Web Exclusive – September 19, 2017

NOMADLAND
Hop in my van, Halen
BookPage review by Priscilla Kipp

The internet unites them; unfriendly police target them; employers exploit them. Today’s retirees-on-the-road travel in vans, campers and repurposed cars, motivated by a new kind of freedom that often comes at a heavy cost. Take a fascinating look into this darker side of the U.S. economy in the wake of the Great Recession in the powerfully personal road trip, Nomadland.

Linda May, a single grandmother well into her 60s, took to the road—in a camper so small she called it “Squeeze Inn”—to free herself from many things: rent she could no longer afford, utility bills she could no longer pay, her daughter’s couch where she tried to sleep and the disappointing job search. But she had a plan, and journalist Jessica Bruder followed her across the country to report on what happened.

As a younger generation recovers from the Great Recession, their elders have often been left behind, with foreclosed houses and vanished retirement investments. Their lifelong pursuit of the American dream has become a wake-up call: time to try something else. “Houseless” but not homeless, they seek temporary work across the country, as seasonal camp hosts at remote parks, sugar beet harvesters and shift workers at huge Amazon warehouses. Pay is minimal, their health is often precarious, the work is arduous, and conditions are hazardous. Many gather annually at a “Rubber Tramp Rendezvous” site near Quartzsite, Arizona, to share and learn from each other before hitting the road again. Family has become “vanily.”

Linda May’s plan was to work, save and buy land in an area remote enough for solitude but accessible to family and friends. Bruder follows in her own van (“Halen”), writing with a fine eye for details and a nonjudgmental pen, as May works hard to create her new way of life—or, rather, to recreate the unflappable pioneer spirit that got this country going in the first place.

Jessica Bruder and Nomadland were featured in a 24 minute interview on KGNU Denver/Boulder/Fort Collins on the 'It's The Economy' show. To listen, please follow this link:- https://ccragg123.libsyn.com/jessica-bruders-nomadland-surviving-america-in-the-21st-century

Interesting stories here, but also really grim. I couldn't muster even an ounce of hope while I was reading this. It's a cautionary tale, I guess, but a cautionary tale that we're ignoring studiously. Sigh.

This book was certainly a labor of Bruder’s love and fascination of the segment of Americans choosing to live (and age) on the road. An eye-opening look at life in various vans, campers, RVs, and the like, and the characters that occupy these vessels. Intermittently sad, infuriating, enlightening, and hopeful. I will recommend this to appreciators of Just Mercy and Evicted, other exceptional books told from the front lines by embedded authors.

REALLY interesting look at the new sub-demographic of people who live as itinerant workers out of vans or campers as they travel the nation. I love the personal look this author gives at the people she has lived with and writes about.

NOMADLAND by Jessica Bruder explores the lives of retired or near-retirement age Americans who have decided to be "houseless" and instead travel around looking for work. Bruder, an award-winning journalist who teaches at the Columbia School of Journalism, focuses on Linda May, a woman in her sixties who optimistically takes on a variety of seasonal jobs like cleaning at campsites and working at Amazon warehouses in order to make ends meet. Recently, the New York Times also featured a photo essay on "Overnight in Walmart Parking Lots." Although some of those travelers were doing so for pleasure, Bruder instead profiles a new type of migrant worker, growing since the 2008 recession and driven to living in cars, vans or RVs due to some combination of issues like job loss, divorce, or health care costs. She weaves in some surprising statistics such as that there are "only a dozen counties and one metro area in America where a full-time minimum wage worker can afford a one bedroom apartment at fair market rent."

We have purchased a copy of NOMADLAND – which could possibly be used in Literature Circles with Matthew Desmond's Evicted and/or considered as a summer reading assignment for Senior English classes; Bruder's work received starred reviews from Booklist, Kirkus and Library Journal.

Live link in review: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/14/us/walmart-parking-rv.html

This book is an eye opening look at a hidden population. I have often seen seniors at RV parks while I was on camping trips and just assumed that they were well to do and lived on the road from choice. I didn't realize how many lived on the road because they didn't have enough money to live any other way. This book is well worth reading for someone like me, who is heading into their senior years.

A really unsettling look at a part of our society that I did no know existed. The very idea that there’s a whole sub society of retired who spend their lives driving from one job to another is unsettling to say the least.

I am 42 years old and retirement is constantly at the forefront of my mind. I always tend to run these various scenarios through my mind at how we could retire without having the suggested millions in the bank. I have explored the Tiny House craze and when I read the premise for Nomadland I was interested.

Nomadland is one journalist's look into an ever-growing subculture in our country. There is a whole generation of retirees who are taking to the roads in their campers, RVs, and vans. These nomadic citizens are of a certain age and some lost everything in the 2008 housing bust, others lost their retirement when the market crashed. And others yet, just have that sense of wanderlust that just cannot be cured. And then there are those that chose this way of life as a way to thumb their noses at societal norms.

I learned something new reading this book, this subculture of nomads is very popular with employers looking to hire seasonal help. Most of them are of a generation that has a reliable, solid work ethic and that makes them highly desirable. Amazon even actively recruits these people, known as workampers, for seasonal help. Amazon calls it their Camperforce. When done with seasonal work for Amazon these nomads head off to other seasonal work at campgrounds and theme parks across the country, just to name a few. I found this particularly interesting for two reasons - first of all, the author highlights the theme park of my youth in Altoona, Iowa. And secondly, my daughter works at a theme park here in Utah. I know they hire retirees, but I am not sure if any of them are workampers.

In Nomadland author Jessica Bruder purchases a van and sets off to immerse herself in this community. Under the tutelage of Linda, an expert workamper, the author was welcomed with open arms. She learned the ins and outs of living out of a van, how to earn a meager living as a houseless person, and how to be a productive member of a unique community.

Bottom line - Nomadland has to be one of the most fascinating books that I have read in a long time. Ultimately, what I took away from this book is that there are options for those on the verge of retirement. They may be a bit unconventional, but at least there are options. If we do go the route of workamping I would do it in a vehicle with plumbing, but I could do it and probably enjoy it very much.

Details:
Nomadland by Jessica Bruder
On Facebook
Pages: 320
Publisher: Norton, W.W., and Company
Publication Date: 9/19/2017
Buy it Here!

This is equal parts a fantastic glimpse into a non-traditional lifestyle and a (subjectively) damning commentary on how the American middle class is diminishing into jobs with no benefits or security. I say subjectively because Bruder tries to stay as objective as possible in her recounting of the triumphs and hardships the van-dwellers experience. There is generally an optimistic vibe to the whole book, a sense of what I imagine the hippies may have experienced in the 1960s and '70s (and may still feel today) - that you have people who are turning their lives around and reclaiming them for what they believe in. But this also feels like a warning, because with these economic and social changes we're all undergoing, van-dwelling or something like it could be in the future for your family, your friends or even yourself.

Nomandland covers the reality of many Americans living off the grid. Most are hard luck cases and survive in their RVs, vans, cars and trucks working at various jobs and migrating from camp to camp. It's an entire subculture that was very intriguing to read about. Most are seniors and subsisting off very meager monthly stipends.

Really enjoyed this book especially as it was a a lifestyle I was beginning to notice as we traveled .