The Street or Me: A New York Story
By Judith Glynn
5/5
()
About this ebook
The Street or Me is the true story of Judith Glynn, a divorcee who can barely make ends meet in New York City. Judith is drawn to befriend Michelle, a homeless drunk in her neighborhood. Previously a beauty queen in Italy, Michelle had come to the states when an American photographer convinced her that fame awaited. Drugs and alcohol got in the way of that dream. Putting her life aside and risking her own safety, Judith is determined to recover Michelle’s dignity and return her to her family in Italy. But is Michelle too far gone, preferring street life and possible death in a gutter over Judith’s guiding light back into society?
Judith Glynn
Judith Glynn began her writing life many years ago with a travel article about Ireland. Over the years, hundreds of articles appeared in national newspapers and now on the Web. Her first novel, A Collector of Affections: Tales from a Woman's Heart entwines romance with travel for the middle-aged read. Her memoir, The Street or Me: A New York Story follows her two-year friendship with a New York City homeless woman whom she returns to her family in Italy. Judith lives in New York, Rhode Island and settles in quickly in the newest destination. For more information about Judith Glynn's other book and articles, visit judithglynn.com
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Reviews for The Street or Me
2 ratings1 review
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I rarely accept review copies directly from authors, but was intrigued enough by the premise of this book to give it a shot.
This book sounds like a do-gooder, co-dependent story, right? But it's not. Its part mystery really, a mystery of the heart. Why do we instantly connect with some people and not with others, ever, even when we want to have a connection with a particular person?
It's also part horror story, the horror of a hopeless case of alcoholism and the resulting homelessness. Glynn shares just enough of Michelle's life experience and what her daily existence was like on the streets (the beatings, the rapes, the stench, the body lice, the freezing cold, the zombie-like state of late-stage alcoholism) to get the horrors of this life across while still showing the spark of a vibrant human still alive within the shell of the person the young woman had become.
And if you're an alcoholic, it's a whammy of a horror story. If you're in recovery, this book will scare you and remind you why it's so important to keep working your program, whatever your program may be. If you suspect you're an alcoholic and this book doesn't scare you, guess what? You're probably in denial if you think, "that will never happen to me." No one ever thinks it'll happen to them. But I digress.
Glynn gets wrapped up in Michelle's life to the point of endangering her own life, yet she does maintain the boundary of not letting Michelle into her home. Surprisingly, even when Michelle eventually has Glynn's phone number, she doesn't abuse it. Also surprising is the amount of money Michelle had, money that came in monthly, which is ironic because at the time Glynn was a recently divorced mother of four from Rhode Island trying to make it on her own in New York as a writer, paying the bills through temp work.
Michelle was a former Italian beauty queen who came to the states to be a model. She ended up marrying another alcoholic and together they went downhill from middle class respectability in Texas to years living on the street in New York City (Hell's Kitchen, to be precise, in the late 1980s). Glynn's quest becomes not just about convincing Michelle to get off the streets, but to get her back home to her family in Italy.
This is a quick read, but not an easy one. Is there a happy ending? Yes and no. But its real, that's for sure, not sugar coated, but also not gratuitous in its grittiness. I highly recommend this book to memoir readers and those interested in issues of alcoholism and homelessness.