In the Open: Diary of a Homeless Alcoholic

By Timothy E. Donohue

Book Overview

Compelling, raw, and painfully self-aware, In the Open describes an existence most people can barely imagine. A first-hand account of one man's struggle with homelessness and alcoholism, this diary records a world full of physical degradation and despair that is not without unpredictable moments of striking beauty.

Donohue's experiences are brutal, but his perceptions are poetic. This account of an intelligent and sensitive man in the grip of alcoholism and homelessness challenges our perceptions of those on the margins of American contemporary life.

"Donohue recorded this often-moving account during a four-year period of homelessness caused by his alcoholism. . . . There are many brilliant observations here on a range of topics, including human nature, technology, and capitalism. . . . Donohue's life on the fringe also provides an inside look at the homeless system of overnight shelters, labor offices, and food stamp providers. But, somehow, in spite of all the negatives, a hopeful book emerges."--Booklist

"A startlingly original book. In this confessional age, Donohue's diary becomes a different sort of tell-all, a palimpsest that forces us to extract the author from his own writing. . . . Donohue comes to resemble Swift's Gulliver"--Nicholas Nesson, Boston Phoenix

"Donohue punctuates his account of 'domiciling within the black walls of a mosquito-infested night' with rambling metaphysical asides in the style of an eighteenth-century philosophe."--Molly McQuade, Lingua Franca

"Despite hunger, homelessness, dead-end jobs and abusive drinking, what is most striking about Donohue is his amazing optimism and endurance."--Patrick Markee, Nation

"Donohue is a gifted writer. . . . But what gives his diary] the breath of life is that it is written by an artist."--Alec Wilkinson, Los Angeles Times Book Review

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0226157679
• ISBN13: 9780226157672
• Release Date: October 1996
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Length: 210 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.8" x 8.8"

Customer Reviews

It's a diary

This is not a coherent, well-structured narrative. It's a first-person account of an intelligent person disabled by alcoholism. He's an individual. He doesn't represent everyone in his category. Its value is in the intimate look inside the mind of an addict and how he makes decisions. I was especially interested in the lies he tells himself to get different effects. For example, he says, to stop drinking for two days he must *decide* to stop for a month. His description of the pain that drives him to drink is vivid and heartbreaking.

A fascinating and puzzling look at a very strange life!

In this autobiography, Donohue chronicles his peregrinations across the USA while drinking himself silly. He gets a few lucky breaks, some money here and there, a little success, but he drinks it all away. In the end, the book snaps shut abruptly with no conclusion, no climax, no denouement, nothing. Just snaps shut in a very odd way. But then it is just a peek into one man's life, the life of an alcoholic. I definitely had more sympathy for homeless people, even alcoholic homeless people, after reading this book. The potential reader should be warned that it contains a lot of economic theory that Donohue, who actually graduated from college with a business degree, develops. So that stuff is a bit dry and you can safely skip over most of it.