Review: The Girls’ Guide to Homelessness by Brianna Karp

Title: The Girls Guide to Homelessness

Author: Briana Karp

Published: Harlequin April 2011 {ARC courtesy Harlequin/NetGalley}

Synopsis: “I am an educated woman with stable employment and residence history. I have never done drugs. I am not mentally ill. I am a career executive assistant—coherent, opinionated, poised, and capable. If you saw me walking down the street, you wouldn’t have assumed that I lived in a parking lot. In short, I was just like you—except without the convenience of a permanent address.” Brianna Karp’s account of her journey through homelessness immerses us in a timely, relevant topic that all too many Americans know about first hand.

Status: Read from April 28 to 30, 2011 — I own a copy

My Thoughts:

“The review for this is going to be hard to write” is what I wrote immediately after finishing the book. I have had a few days to digest it now but I am still unsure how to address my thoughts.
The Girl’s Guide to Homelessness is a memoir from twenty something Brianna Karp. Abused and neglected as a child by her bipolar mother, Brianna grew up in a dysfunctional Seventh Adventist family. Despite her truly shocking childhood circumstances, Brianna establishes herself as an independent adult, until redundancy and the current state of the economy, forces her back home to live with her mother and stepfather. Brianna is immediately victimised by her mother until in a nasty confrontation, Brianna is told to leave. With no where to go, Brianna tracks down her recently deceased biological father’s trailer and moves into a Walmart carpark with her beloved dog. Starbucks’ free WiFi allows her to keep job hunting and unemployment benefits keep her fed but it’s a struggle to keep body and soul together in such soul crushing circumstances.
Briana Karp is to be commended for highlighting the face of homelessness that people would prefer to ignore. It is far more comfortable to blame homelessness on drug addiction, laziness or mental illness, than a combination of circumstances that could befall anyone, especially in times of global financial stress. For most people living payday to payday the thought is truly terrifying and so to push it away they choose to ignore the issue, and brand the ‘homeless’ with stereotypes. I have heard the complaints that Briana faced from those I know – wanting to know how do the homeless justify cell phones and laptops but it seems sensible to me that these are tools that in this age are essential for anyone seeking work, just as much as a good suit and access to transport. Brianna reminds us to that each homeless person has individual circumstances that led them to their situation and quite frankly no one is immune.
Had the memoir continued to explore these issues and Brianna’s struggle to reestablish her life, this would have been a five star book for me. Karp writes with an honest and authentic voice and her tone is confiding rather than preachy. I think her style would particularly appeal to young adults, and she had the potential to become a role model for them.
Unfortunately the memoir slowly devolves as Karp’s relationship with Matt becomes the focus. Obviously this relationship had a major impact on Brianna and this is her memoir, but the issues of her homelessness are pushed aside in favour of melodrama. The respect I had developed for her slowly ebbed away as she made Matt a priority in her life. Her independence suffered, her determination to improve her situation waned and it was frustrating. I couldn’t help but be disappointed in Brianna’s decision to buy an expensive first edition book as a gift for Matt, even while I recognise I don’t have the right to judge her. There is no doubt her trip to Scotland is heartbreaking and I had sympathy for her, there is no doubt it is a sad story.
Personally though this entire drama left me disenchanted with the book, it wasn’t what I wanted to know, or what I was expecting given the first half of the book. I almost felt deceived, even if that reaction seems unfair.
When I finished the book, I went to browse Brianna’s blog but found that in the 18 months since the book’s end Brianna has posted very rarely and has made little progress towards stability. I am both saddened and disheartened by that, she seems to be reveling in her status as a ‘celebrity’ homeless person, her initial goals forgotten. Of course there is still plenty of time for her to find her way. I truly wish Brianna the best and hope she takes full advantage of the opportunities she will get upon publication of this book to create a safe, secure and happy life for herself.
I do think The Girl’s Guide to Homelessness should be read widely for the message she has about the issues surrounding dispossessed persons and the stereotypes it confronts. Yet I think several might share a similar opinion to mine on the second half of the book, so I recommend it with that caveat. In turns inspiring, heartbreaking and (over)dramatic, The Girl’s Guide to Homelessness is compelling and confronting reading.

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