Welfare

by Steve Anwyll

Welfare is wholly made up of four-line paragraphs and has a cadence that is uniquely its own. A high school student leaves his parents’ home to live on his own with friends and with the help of government aid. The narrator becomes your best friend on the first page.

I walk down the slight slope of their driveway. A backpack full of t-shirts and socks and underwear and books on my back. I have $50 and 2 packs of cigarettes in the pocket of my army surplus jacket. But no lighter. You can’t have everything I tell myself.

Steve Anwyll lives in Canada.

Genres: Fiction, Novels

270 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 24, 2019

Reviews

[Bud Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

WELFARE is the most powerful novel I've ever read about being on the edge of adulthood and having no interest in what other adults want. This is a novel that questions what being an individual is worth to society, and laughs at what their answer is, spits on them even for suggesting someone's life is worth that little.

In the opening pages, our protagonist, Stan Acker choses to leave behind the problems under his parent's roof, suffering the abuses of his step-mother, and enduring the shrugs of his numb father (who himself walked out of high school and into a factory job which he has sleepwalked through for forty years). Instead of becoming like everybody else, Stan becomes himself, walks the streets, bums cigarettes, reads books in the grass, starves, starves some more, puffs a joint, dreams of a hot meal, walks a million miles around Canada to try and make good at the welfare office. It's an epic journey, one that Odysseus might not have even been able to succeed at. Stan Acker doesn't want to drop out of high school, he wants to stick around and graduate. The government sends him a check every month but he doesn't dream the same dreams as everybody else. He wants something more. He's starving to death, but not just for food, he's starving to death for a friend, for a girl, for hope, for beauty.

Anwyll writes in 'a plainsong that is crushingly poetic in its anti-purple prose'. His writing is hypnotizing, full of a personal, idiosyncratic rhythm that pulls at the reader, dragging them happily through dumps, and alleys, and through the snowy waysides of the little sleepy fishing village. I wouldn't call this stark writing, this writing feels lush because it is overflowing with humor, and an unstoppable urge to fight. The ideas put forth by society seem stark. The rejection of those ideals by Stan feel triumphant. We are growing up with Stan Acker in this book. He is on an epic journey, one that Odysseus might not even be able to come out the victor on, but Stan Acker is determined, even if that determination just means, getting by and carving out some breathing room from the pricks, a chance to put his feet up on the table, light a joint, read some books in peace, hey - maybe even get lucky enough to be able to eat something for dinner tonight besides white rice.

The copy on the back of the novel says Acker is an anti-hero. Yeah, not to me. To me he is one of the greatest heroes ever written. A person who knows that slacking off is admirable. "I like doing nothing, it's agreeable to my spirit."

Welfare is its 100% own thing, written by an author at the front door of a shitload of affecting, complicated work, that both pulls at the heart strings and also cuts the heart strings with garden sheers and laughs as the blood gushes out of the heart and gets all over the carpet. I want to shout out some similar books for readers, hoping to get you to open up Welfare and spend some time with the ugly prettiness within. Welfare is like Bukowski without any of his bullshit. Elevated Bukowski. Or Knut Hamsun's Hunger, if Knut Hamsun was funny about his suffering, if Knut Hamsun saw the joke in all of it. Elevated Hamsen. Or Celine. Welfare felt like a much more human and wise, Journey to the End of the Night. Elevated Celine. It also feels inspired by death metal, love, warm rain, travel, dreams, singing in one's head, the smell of gasoline, walking slow on purpose, last chances, saying fuck it, dwarves with knives, rashes, burns, flipping burgers, free hot dogs, madness, delirium, a girl with the bluest eyes, becoming one's self and telling everyone else to fuck off.

I'll also say, this was one of those novels, while I was reading it, I was convinced that the novel is the greatest invention, this was a novel that swept me away and made me forget all my problems, but also made me remember what it was like being 16,17,18, back when I was afraid I'd have to settle for something out of life that I didn't want to do. Welfare is such a firebomb of a book, it'll make you believe in your life. If you're an artist it will send you to your art and have you make some more.

[Brendan Monroe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Did you ever see that horrible Will Smith movie "The Pursuit of Happiness"?

I haven't seen it since back when it came out, but I haven't been able to shake the memory of its awful stench in the years since.

If you're one of the lucky ones who's never seen it, Smith plays a down on his luck salesman who's chasing that mythical thing known as "the American Dream." Smith and his young son are evicted from their apartment and left homeless, forced to bounce from shelter to shelter and street to street for a year. Smith finds work at a prestigious law firm but his position as an intern doesn't pay because ...

This is America!

Except the movie isn't interested in critiquing America, jobs that don't pay, or the very real societal conditions that force hundreds of thousands of Americans to live on the streets in the richest country in the world.

No. "The Pursuit of Happiness" is in love with America, with capitalism, with the whole rotten system. The problem, the filmmakers imply, isn't that some jobs don't pay, that there's no support system in place if you find yourself in a pinch, but rather your own lack of will and determination.

Determination! Willpower! That's all you need in order to succeed, the film tells us. Sure, you may be forced to endure life on the streets in this beautiful capitalist system of ours, but if you just keep your head down, keep pounding the pavement and handing out those resumes, you too will achieve the American Dream.

The movie was a neoliberal wet dream that won plaudits from all the wealthiest zip codes in the country, the occupants of which couldn't help but ogle its poverty porn and admire its "rags to riches" story.

Those same people will hate "Welfare." It's far too realistic, much too ugly for their taste. It doesn't fall neatly into the kind of binary politics they like, which, in the United States, can be summed up as "Blue good! Red bad!"

The protagonist of "Welfare" is Stan Acker, a teenage runaway who can't be bothered to attend class, spends the money he gets from the government on cigarettes and booze, and is in general a good-for-nothing layabout.

What I'm saying is that he's at times quite hard to like. But don't we all resort to various methods to escape the monotony of our lives in the system, whether those methods are drugs, alcohol, sports, or trash TV?

Aren't apathy and despair in the face of a rigged system a more authentic, more logical, reaction then just looking the other way and pretending everything is fine?

Stan says things that you and I have all thought before, but he takes it a step further by just refusing to engage, refusing to give in, refusing to kowtow and say, "8 hours a day? 5 days a week? Until I'm old and broken? Seems legit."

There are shades of Knut Hamsun here, of Bukowski, of Salinger, but Stan Acker feels uniquely set apart. He's a denizen of modern society, a man for the moment, shaped by the moment.

Steve Anwyll has written "Welfare" so well that despite all the grit and the grime, the ugliness and despair, you just can't look away. Reading this did affect my mood. It made me feel sort of miserable, to be honest, but that's because it is so honest.

There's no "pursuit of happiness" here. There's no "pursuit" at all, because this system isn't designed to take you anywhere — least of all a happy place.

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tyrant Books is cranking out some really amazing literature.

Welfare is a manic, depressive, highly infectious novel about a runaway teenager on the cusp of adulthood who is incapable of giving a fuck about growing up. I mean, sure, he thinks about giving a fuck, he thinks about giving a lot of them. But when push comes to shove, he's inexplicably unable to actually give them.

Our narrator Stan spends a lot of time wallowing in self-pity, painfully aware of how he got to where he is - living in a shitty dump with a roommate he sorta hates, penniless, always on the verge of starving. He's knows how dire his siutation is. He's humilitated that he's had to resort to collecting welfare checks, yet he refuses to apply for jobs that he believes are beneath him, and harbors this bizarre fantasy that he's owed better. Everything he touches or tries to accomplish turns to shit, mostly because he half-asses everything. And when his case worker starts putting the pressure on, he suffers from a near-paralization and over-rationalization of ridiculous reasons why he shouldn't have to search for a job, convincing himself that they are super reasonable excuses and so refuses to give a fuck.

While Stan is a total piece of shit, the book itself is a fucking riot. Much in the same way Sam Pink can take a a peice of shit asshole and make us love then, Anwyll's a master at making us give a crap about someone who certainly doesn't deserve it. He's created the perfect mooch - that guy that you'd let crash on your couch because you just feel so damn sorry for him. In fact, he tells Stan's story so well I have to wonder how much of what I've read is autobiographical.

[Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

five stars for stan
five stars for steve
five stars for welfare

so fifteen stars.

this book is like a john hughes movie that never got made because the actor cast to star as the teen protagonanist said ‘fuck you john hughes, who do you think you are’

[Julia Gaughan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found the story itself fascinating but was very distracted by the grammar/punctuation/spelling issues. The narrator voiced a level of hopelessness, vacillating self-delusion/self-loathing, and dire circumstances without letting up in a way that I haven’t frequently seen. I do think it could’ve been tightened up, though, which also goes back to editorial support. Will definitely be following this author regardless.

[Mike Andrelczyk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anwyll’s story of a 17-year old on welfare is brilliant. Stan is a beat-down Bartleby, Holden Caulfield on hash, a young Bukowski type that values time and freedom over money and would rather not work a job at all. Stan would rather laze around, read, smoke and just live. But he also needs to eat and pay rent. The small industrial city where he lives offers few other options than to sell your soul to a dead end job - trade life for comfort. Stan teeters between wanting the high life and just wanting to get high. And he can’t get a job anyway. The paradox of the young unemployed man: experience required. Anwyll’s style of short blocks of text made of up sentence fragments is hypnotic. Should I be worried I identified so much with Stan? I don’t think so. A great writer finds a way to connect with everyone and who hasn’t had hopes shattered, felt doubt, felt crazy, lonely, insecure, humiliated, disappointed by life? Have you ever wanted to turn around on your way to work because it’s such a nice day and you can’t imagine spending it at a desk or in front of a machine? Isn’t it insane to give your entire life over to working at some job just to make the boss rich? But if you say that most people think you’re the crazy one. It’s a subject that’s perfect for literature - full of introspection, sadness and humor. It’s nice to hear some sanity from Steve Anwyll. Life is too beautiful to trade it away for a new truck and a pool. That’s an easy thing to say — and many of us willingly choose comfort over the insecurity of true freedom — but it’s important to remember that time keeps going and there’s a world outside the factory walls and you can punch out and explore it if you want.

[Debby Craggs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Difficult subject and another example of difficulties we face as humans. Unappreciated and never really connected to his parents, this young man is free floating with no direction or goals and ends up on welfare.

I liked Steve Anwyll's writing and the approach. Hard subject and a thought provoking read.

[David Catney · Rating 5 out of 5]

i think this book is really good. i don’t reread many books, but i feel like i will be coming back to this one often.

[J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid exploration of what capitalism does to young people who aren’t granted an easy in. How a culture that equates a person’s value with their job creates destructive patterns of identity. Plus, though it isn’t mentioned, I’d say the protag is dealing with undiagnosed anxiety disorder on top of having a toxic family situation. The novel is extremely realistic in showing how kids like this can drift right through the system ending up with nothing. Definitely worth your time.

[Brooks Sterritt · Rating 5 out of 5]

"I'm down at the parkette. It's all concrete. Inlaid brick."

[DuVay Knox · Rating 4 out of 5]

STAN had his WHITE TRASH FANTASY cum true when he found a couch to put on his front lawn.

I digg this type of honesty about one's condition as one on the PUBLICK DOLE. And WELFARE does not disappoint. Stacatto sentences poppin at ya like hot fish grease/bearing the mentality of a man who knows he aint shit basically.

Yet, the fact that he is on the government dole gives him a perspective as a BOTTOM FEEDER thats actually full of LIFE PHILOSOPHY. And if U read tween his shawt sentences, he mite LEARN U sumpen. Like how to CAR HOP to avoid the RETARDS living next door in the building the foolish SON (of the now dead original landlord) rented out to a charity for MENTALLY-CHALLENGED individuals hoo howl n scream all nite....like how to stretch a WELFARE DOLLAR til it HOLLAR from the BEATDOWN.

This book coulda been called other names and they woulda fitted such as LOWLIFE or TRIFLIN or mah favorite, NO GOOD MUTHAFUCKA. One piece of shit thought after another from a Man who lives NASSY and THINKS nassy. Sure, there are PARTS of him that want to COME UP and DO BETTER in the World. But having NOTHING TO DO ALL DAY is an ADDICTION he cant shake. And the GLIMMER of SLIMMER Hope fades fast into the cracks of the Couch he sits/sleeps on.

This book is about a HOPELESS DOPEMANTIC. He has convinced himself of his own shit. And its FUNNY tho. SAD, too, yes. Butt underneath these ANOREXIC sentences there is a helluva a MEATY story. One U should read. Especially, if U R tired of the same vanilla novel churned out by the BIG 5.
Published by GIANCARLO DiTRAPANO of TYRANT BOOKS before he Died, was a good move.

Final note: Of course, all roads lead TO (and maybe FROM) EDOUARD LEVE (who basically invented this modern day stile of pasting werds on the page in that Monotone/Driving riddim) that the so-called ALT-LIT writing scene (read WHITE WRITERS) seem to pull from. Butt this is NOT to demean whats here on the page. Only that U can see the historical Thru-Line. And it aint bad. Git U sum.

[John William · Rating 4 out of 5]

Welfare programs play a crucial role in supporting individuals and families during times of financial hardship or personal crises. These programs, often funded by the government or charitable organizations, aim to provide a safety net that ensures basic needs—such as food, housing, and healthcare—are met. The effectiveness of welfare systems can vary depending on their design, accessibility, and how they address the root causes of poverty, such as education, job training, and affordable housing. Additionally, many individuals seek assistance through various government programs and may need to check their status permohonan str to understand the progress or approval of their applications. While welfare provides immediate relief, there is ongoing debate about how best to balance assistance with programs that promote long-term self-sufficiency. Some argue that welfare can sometimes create dependency, while others emphasize that it is an essential tool for reducing inequality and providing dignity to those facing difficult circumstances. Ultimately, a well-structured welfare system can play a vital role in building a more equitable society by giving people the support they need to regain stability and independence.

[Hooper Bring · Rating 1 out of 5]

Years ago I made a fake twitter account posing as a girl despite being male. I had no ill intent behind this, or any intent at all in fact. It was just a mask for a throwaway account to follow and interact with writers anonymously. I followed Anwyll at that time and he quickly followed me back and interacted with me a lot being plainly and aggressively flirty. I had interacted with him with the same quality of posts on a real male account and was always ignored. But now here he was faving me as a girl every day and trying to be charming in his replies. What a pathetic retard. And this pathetic retardation shows in the writing. He’s one of the many losers who have cropped up in the alt lit scene in the last several years hoping to be the new Sam Pink. Totally worthless. Pirate this on libgen so you can leave a bad review, but don’t buy it. Really phony writing. Fourth rate Bukowski stuff.

[Cavin · Rating 5 out of 5]

You're told to graduate. Go to college. Get a job. Or just graduate, get a job. Or maybe flunk out... and get a job. You see everybody doing it. You see them grow up. You see them get beaten into the mud. You decide not to follow in their footsteps. You are hungry every day. You get trapped behind the line. You start declining. You see the light-- at least there is food in a 9-5 gig. At least there is no worry about making rent, being homeless. But it's too late. You've lost the game. The game was rigged from the start.

This is a book for anyone. College graduates, factory workers, and high school students. Drop outs. Fishmongers. Anybody. And that's part of what makes it so special, the unification of poverty. Of struggle. Small doses of comic relief sustaining you as the world crumbles, as your stomach growls.

Read this book.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book made me hungry. It made my feet hurt. It made me crave stray cigarette butts. It sometimes made me feel hopeless. But I kept coming for back for a chapter or two. Every day. Until I finished. Hence the five stars. Because Stan Acker deserves a break damn it. Even though his story is full of typos. Somebody should have cared more. But the book is great. I thought the numberless chapters were a clever way to distort time. Make it seem endless. I hope Stan gets where he’s going. That he’s living the good life. High on the hog. I’ll miss that dude.

[AutomaticSlim · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are a lot of 'supposed to bes' in early adulthood, in that swath of time when you think you've learned acceptance but don't know shit. It struck home, and reminded me of my years where I thought I was broken, before I knew what being broken really was. Nostalgic, in its way. I've had my rashes.

My kind of prose here - simple and funny and honest enough. Broken into pieces that make reading fun.

Maybe the best book I've read this year, and it's been a year of good reads so far.

Round up 5 star

[Ryan Corbitt · Rating 4 out of 5]

'Welfare' is one of the most realistic coming of age books I've read in a long time. The prose radiates charm even in the face of some fairly dire of circumstances, which makes what could be hugely depressing, into a story of perseverance. For me, it ultimately felt like a time-lapse photo of hope leaving this young man's body. Heartbreaking.

[Jason Lucarelli · Rating 1 out of 5]

The multitude of spelling, punctuation, and tense errors on every page made this book impossible to get through. These kinds of errors break the spell. They diminish the authority of the author, editor, text. Shame, shame.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing was very good, which helped make up for the depressing lack of a storyline. But maybe that was the point—people in that situation have a consistent lack of opportunities and therefore a bleak outlook.

[Uzodinma Okehi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Think I’ve mentioned it before elsewhere, but this dude is the truth . . . Full-on fugue into that wretched, arrogant, irrational bravado of the so-called "artistic temperament" Grime-infused cinéma vérité.
This shit'll clog your pipes.

[Erik Carter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brutal.

[Sarah Baitz · Rating 5 out of 5]

A sobering read. Maybe we've all had a little Stan in us at some point in our lives.

[Derick · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is a good book to smoke to, while taking furtive nips from a halfpint of evan williams, in the parking lot of a derelict laundromat.

[Mgganeles · Rating 1 out of 5]

It would have made a good short story. The author is a good writer but the book would have been served well by a good editor.

[Marie Cohen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Would have rated it four stars if not for all the multiple spelling and grammatical errors. Perhaps they were intentional but they were very distracting.

[Josh Sherman · Rating 5 out of 5]

For anyone looking for a contemporary "Hunger" or "Ask The Dust," this one's your fix.

[Aaron · Rating 5 out of 5]

read half of this while drunk. stared out at empty parking lots after reading certain passages. thought about driving far away. a funny and warm book.

[Devon DeRaad · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book made me feel seen in my young adult angst and malaise. It has a very Catcher in the Rye, young white male search for identity feel, but feels less contrived and more honest.

[Serena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Had to go for a long walk in the park after this one

[Joshua Pulsifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

(3.5 stars)