The Rockaways by Gilles Peress

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The Rockaways
by Gilles Peress
http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/12312514

I picked this up at a BookCrossing meetup, not sure what it was about but knowing it came highly recommended and that it was a quick read.

It turned out to be not so quick a read for me, because I kept stopping to look up details or contemplate the ramifications of things. This book seems light, with tons of photos and short essays of just a few paragraphs. But it's actually pretty heavy, filled with the widespread destruction that Sandy caused in the Rockaways community. It wasn't just the destruction of buildings--it was ruining homes and culture and jobs and families. But it also created something. People who had almost nothing dropped everything to help others however they could. Parts of the community continued on in different ways, in limited capacities, but enduring with hope.

I also liked the list of places working directly to help those affected by Sandy. Not being a New Yorker, I'd never heard of http://robinhood.org, but I like their approach. This book was published by Concord Free Press and distributed free. It's asked that readers of this book donate something somewhere and then pass the book along to continue the informativeness and good will that comes from reading this book. I think that's a brilliant idea. I haven't charted my donation on their site yet, but I certainly will before I pass this book on to its next reader.

As my favorite author would say, one of the best things we can do is to imagine others more complexly. And this book definitely helps me see these people as victims of something out of their control and as much more than victims--as people suffering, rebuilding, learning, bonding, helping, living, coping. Thanks for giving me a chance to read this.