The Mole People: Life in the Tunnels Beneath New York City | Jennifer Toth

The Mole People: Life in the Tunnels Beneath New York City | Jennifer Toth | love this book, my #1 recommendation for friends

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The Mole People: L...

	The Mole People: Life in the Tunnels Beneath New York City Jennifer Toth Chicago Review Press, 1995 - 280 pages average customer review:based on 109 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

This book is about the thousands of people who live in the subway, railroad, and sewage tunnels of New York City.

Point of view from a college class

We read this book in our college english class. A young woman attempts to destroy the stereotypes regarding homeless people; more specifically the "mole people" - as they are referred to in NY. Toth investigates more than just the living situations of the underground homeless; she investigates the backgrounds, lifestyles, families, attitudes, and ideologies of these people as well.
When first reading this book we held all of the stereotypes regarding the homeless as our personal truths. After reading the book, though, our opinions have changed. Toth brought us into the lives of different underground dwellers in a way that allowed us to fall in love with these people and see that they aren't so different from us.
Seville and Bernard (The tunnel King) are our favorite characters from the book. They are both represented in a way that completely breaks the stereotypes most people have. Throughout the book, Toth faces several dangers; but people like Seville and Bernard were there to help guide her. These two men really give the reader a different insight into the underground world. They make the community seem like real people, just like you!

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love this book, my #1 recommendation for friends

I loved this book. My daughter lives in NYC and everytime I'm there riding the subways I think of this book, it's so interesting. I always recommend this book to friends. It's an easy read for any age. Even my son, who hates reading, enjoyed this book.

wonderful book, fast shipping!!!

I heard this book was really good, and it is!! It arrived fast and was exactly how it was described!!!

dark, foreboding & amazing

not brilliant writing but a brilliant, gutsy, even brave recounting of the author's exploration of the tunnels under New York and the people who live there

Ozzie, Dan and Kyle tell all

This book opened our eyes to lots of truths regarding the homeless population living in New York city, and consequently made us think more about homeless people in general. Toth uses vivid interviews from this society of outcasts to help the reader understand the kind of person that lives on the streets. This was interesting to me, as I believe it would be to others, because most people spend their live only minimally acknowleding the homeless, not to mention avoiding any conversation.

Toth uses a casual yet scholarly tone that makes it easy to read, but at the same time very informative. She gives a lot of detail about both the places and people she visits to help create the sense of being in her shoes. The only thing I didn't like was the lack of pictures in the art/ graffitti chapters. This is just because she gives so much detail as to the importance of these murals, but only shows a couple of the murals. The tones she uses range from comedy to serious which allows people to really get into the book. Another thing that really could have been worked in would be the insight of more children in the underground

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