Nomadland: Exploring Life on the Road in the 21st Century

Amazon Customer: As an OG GenXer...this book didn't tell me anything I didn't already know about the bleak state of "retirement" in the 21st century or the reality of wealth inequality or even of the modern nomadic hotspots online & IRL. If any of this is new to you - this book will be eye opening, to say the least. Definitely make time to read it.
What it did for me, however, was being these concepts into a very engaging, very human narrative.
I absolutely felt that "found family" vibe in it, and as such...was humbled. The tenaciousness, the hope and the values that these travelers hold on to serve to remind me there is no "us and them". This is not a survivor or adventure tale- it's an everyman's story set in the U.S. of the 21st century.

United States on Jan 13, 2024

grey hair: excellent read. needs to be in EVERY library.. a side of America know one sees or hears about....

United States on Dec 14, 2023

Antonio D.: Muy buen libro en el que se basa la película que oscarizó a Frances Macdormand. Muy recomendable

Spain on Sep 30, 2023

A.B.C.: Eindrucksvoller, authentischer, bewegender Film auf der Basis eines eindrucksvollen Buches.

Germany on Jan 13, 2022

Laura Buffa: ho trovato il libro molto più interessante del film che ne è stato ricavato, nel film il continuo spostarsi di questi nuovi nomadi migranti interni assumeva connotazioni "romantiche", una scelta di vita "on the road", mentre dal libro si capisce come questa sia molto spesso non una "scelta", ma un modo per sopravvivere alla crisi finanziaria ed economica dell'inizio di questo secolo: sono persone anziane, di 70 anni e più, che hanno perso tutto con fondi di pensione privati, che hanno perso il lavoro e non possono permettersi di pagare le rate del mutuo, che non hanno più un soldo, vendono tutto ciò che hanno e comperano un veicolo dove vivere, spostandosi, seguendo lavori stagionali. Il loro principale datore di lavoro è Amazon, che li preferisce ai giovani, in quanto questi ultra settantenni hanno un' "etica del lavoro". e lavorano sodo. leggetelo, è un ritratto fedele dell' America che non immaginiamo.

Italy on Dec 08, 2021

Christian Nugue: Il y a ceux qui rêvent de vivre libres et ceux qui vivent libres. Parfois à leur corps défendant. Victimes d'un accident économique ou d'un licenciement, ils se retrouvent la soixantaine venue à déplacer des colis dans les hangars interminables d'Amazon. En attendant de retrouver en fin de journée leur caravane, leur seule possession terrestre. Et certains le vivent bien.
Cet ode au nomadisme émane d'une journaliste exacte, pointilleuse qui ne cherche pas à nous "vendre" les charmes d'une existence minimaliste

France on Sep 26, 2021

Buffy: I just bought this book, so perhaps I should wait until I've read it. I'm also from rural Canada, so perhaps things are different here. Living out of a RV or car seems like an expensive way to live to me. Vehicles always need repair, and until the pandemic, gas was relatively expensive. Is there not geared to income rent opportunities in the States? Not that being poor in your twilight years is easy in Canada. My Father worked as an auto mechanic all his life and had little to show for it when he was deemed obsolete before he was 65, but he was able to keep his small but well maintained house. I can't wait to sink my teeth into this book. I'll write a review when I'm done. The one star was just so I could post.

I have now finished the book and I must admit that it really kept me reading. I enjoyed it very much. It seems like an awfully hard way to live. I new a boy in our neighborhood who was a petty thieve and I always thought that if he put as much work and effort into a job as he did hiding and disposing of stolen goods he'd be better off. I don't think that its the nomads that are at fault but it seems like living on the road takes as much upkeep and...

Canada on May 04, 2021

Ron K: Nomadland by Jessica Bruder is a nonfiction modern day horror novel. I liked the highly appropriate subtitle: Surviving America In The Twenty-First Century. I am an avid fan of fiction horror novels but this real horror story hits close to home. I have read and heard accounts of our aging population choosing between food and medicine, food and housing, and living below the poverty line but many of us hear these accounts only occasionally. We then move on to the next news item. Jessica Bruder puts more precise numbers to this demographic. In only a few cases are “screen” names used to protect privacy. See her “Notes” section for details. Bruder has done an exhaustive study over more than three years and has returned to several sources for follow up interviews. The startling information I read and listened to in the Kindle book and Audible recorded book kept me awake nights.

As a baby boomer myself, this is where the baby boomer hippie crowd has landed. Many of that younger 1960s crowd lived what they considered a humanist, moral existence that respected the environment. Without training as doctors, it seemed they respected the Hippocratic Oath to...

United States on Mar 10, 2018

Scotty954: While some will look at the folks and lifestyle profiled in this booking being about those who are "down on their luck" - I see these folks as innovators who are breaking free from what we have been trained to believe our entire life in USA. I lived my entire childhood in one house and my father worked for 35 years for the same company - finally retiring with a good pension in addition to SS benefits - I do not believe this level of stability exists anymore. I have been relatively stable / successful in my career - but in following the rules of today change jobs every 2 to 5 years. This has resulted in the need to move constantly both domestically and internationally - and not really establish a home anywhere. Here is how I live:

1. I use my parents address to keep residency / local bills in USA.
2. I have dwindled my possessions down to those that fit into a suitcase.
3. When I am at a work location (a city where I have a job - either domestic or international) - I have started staying in hotels or month to month furnished properties. I currently live long term in a small hotel room that has a mini fridge and hot water kettle.
4. Through...

United States on Oct 20, 2017