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Grand Central Winter: Stories from the Street
In the underground tunnels below Grand Central Terminal, Lee Stringer -- homeless and drug-addicted over the course of eleven years -- found a pencil to run through his crack pipe. One day, he used it to write. Soon, writing became a habit that won out over drugs. And soon, Lee Stringer had created one of the most powerful urban memoirs of our time. With humane wisdom and...more
Paperback, 256 pages
Published
November 1st 1999
by Washington Square Press
(first published July 14th 1998)
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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...more
Feb 17, 2013
Jennifer
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
memoir-autobiography,
non-fiction
This is another book from my to-read shelf, a book I've owned for years and years but never read. Until last night, home from an unusually busy and tiring day of work, having recently spent a lot of time thinking about homelessness, especially being homeless in Michigan in the winter, this book jumped out at me.
I read the entire book in a single evening.
This isn't the kind of book that is going to give a lot of Answers. It doesn't explain why people are homeless or what being homeless is like, b...more
I read the entire book in a single evening.
This isn't the kind of book that is going to give a lot of Answers. It doesn't explain why people are homeless or what being homeless is like, b...more
SUMMER READING 09'
This book is about this homeless guy who lives in a corner of grand central. He's a crack addict and one day he runs out, and gets bored so he digs through his hole and finds a pencil. He starts writing and gets addicted to it and that's how he came up with this book. He basically writes about surviving, looking for places to sleep in, daily encounters he has with friends he meets (which i found actually funny, because of the dialouges).
I found this book interesting because it'...more
This book is about this homeless guy who lives in a corner of grand central. He's a crack addict and one day he runs out, and gets bored so he digs through his hole and finds a pencil. He starts writing and gets addicted to it and that's how he came up with this book. He basically writes about surviving, looking for places to sleep in, daily encounters he has with friends he meets (which i found actually funny, because of the dialouges).
I found this book interesting because it'...more
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 t...more
More amazing stories of homelessness from the streets of New York City, this time authored by former "Street News" hawker-turned-editor and self-admitted Crack addict Lee Stringer, himself no stranger to living on the streets.
Stringer found himself to be a natural talent at writing down (sometimes with quite a humorous take on his bleak circumstances) his experiences living on the streets of NYC during the "crack years" of the 80's and early 90's.
I had been looking for a copy of this book for qu...more
Stringer found himself to be a natural talent at writing down (sometimes with quite a humorous take on his bleak circumstances) his experiences living on the streets of NYC during the "crack years" of the 80's and early 90's.
I had been looking for a copy of this book for qu...more
Lee Stringer is a drug addict and he is homeless. Although he sounds like someone who's useless, he's actually a really talented writer. He uses his pencil that he uses for his crack pipe and starts to write about the streets. His work is then published in The New York Times. He keeps writing for this newspaper company and he receives a decent paycheck. Lee wants to end his addiction on crack and he seeks for recovery. This book is mainly about his life as a homeless drug addict and how his writ...more
Lee Stringer is a drug addict and he is homeless. Although he sounds like someone who's useless, he's actually a really talented writer. He uses his pencil that he uses for his crack pipe and starts to write about the streets. His work is then published in The New York Times. He keeps writing for this newspaper company and he receives a decent paycheck. Lee wants to end his addiction on crack and he seeks for recovery. This book is mainly about his life as a homeless drug addict and how his writ...more
Aug 06, 2007
Patricia
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Socially concerned; socially aware; Michael Moore fans; Conservative Republicans
Shelves:
opinion_and_essay
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 t...more
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 somet...more
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
A meandering collection of observations and stories from formerly homeless and addicted Lee Stringer. Stringer's details about his wants, needs, and experiences of being homeless add nuance and texture to crime/housing/mental health/drug policy, what Stringer defines as "[that which] seeks to install, pro forma, nto our legal code what we humans recognize as proper and necessary but fail to execute by our own moral code."
Jun 10, 2009
Christian Medina
added it
In Grand Central WInter, a crackhead that always does crack in nyc always writes after he does crack. HE feels like it calms him down and he feels like all of his problems are gone. After writing a passage afetr he does crack, he realizes he likes to write. He writes in his journal as he thinks of ideas, and ends up becoming a reporter ofr a newspaper. If you like tragety books that lead into success, then this book is the best for you
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.
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.
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.
Finally a book about homelessness written by someone who was homeless. Lee Stringer's portrayal of living in the streets of NYC as a crack addict and homeless man is fascinating. He tells it like it is sparing no details and also provides his own political insights, which offer an interesting perspective.
One of my favorite memoirs. Really could not put down.
Story of a homeless crack addicts. Story told a bit non-linear. Not really gritty of that's a worry.
Prose excellent. He's a bit philosophical at times, but the tangents fit right in.
Story of a homeless crack addicts. Story told a bit non-linear. Not really gritty of that's a worry.
Prose excellent. He's a bit philosophical at times, but the tangents fit right in.
This is a very good book to read. This bok explains a guy who live in grand central station and lives there! He survies by selling drug and bad stuff, but afetr he finds a pen and starts writing stories on a newspaper and gets money. Read the book to find out more.
Simultaneously an excellent memoir of addiction and recovery and a memoir of a dozen homeless years on the streets of New York, this book is held together by Stringer's powerful narrative voice. He's commanding, engaging, and entrancing. Before you know it the book is over and you miss him already.
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...more
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,...more
having a harder time remembering this one, but do remember it was very powerful
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 pop...more
May 27, 2008
Marigny777
added it
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 outside...more
Instead of the fake 'A million little pieces' by James Frey
Narrative of life on the street more about life than the street
A fantastic, funny, and eye opening look at Manhattan's homeless.
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 th...more
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.
Global Literature book club.
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 po...more
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