I read "The Mole People" by Jennifer Toth. Overall, it was an interesting book. It was written more like a series of short stories than a chapter book with a plot. This made it a little easier to read, since you don't always have to remember what happened before, but also she talked to so many people that the names just started merging as I continued to read the book. I started having problems remembering who was who, and what sort of situation they were living in.
The book starts out describing her troubles getting information out of the authorities above ground, since they were trying to keep the fact that there were people living in the tunnels a secret. I can understand what they were thinking, in that they don't want people to panic about it. However, I don't see that they gain any real benefits from that. I think that if people found out on their own, then there'd be more panic than if they were already informed about it.
I think Ms. Toth is really brave for doing this research. She was going down into these tunnels to meet the underground dwellers. This would have been incredibly dangerous and she could have lost her life. On the other hand, I don't think she would have gotten as much information had she not done this. However, I think if she had had a partner working with her, then it might have been safer for her. And there might have been a little more data collection as well, because they can look for different things.
So, as a book, it was enlightening to see what sort of living situations the tunnel dwellers have, and realizing that this could have easily have happened elsewhere besides New York. It just happens that it is a heightened issue because of the number of tunnels beneath the city.
Yeah, there definitely were a bunch of stories to keep up with. As for trying to keep it a secret.. out of sight, out of mind. I think they were afraid that if everyone knew about it, nobody would ride the subway and they would lose a lot of revenue. It's kind of sad to think about, but I guess it always comes down to the bottom line.
ReplyDeleteI agree that she could've gave us some more reminders on who was who, because at the end, I confuse all of their names. And did she ever say how she got all of those quotes? There were a lot of quotes and even if she was a fast writer, she would not have been able to get all of the quotes, in the detail as they are
ReplyDeleteIt was a little difficult to keep track of everyone. Was I the only one who didn't pay attention to who the author was only to be surprised like a few chapters in that the author was a woman? Made me feel a little bad for assuming she was man.
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