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A review by hobbitony
The People of the Abyss by Jack London, Nonfiction, Social Issues, Homelessness & Poverty by Jack London
4.0
This is going to act as more stream of consciousness then an actual review if anyone is reading.
Jack London's "The People of the Abyss" was a sociological nonfiction case study of London during the start of the 1900's. London thought it'd be interesting to see how those on the East End of London (no pun intended) lived during this time. To do this, he dressed in rags, secured himself a polish place to rest at nights and wandered into the area to associate himself among the masses. Representative of slumming but not quite, it reminded me of Undercover boss where richer men spy on their company workers by appearing as a struggling worker among the rest in the company hierarchy.
I was surprised to read this account partly because the thought of pretending to be poor leaves a sour taste in my mouth. London is aware of the conditions respective of the raging economy that is leaving the poor even further behind. He understands that poverty is not just a thing that happens but it's a gradual degradation of one's families falling further and further into the trap of poverty. I highlighted a lot of quotes that really stuck out to me because London encapsulates the cycle of poverty as something that burrows its way into you and simply drags everyone down with it.
During the account, he narrates his journey into workhouses, narratives with other struggling men who are living on the streets and develops genuine compassion for those. He even predicts the growing opposition from the 99% to the rest of the economy.
At times, especially during the middle, I found myself a bit bored with the almost repetitive chapters but there was a certain switch up when London began giving statistics that made it clear, this was not simply a journey to find new writing content but a genuine exploration of the current state of the world.
Jack London's "The People of the Abyss" was a sociological nonfiction case study of London during the start of the 1900's. London thought it'd be interesting to see how those on the East End of London (no pun intended) lived during this time. To do this, he dressed in rags, secured himself a polish place to rest at nights and wandered into the area to associate himself among the masses. Representative of slumming but not quite, it reminded me of Undercover boss where richer men spy on their company workers by appearing as a struggling worker among the rest in the company hierarchy.
I was surprised to read this account partly because the thought of pretending to be poor leaves a sour taste in my mouth. London is aware of the conditions respective of the raging economy that is leaving the poor even further behind. He understands that poverty is not just a thing that happens but it's a gradual degradation of one's families falling further and further into the trap of poverty. I highlighted a lot of quotes that really stuck out to me because London encapsulates the cycle of poverty as something that burrows its way into you and simply drags everyone down with it.
During the account, he narrates his journey into workhouses, narratives with other struggling men who are living on the streets and develops genuine compassion for those. He even predicts the growing opposition from the 99% to the rest of the economy.
At times, especially during the middle, I found myself a bit bored with the almost repetitive chapters but there was a certain switch up when London began giving statistics that made it clear, this was not simply a journey to find new writing content but a genuine exploration of the current state of the world.