world as the closest thing to Hell he's ever seen.
On the other hand it's dangerous to make assumptions and generalizations. Sometimes there is a real sense of community; certainly there is one of forgiveness ' for rarely is a man's past held against him. Occasionally, the tunnels become a temporary residence until enough resources can be accumulated to return back to the "normal" world. Bernard, a long-time tunnel resident advises ' "...there is no single truth about them. Emotions are more sincere. He's a good guy and if he wants to start over down here he can. That's the beauty of the tunnels."
In her introduction she says that, given the choice, she would never do the year's work again. "The sadness and tragedies are overwhelming." She received little assistance from the agencies officially charged with helping homeless people. And veteran tunnel dwellers don't like the agencies either. "They're as bad as city government. They have their agenda and we have ours. They need money to keep their jobs at their organizations. They make up the truth to support their platform so they get donations. We don't have a platform. We have the truth.... You tell them the tunnels rob you of life. No one should come down here.... You can't go back up"
No precise count of mole people is available. An imprecise census done in 1991 counter 6,031 in Grand Central and Penn Stations alone. Reasons for people going underground include drug abuse, mental illness, an( simply a desire to escape society It's not a pleasant world, In the deep railroad tunnels, often buried 15 stories underground, the rats run toward people, not away from them - each is a source of food for the other. The smell of urine and feces is overwhelming and it's not unusual for people to die quickly when they fail to get out of the way of a speeding subway train. Some of the communities have created quasi-governments, with mayors and other elected officials. Most are purely anarchical - many people go underground precisely because they can't abide the rules that society wants to place on them. Some live in holes behind concrete walls, others in relative splendor in old abandoned frescoed subway stations, one of which is rumored to even contain a running fountain and piano. But one Transit policeman who regularly patrols the area describes this world as the closest thing to Hell he's ever seen.
On the other hand it's dangerous to make assumptions and generalizations. Sometimes there is a real sense of community; certainly there is one of forgiveness ' for rarely is a man's past held against him. Occasionally, the tunnels become a temporary residence until enough resources can be accumulated to return back to the "normal" world. Bernard, a long-time tunnel resident advises ' "...there is no single truth about them. Emotions are more sincere. He's a good guy and if he wants to start over down here he can. That's the beauty of the tunnels."