Under the Bridge

3.5 stars rounded up to 4.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Fernwood Publishing for this compelling book in return for an honest review.

It depicts the disenfranchised people living on the Halifax Streets, and provides the reader with the gritty reality of homelessness, being wet, tired, and cold on the city streets, searching for food in dumpsters behind restaurants and the accompanying stress of extreme poverty. We also learn about the poverty activists, drop-in centers providing meals, crowded shelters where beds are provided if one is lucky to be on the waiting list, and civil rights lawyers. Among the homeless are mentally ill, prostitutes, and people out of work and out of hope.

The main character is Lucy, a woman in her 60s who was once an anti-poverty activist and a teacher. She is now unstable, has a nasty temper, and rants publicly against capitalism destroying the economic livelihood of the poor at home and abroad. She worked amongst the poor in Guatemala and what happened there haunts her memory. Lucy is on probation and on medication for her mood swings. We first meet Lucy while she is trying to sleep under the bridge and is cold and wet. She is overweight, has arthritis accompanied by mobility issues. In one scene she hides in a filthy, reeking dumpster.

One day she is befriended by a young woman and meets her friends who are searching dumpsters for discarded food. Lucy has been sneaking into the basement of a lawyer, Judith, whom she regards as a friend because she has been an advocate for the troubled woman. She has a key to Judith’s home as she was permitted to store her few belongings there. She realizes she is breaking Judith’s trust, but the temptation of a warm dry place to sleep is too great. Soon the young people invade the basement as squatters.

I thought the book was well written and a learning experience. Her description of daily life on the streets, the hunger and dirt, and the will to survive was very well done, and the memorable characters were well developed in situations which seemed real. I found the first half of the book most compelling, and the later part where Lucy and others were squatters in Judith’s basement was not as strong as their situation on the streets. I wished the backstory of what happened in Guatemala had been revealed earlier in the story and felt Judith’s story was too drawn out.

Recommended for poverty advocates and anyone wanting an informative story about what it means to be down and out in Halifax and elsewhere. An enlightening and grim portrait of extreme poverty and the daily struggle to survive.

The author in Under the Bridge examines the very nature of the homeless, of living in abject poverty and the daily struggle to survive. This book is well written; I learned a lot. The dirt, the hunger, the struggle to survive, the daily life on the streets were very well described and the characters well developed. Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for this book in exchange for an honest review.

Under The Bridge is eye opening and sad. It's the story of the homeless and poverty stricken. These people are living on the streets and under bridges in Halifax. It's a gritty raw look at the hunger, dirt, and horrible living conditions. Even shelters aren't much help because they're too overcrowded. Honestly, there are characters and a story here, but it's the topic of poverty that interests me. I think this is a well written realistic portrayal of life in extreme poverty and life homeless. It's such a relevant topic. I recommend for anyone who is interested in the subject matter. Thanks to NetGalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

Fingers crossed I don't ever slip far enough to experience what this character is going through. The line between the having enough and having very little is really a very thin line. The way this is written/narrated makes the situation very realistic! (I've still many pages to go but wanted to post a partial review). The low rating is only for the topic, not the writing.

With this story based around Lucy the author attempts to get readers to question their thoughts on poverty. I live in England and see news reports of far away countries with starving children and like most want to give something to help but does my contribution really bring aid ? Like many western counties we have a welfare system that offers financial help to many but does that mean poverty is eradicated in my country ? Perhaps those who have to choose between heat or food would disagree and then there's the question of just why the third world is poor. Are we greedy consumers contributing to the suffering? This book approaches questions such as these in a fictional manner to make the reader stop, think and question.
So what actually happens ? Lucy is an older woman who when we meet her is homeless and struggling with reality and some would say she's broken. Having been a missionary, an educator and a radical thinker she's tried to make a real difference but now is alone and yet still has more to give. Her history isn't immediately apparent and her background is very slowly dragged out but as we read she makes new connections that start to take over her life. New friends help her but old friends still exist and Lucy journeys into herself to confront her past and incite a new future.
As this ended I remembered seeing Gone With The Wind a long time ago with the final scene reminding us that there's always tomorrow and I am left with that very same feeling of hope. At times slower than I prefer but I didn't want to put it down so I think that's a recommendation in itself. A book to encourage everyone to question what is right for our planet and its inhabitants.
This voluntary take is of a copy I requested from Netgalley and my thoughts and comments are honest and I believe fair.

This book was an odd one for me. I wanted to read it because I’m interested in mental illness, poverty, and social justice – I like to read novels that take a strong stand and make me think. This novel accomplished that, but it still missed somehow missed its mark.

The character development was slow moving. When the book opens, Lucy – our protagonist – is living on the streets of Nova Scotia. It’s immediately clear to the reader that she wasn’t always living this way — she used to have a home and a job. What isn’t clear to the reader is why Lucy is now homeless. This wasn’t a problem for me; often authors take some time to develop their character’s backstory. However, Lucy’s backstory was only seen in the briefest of glimpses for the first half of the book. In the second half of the novel, her backstory began to come out in dribs and drabs before its full reveal at the end – but at that point, I had lost interest.

Judith – Lucy’s lawyer, friend, and colleague-in-activism – is mysterious for much of the novel, and she’s mysterious to Lucy as well, but I didn’t feel that there was enough about her to make the reader care for Judith – I wasn’t concerned with her throughout the book, even when her circumstances should have required me to care for her well-being.

The other characters that Lucy meets while on the street – Bara, Robin, Gord, and their band of friends – were less developed, and that was fine with me because I honestly didn’t care about them either. I sympathized with Bara for a minute, but stopped once she made new friends and started treating Lucy with less kindness.

This wasn’t a plot-heavy novel, but much happened throughout the course of the story. I like reading novels that give views into the days and lives of their characters, and this book did that. We saw Lucy and her colleagues and friends as they went through their days. The overarching themes of the novel were poverty and its causes, homelessness and the difficulties of getting by, and the first-world’s effect on third-world countries. These are all themes that interest me and that I care about – and it was clear to me that Anne Bishop conducted significant research before writing this book.

But, the information and facts were presented through dialogue – specifically, Lucy explaining capitalism and poverty to Bara and her younger friends – and it felt preachy to me. I agree with much of what Lucy had to say, but I didn’t feel that her self-righteousness and indignation was the way to reach the other side, and bring them around to her point of view. I share her thoughts, and was still turned off by her method of delivery. Other reviewers have specifically said that they didn’t find the novel preachy – so it is certainly a matter of opinion.

Finally, the novel felt long. I don’t believe that it is particularly long, but I began to feel as though I was dragging through it, and by the end I was glad that it was over.

Regardless, the Anne Bishop is a good writer, and her ability to craft a story and characters is obvious. The novel was easy to read and understand. The themes that Bishop chose to focus her novel on have the potential to become convoluted and frustrating, and Bishop did well to keep her explanations understandable and surface-level. Further, I appreciate Bishop’s willingness to write about these difficult topics – their examination is necessary and everyone should care about the people around them who may be suffering.

I recommend reading this book if you’re interested in novels about poverty, homelessness and mental illness, especially if you’re someone who has not done much reading about these issues before, because this book may be able to provide you with some new information.

*Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for the e-arc of this book.*

I love Anne Bishop's writing but this was different. I struggled at first with the story but was so glad I did by the end. Anne's books always leave me satisfied and wanting more.

Under the Bridge by Anne Bishop is the exploration of an under-represented group in popular fiction, the poverty stricken and homeless in Canada. This is the story of Lucy, a former activist for anti-poverty groups, who has herself fallen on hard times and is living under a bridge. Lawyer Judith becomes an essential support to Lucy, and her home becomes a sanctuary of sorts until Judith's own circumstances take a dramatic turn for the worse.

I found this to be an enlightening read, educational but never preachy. I came away with, if not an understanding, a heightened awareness of the plight of Canada's most destitute population.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Fernwood Publishing for this ARC.

Author Anne Bishop presents an intriguing story about an older homeless woman trying to deal with mental illness and its ramifications. Lucy, in her 60s, is bounced from shelter to shelter as she frequently forgets her meds. This puts her in direct conflict with society's expectations.

Lucy used to be a part of the community that helped those on the streets and on welfare, but at some point she became people she once tried to help. Bishop does an excellent job with her depiction of loneliness, homelessness and desperation. There's no sugar coating what life can be like for someone on the fringes. When the last page is turned, the reader will view real-life socially compromised situations with different eyes.