I have finished listening to Nomadland, not going to review it. The author wrote as a journalist documenting the stories of individual people who took to the road. American of course, and this takes us through states, camping sites, long journeys and people who are mostly women.
Just watched the short trailer of the film, and know before I would ever watch the film, that it would be romanticised to a degree. How you can romanticise working at Amazon I find hard to imagine though. Reality dictates that when changes arises in our lives we do something about it. Here, the frailties of the economy in America in 2008 when jobs were lost and mortgages called in, set people on a different road, exciting maybe but moving all the time in a variety of campers must have been hard. They talk of friendliness amongst the campers, the sharing of times together, but no hot baths or proper loo facilities were probably part of the package. Living on inadequate social security pay, work was also important and boy was it hard at Amazon.
There was a story, a link that ran through, this was Linda, a friend of the author Jessica Bruder. Linda's goal is to buy some land and build an 'earthship' the idea of which was founded in America. I would like to see a follow-up film, in the building of this but there again, the lone 'pioneers' of the Green movement in America are thin on the ground.
America is a large country, you just could not take to the road in Britain, camping all year round is not allowed and would be pretty miserable in our climate anyway but the book allows you a glimpse of another side of America and is definitely a way to tackle a problem of being 'houseless'
Welcome rain greets me in the garden, grey skies though as well. My new glasses, both pairs are scratch free and open the world a little more, I had anti-glare as well which is a great help against the sun.
And a tune to go with it, rather aptly it has just been playing on Radio 3. Sung by Peggy Seeger, do you remember Pete Seeger and 'Little Boxes', all such a long time ago!
I saw Nomadland in the cinema - good but not that good if you know what I mean. Excellent cinematography but quite thin on narrative and no change or revelation in the characters so we end up feeling much the same as we start.
ReplyDeleteI think it must have been due to her journalistic input, the characters in the book were featureless as well. But have started watching videos by Cheap RV Living. I am beginning to think that many of the people are putting a brave face on.
DeleteThanks for sharing the Peggy Seeger song. I had not heard that one before. As for the film "Nomadland", I very much enjoyed it but it needed to be viewed in a cinema for the big vistas of Arizona, Nevada, Iowa etcetera. I agree with Mark above that there was little character development. Life just goes on. That is how it is when you are a modern day nomad.
ReplyDeleteAs I was typing, 'The Invisible Woman' song came on and it seemed to explain so many of the women who had taken to this way of life. From the trailer and videos I saw, it seemed very noisy in the campsites, true it must be marvellous to see all the scenery though. My next Audible book is Robert Macfarlane's 'Underland'.
ReplyDeleteThat books shows a group of Americans that are hidden from most of us. We do not like to think that people have to resort to that lifestyle and still be hardworking.
ReplyDeleteYes retirement should have a definite age limit and of course a decent pension. Social security never gives quite enough.
DeleteI don't mind being invisible now that I am old and retired. I can do what I want and wear what I want and it doesn't matter to anyone but me!
ReplyDeleteYou are one of the purple dress brigade with silly hat as well;) Peggy Seeger looks pretty good for her age.
DeleteRaynor Winn's book,The salt path, is also about people who became homeless in England. It seems to me that everywhere there is a thin layer disappearing from the eye of people who have not had much luck.
ReplyDeleteI remember the song Little Boxes very well from the sixties. That's how we learned English then, with the songs of Pete Seeger.
Yes Raynor Winn and her husband were the victims of homelessness Yael, though I cannot see many people who have been thrown on the scrapheap of life trogging round the coastline. In the 60s Yael I contemplated going to a kibbutz but was stopped by my grandfather, who was Jewish. I had been brought up in the Catholic faith basically because my grandfather denied being Jewish.
DeleteI have not seen that movie, but everyone is talking about it. It's one of those things I intend to get to when I have the time.
ReplyDeleteI never go to movies Debby so the book will have to do for me, it is just another side of America I suppose.
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