Adresi Yok, New York

by Lee Stringer, Tijen Suveren (Translator)

İster "Tanrı'nın Köşesi" diye adlandırdığı Kırk İkinci Cadde'yi anlatırken olsun; ister ara sıra çocuğunu bakıcılığını üstlendiği, fahişe ve "tarihi geçmiş turist" Suzy aracılığı ile olsun; ister onu ancak hayatta tutacak ve kendine biraz "mal" almasını sağlayacak kadar para kazandıran, önce sokaklarda ve metrolarda sattığı, sonra da köşe yazarı ve skandal haberlerinin peşine düşen editör rolüne soyunduğu Sokak Haberleri'yle ilgili deneyimleri olsun, New York'taki evsiz günlerinden tanıdığı birbirinden ilginç ve renkli kişiler ve sahnelerle Stringer, alışık olmadığımız bir bakış açısından Amerika'nın seksenli yıllarının benzersiz bir panoramasını çiziyor.

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, Biography Memoir, New York, Biography, Autobiography, Addiction

207 pages, Paperback

First published July 14, 1998

Reviews

[TK421 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would have never read GRAND CENTRAL WINTER had I not heard Kurt Vonnegut speak about it on CSPAN Book-TV a few years ago. My initial reaction was: another memoir about subject X. But as I went about doing things in the house, keeping an ear on what Vonnegut had to say about this book, I soon realized I had stopped doing my chores, and was now fixated on the life of Lee Stringer, the author and man that chronicled his life on the streets in NYC. Mind you, this was the NYC before "a cop on every corner" was implemented. Stringer spoke about his life with humility. When asked why he wrote this book, Stringer said: I finally put down the pipe. (He had just found a broken pencil in the hovel he was occupying under Grand Central Station and used a piece of discarded paper to record a few thoughts he had.) From this one moment of clarity, Stringer chronicled an unforgettable tale of loss and woe, redemption and struggle, and slowly began to turn his life around. And Stringer holds nothing back—this story is populated with “unsavory” people: pimps and prostitutes, drug dealers and other homeless people that have either gone mad or are on the brink of succumbing to their madness; but he gives not only a voice to these people, he gives them life. Their stories explore what it means to be alive in a city that looks at them as if they were ghosts. Parts of his story are bleak; parts are laugh-out-loud funny. Every part is meaningful. This was a powerful story, and one worth telling.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

[George K. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Όταν ο μεγάλος και τρανός Κερτ Βόνεγκατ γράφει πρόλογο για το βιβλίο άλλου συγγραφέα και, ανάμεσα στα άλλα, λέει ότι ο συγγραφέας αυτός είναι ένας "νέος Τζακ Λόντον ακριβώς την στιγμή που τον χρειαζόμασταν" (τότε που γράφτηκε το βιβλίο τουλάχιστον), ε, αυτό σημαίνει πολλά πράγματα, έτσι δεν είναι; Βέβαια ο Λι Στρίνγκερ έγραψε αυτό το πρώτο βιβλίο σε μεγάλη ηλικία και δεν έχει γράψει και πολλά από τότε, όμως έχει κάτι πολύ σημαντικό και ενδιαφέρον να πει, και το λέει με ιδιαίτερο και αρκετά ξεχωριστό τρόπο.

Κάθε μεγαλούπολη έχει και τους αστέγους της, τους ναρκομανείς, τους μικροεγκληματίες, τους ανθρώπους του περιθωρίου. Ο Λι Στρίνγκερ ήταν ένας από αυτούς: Είχε μια δουλειά μέχρι που τον έδιωξαν, είχε ατυχίες οικονομικής φύσεως, έμεινε άστεγος, εθίστηκε στα ναρκωτικά, έκανε και λίγη φυλακή, μετά βρήκε μια χαμαλοδουλειά στην εφημερίδα "Τα Νέα του Δρόμου", έγινε αρχισυντάκτης της, αγγελιαφόρος για τους άστεγους και τους κατατρεγμένους, από την μια προσπαθώντας να βγάλει κάνα δολάριο και από την άλλη να αφυπνίσει τους συμπολίτες του, να τους κάνει να δουν με άλλο μάτι τους άστεγους και τους φτωχούς. Δεν ξέρω τι κατάφερε, αλλά έκανε κάτι. Ξέφυγε από τα ναρκωτικά, έγινε δημοσιογράφος, έγραψε ένα βιβλίο, μπορεί να πει κανείς ότι έζησε και την χαμοζωή στο μάξιμουμ. Έχει και τα θετικά του αυτός ο τρόπος ζωής -από μια άποψη-, αν και φυσικά λίγοι τον επιλέγουν.

Ο Στρίνγκερ περιγράφει με δυναμικό και ρεαλιστικό τρόπο στιγμές από την ζωή του στους δρόμους και τους σταθμούς του μετρό της Νέας Υόρκης, σαν άστεγος, ζητιάνος και άπορος, στιγμές από την χαμαλοδουλειά στην εφημερίδα και από τις μέρες που βρέθηκε στην φυλακή. Μέσω των περιγραφών του γνωρίζουμε μια άλλη Νέα Υόρκη, βλέπουμε μια εικόνα της που δύσκολα θα βρει κανείς στους ταξιδιωτικούς οδηγούς, γνωρίζουμε διάφορους αστέγους, μικροεγκληματίες, νταβατζήδες και πόρνες. Η γραφή του Στρίνγκερ είναι, πραγματικά, φοβερή, ωμή όπου χρειαζόταν, αλλά και με μπόλικη αίσθηση του χιούμορ. Άλλος με τέτοιο θέμα θα μπορούσε να γράψει ένα κατάμαυρο βιβλίο που θα ψυχοπλάκωνε τον αναγνώστη, όμως ο Στρίνγκερ έκανε την όλη ιστορία να διαβάζεται με απόλαυση από την πρώτη μέχρι και την τελευταία σελίδα. Ο τύπος κατάφερε να με μεταφέρει ανάμεσα στους αστέγους και τους απόρους και να γνωρίσω τα προβλήματά τους.

Επιγραμματικά, πρόκειται για ένα πολύ καλογραμμένο, ενδιαφέρον και απολαυστικό βιβλίο, που άνετα μπορεί να το κατατάξει κανείς ανάμεσα στα καλύτερα του είδους αυτού. Και τέτοιου είδους βιβλία με συναρπάσουν και συνάμα με προβληματίζουν. Εδώ ο συγγραφέας κάνει και κάποια πολιτικά σχόλια, θίγει ορισμένα ζητήματα, αν και χρειάζεται πολύ περισσότερος χώρος από διακόσιες και κάτι σελίδες. Προσωπικά δεν θα είχα πρόβλημα αν το βιβλίο είχε το διπλάσιο ή ακόμα και το τριπλάσιο μέγεθος. Η γραφή του Στρίνγκερ μου φάνηκε απόλυτα ταιριαστή με τα γούστα μου. Έχει γράψει και ένα ακόμα αυτοβιογραφικό βιβλίο για τα παιδικά του χρόνια, με τον τίτλο "Sleepaway School", αλλά δεν είναι εξίσου γνωστό εκεί έξω, ενώ είναι απίθανο να μεταφραστεί στα ελληνικά. Τουλάχιστον μου δόθηκε η ευκαιρία να διαβάσω αυτό το πολύ ωραίο βιβλίο, σε εξαιρετική μετάφραση.

[JZ · Rating 5 out of 5]

I became homeless because of brain damage from chemical exposure. We are human, despite whether we have a roof or not. I had a car and a tent. And Medicaid, and then, Social Security.

What has happened to this country is a crime. I healed, I have a home, but I don't forget. This book might give those without a heart a prick.

[Patricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

There's a common belief, I gather, among middle Americans that homeless folk are somehow inferior, whether in talent for living, energy, or ambition, not to mention intelligence and smartness. Lee Stringer's book quickly and with enormous pathos puts this notion to rest. Stringer, without sentiment, gives his account of living in New York City without resources OTHER than wit, intelligence, energy, and ambition. Without asking for sympathy or offering apology for who he is and what he has gone through, he portrays in plain, honest language a life that many Middle Americans might well fear would be a life they could not live up to. This is not an educational study, although it should be studied by educators, nor is it a protest, although the very fact of the conditions it portrays should raise protest. One thing that everyone should take away from Mr. Stringer's flat-footed tale is that human beings of whatever type must always be prepared to do what they must do to live--let alone survive.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent non-fiction memoir of Lee's struggles on the streets of New York, addicted to crack. Very readable, extremely recommendable.

[Brad Bell · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I had heard about this book I was told it was a raw look at homelessness in New York and it does not disappoint. It’s ugly, honest and brutal in its portrayal of drug abuse, guilt and a broken system that seeks to fix homelessness by not treating the issues these people face but by implementing temporary fixes that never take.

Lee Stringer was a drug addict, for 12 years he stumbled through the streets of New York always looking for his next opportunity to cop some money to buy drugs. He was also a articulate editor of a weekly newspaper “Street News”, creates by and sold by the homeless population of New York. The book, written by Stringer, doesn’t sugarcoat the realities of life on the street. From tales of sleeping under the terminal at Grand Central Station to fellow crack addicts ripping him off to quench their own habits, he doesn’t paint the men and women on the street as misunderstood stand up citizens but people who are struggling.

I’m guilty of it as we all are of looking through homelessness in the hopes of we ignore it we don’t have to deal with the reality of it, these are people who through one way or another are trapped in job prospects, or addiction and the help doesn’t exist for them. We tend to dehumanize them which is something Stringer talks about in the book and the devastating effect that has on a persons psyche, there can be no improvement without understanding and this book is a revelation of showing the unfiltered truth behind that statement.

[Stephanie Augustin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn't think I could feel for Lee Stringer as much as I had for some fictional characters. I've often stayed away from non-fiction biographical stories for this same reason: that I stop feeling as writers get too cloying, are prone to justification or simply spew facts.

And that is why Grand Central Winter hooked me: Stringer writes like a reporter, your imagination does the rest. You don't get the pityfest one would expect from homeless stories, but simply ideas of people he meets - they just all happen to live on the streets - you can easily find these types off the streets in a penthouse or on the subway (riding the train, not sleeping at stations after hours).

Stringer also provides a balanced view on mayoral and political policies regarding homeless people: how policies don't matter in the end, but the heart (in implementing these same policies) does. One example is how he learns to 'game' the homeless system, when all he wants is a pair of shoes (because he's tread the old ones to death). The people and vendors of Street News somehow stayed with me the longest after finishing this book. Maybe because they saw paper vending as an enterprise and participated readily. Or maybe because of my journalism background. Regardless, I found a certain affinity with them.

Good first work, Mr Stringer!

[Dan Stern · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lee Stringer lived on the streets of New York, often in the warrens underneath Grand Central Station. His description of the homeless life is as accurate in Seattle as it is in New York. He wrote for the New York street-paper Street News, and eventually became its Chief Editor. His account gives a close-up look at what this kind of paper means to many of us.
Lee Stringer makes me proud to be a writer. He managed to trade in the addiction of crack cocaine for the addiction of writing. (Not easily -- nothing in this book is easy.) I wish he was writing with my street paper, Real Change. He describes life on the streets without ever getting maudlin; he honestly reports charity scams and the violence done by homeless people themselves without ever sacrificing our empathy or our hope.
It is one of the rare educations that can actually be enjoyed.

[JJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stringer is a masterful writer. I can understand why he was paired with Vonnegut in "Like Shaking Hands with God." Stringer gives an unapologetic recounting of his life spent on and off crack and the streets of New York in the 80s and 90s. This is not a plea for help, pity, or designed to induce guilty feeling in the reader. Stringer just tells his story. I think that the chapters could have been reorganized to flow a bit better, but that is an editing issue and one so minor that it did not take away from the story too much. His prose flows so well. Reading him is like reading a conversation with a friend. Most defiantly worth your time to read.

[Nicole · Rating 2 out of 5]

Stringer's account of homeless life in the NYC before homeless life was impossible here starts out as an engaging read. After a few dozen descriptions of how this bright, articulate, and clearly intelligent man CHOSE to spend his nights curled up in Grand Central Terminal for years, I got a little bored. I mean, really Lee...do you expect us to believe you just started writing and couldn't stop adn it pulled you out of the streets and away from heroin? I don't buy it. I should, but I don't.

[Catc · Rating 4 out of 5]

I saw Lee Stringer interviewed on Denton on the ABC (Australia) and found him so interesting. I read his book a day later. Mind blowing. So very different to other books/media I've read coming out of the US relating to homelessness.

I learned so much from this man. I loved the way this book is written. My review isn't that succinct; but I was still thinking of this book weeks later.

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

autobiographical account of a homeless man's various troubles. Written in the pencil he finds to clean out his crack pipe.

[Neil Cochrane · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm so glad to have found and read this book. Thoughtful and eloquent. Highly recommended.

[Batuhan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Başlayalı uzun zaman oldu ama bi türlü elime alıp okuyasım gelmedi.
Çok daha farklı hikayeler beklerdim. Başlarda iyiydi ama ortalarında dikkatimi çeken bi hikaye bulamayınca okumayı bıraktım.

[Alessandra Paddeu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bonne et courte lecture de ce récit autobiographique. Affolant que les thématiques abordées soient toujours d’actualité 30 ans plus tard…

[Kevin Hogg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like many people, I imagine, I found this book by way of Kurt Vonnegut's recommendation. Stringer spent 12 years addicted to crack, living on the street for much of that time. Through a series of autobiographical stories, he discusses his first time using right through to his last hit. He's very open about what he did to earn the money, how he continued to justify his addiction (including the rules he set for himself, and how he talked himself around all of them at various times), and the moment(s) he realized he needed help. It's an amazing story of someone with a lot of undiscovered potential, and several of the ways he squandered that potential once he found it. I don't say this as a criticism of Stringer--based on the way he discusses his addiction, I feel that he would agree. Stringer's book carries on beyond his time in a treatment center, and two of the stories with the most impact actually happen after he has spent months in recovery.

Throughout his journey, there is a deep wisdom in Stringer's words. He discusses the services provided to the homeless population, the problems with these services, and the services that are truly needed. He talks about the need for honest discussions in which both sides can say what they think in a productive manner, acknowledging that they don't have all of the right words to express it properly. Even so, rather than getting hung up on the phrasing, both sides can look at the intent and recognize some common ground.

Stringer's writing style is excellent. His description helped me to envision parts of New York that I've never experienced, and it helped to give more of an understanding of what a day in the life of a crack addict entails. If I had one criticism of the book, it would be the order of the stories. At times, it took me out of the moment when he went into detail about an experience that he had mentioned in passing during a previous story. This wasn't a huge deal, though. Altogether, it was a very impressive collection of writing that teaches about life on the streets, addiction, and recovery.

[Alexis Noel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good relaxing read. Its about this man named Lee Stringer who is a homeless man living below the Grand Central Termimal. His writing began by finding this pencil to run through his crack pipe and he decided to start writing. He began tellimg his story from the beginning and how his lofe started going down hill by smoking,drinking and eventually loosing his job and his apartment. His writing helped him over come his addiction to drugs by simply replacing his smoking time with writing time. I thought this book was cool because we see so many homeless people out there and we never take the chance to think about what their story was and how they got to where they are now. I thought it was interesting to hear a story like this from such a different point of view that i never would have thought. i do recommend if your seeking something different to read. it will deffinately give you a whole different view on the things we have today.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book of essays about being homeless in New York in the 1980s. It is a memoir, and a drug memoir at that, so I didn't expect to like it other than the fact that it came highly recommended by Kurt Vonnegut and I read and liked an interview with the two of them (published as "Like Shaking Hands With God"). His writing style was loose and down to earth. I thought he had some very good insights about the problems of being homeless. I appreciated the fact that he did not glorify his drug addiction, but rather looked back on it almost with a sense of fondness and longing, but with the knowledge that he would be a dead man if he ever went back.

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

For nearly 20 years Stringer lived as a homeless man on the streets of New York City, surviving the brutal winters by holing up in abandoned and forgotten parts of Grand Central Station. He began writing for a paper produced, distributed by, and sold for the benefit of the homeless and managed to raise himself out of the streets. A sometimes painful but always inspiring story that will give the reader not only hope, but an insight into the plight of the homeless rarely glimpsed by the general population.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an autobiographical account of Lee Stringer. Stringer begins the book describing his life as a homeless, crack addict who finds a pencil he intends to use to clean his crack pipe with. Then he realizes that a pen be something more. He writes about the streets where the homeless are seen but so often overlooked and his eventual position as a writer for a newspaper. This book is a very well written account of a man's struggle to free himself from a serious addiction. Stringer shows the journey to regain his life and his dignity.

[Marigny777]

At first this sat on my shelf for months, chalk it up to another late night at myopic: 12.00am on a saturday, insomnia, wonder down to myopic and peruse the social science sections. I finished this in about a day or so, unable to wrest myself away from from both the keen insights into the nature of and common perception of addiction, and the elegance with which some of these insights were delivered. Similiar narrative vein as the Mole People, but less from the perspective of a privileged outsider than from oen who is describing their own downward spiral.

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a memoir of Lee Stringer's years he spent living homeless on the streets of New York. He was a junkie and a beggar, but discovered he had an aptitude and a love for writing, and that love is what saved him. This subject matter could be sad or stereotypical for a lesser writer, but Stringer brings a lot of humor and humanity to the story. Kurt Vonnegut described Stringer as a "Jack London of the streets", and that is a very apt description: the memoir comes together in short vignettes populated with colorful characters and sociological insight.

[Shay · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book reopened my eyes to something I think always goes unnoticed : some of those bums laying in filth on the streets are eons smarter than you. Lee Stringer paints the picture of choosen poverty as something others would hate, but a life that suited him perfectly while he lived it. He gives the modern day aspiring writer something to think about when it comes to their art, which is that some really do work, think, write better under the influence of something (or while coming down off something).

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up this book after reading Lee Stringer's conversation with Kurt Vonnegut in "Like Shaking Hands With God". Vonnegut, at a ripe age, having written pantloads of books himself, spoke almost deferentially of Stringer's talents. I was intrigued. When Vonnegut speaks like that of someone, I pay close attention.

This book didn't disappoint me. Stringer writes with hard-earned streetwise wisdom. At times I was reminded of Jarvis Masters. If you haven't read Jarvis Masters, get off the internet and get your ass to the library right away. While you're there, pick this up too.

[Anthony Sanabria · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the story of a drug reformed addict lee stringer wrote a famous memoir in the new york times of his struggles as a drug addict and what it was like and when you're reading the book you reaaly feel in his shoes and where he had nothing and sold everything he had just for some drugs to start writing and then getting paid a job that pottenially made him realize his higher calling to something more worth while in his life and actually made a living

[Luis Quiros · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was so inspired by the story of this man that I sought him out for wisdom. We became friends and his wisdom is now a part of my own writing. Lee Stringer's story speaks to the power of discovering a passion that transcends the "formula" of recovery and gave him the empowerment to overcome his addiction. His story is not simply about recovery but about the human experience and his process of becoming.

[Alexis Pullen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lee Stringer leaves no doubt as to how he got the praise and endorsement of Kurt Vonnegut. His crisp writing style and keen observations of the human condition are distinctly reminiscent of Vonnegut's voice. This book is Stringer's first, and chronicles his ten years on the streets of New York City as a crack addict, and later as a reporter for the Street News. The details of Stringer's life on the streets are gritty and frank. His stories are unforgettable.

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lee Stringer is a captivating writer. He doesn't necessarily want a judgment from his reader, he just presents this world as he knew it: that of a crack addict navigating NYC's homeless shelters, enterprises (a newspaper like Philly's One Step Away, written and sold by people without jobs or shelter) and his fellow inhabitants. It's an important story from the point of view of someone who's lived it. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would love to read more of Stringer's words.

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

The fact that I have walked past homeless people countless times, means that this book will forever be unforgettable. The experience challenges me. I always wonder; what are the stories, how do they cope, what can I or should I do, where lies the blame? This book is one person's story. The fact that he is a fine writer with eyes-wide-open insight on himself, and on society around him, makes this a compelling read.

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book an autobiography of a homeless man who lived on the streets of New York City.

I read this book because I realized that I did not have a clue what it would be like to live on the streets. I wondered: Are there different communities? What sort of relationships do you have? What keeps you on the streets?