Live to See the Day: Coming of Age in American Poverty by Nikhil Goyal

Live to See the Day: Coming of Age in American Poverty Reviews

• 
  Shannon

  Ryan, Giancarlos, and Emmanuel, three Puerto Rican children living in America’s largest, poorest city, Philadelphia, come of age amongst the backdrop of homelessness, hunger, incarceration, sexual abuse and drugs. These three kids are on their own quest: to graduate from high school. But in a world that is systemically against them, what can they do? Goyal has an abundance of knowledge on the American justice and economic systems, shining a stark light on the true failings of the education institutions. This is such an important read and one I cannot recommend enough.
• 
  Nancy

  In 1983 we moved from Kensington to Olney, from a church parsonage to our own home. Just a year and a half before, my husband had accepted a two-point charge in Kensington; one church was situated at Front and Allegheny, the dividing line where the white neighborhood began, and the other at Kip and Cambria, nestled in the three-story rowhouses built to house textile workers a century before, including Stetson Hats and Quaker lace, long closed.
  
  The first thing the teenagers taught us was the code of the street was “don’t get mad, get even.” Many of the young adults were unemployed, living with their parents even after becoming parents. They hung out at corners under the streetlights at night, and greeted my husband with “Hello, Father,” as he returned home from evening meetings. They kept an eye out for the elderly in the ‘hood.
  
  Every corner had a bar or a corner store. An empty warehouse loomed behind the house, which was teeming with cockroaches and mice. Homeless people slept in our old VW Beetle housed in an unlocked garage off the alley. We heard that police escorted teachers into the school across the street.
  
  My husband had arrived already burned out. He left the parish ministry and we bought a house in Olney. It was a post-war rowhouse on a street with houses still occupied by the original WWII refugee owners, black couples including policemen and nurses, Hispanic couples, and one rental filled with students from the school of optometry a block away.
  
  To the west and south were poor black communities, and to the north an upscale area that had seen better days. We could walk to the train station or the last subway stop in a few minutes.
  
  We lived there for seven years, watching it turn into Koreatown with bilingual street signs. When our son was born. I couldn’t let him play in the park because of the broken glass all over the ground. The local kids come to see him in his stroller, and we watched them break dance on flattened cardboard boxes on the street.
  
  In 1990 my husband left his job in New York City and we returned to Michigan. The long commute and frequent travel had meant he was rarely home and he wanted to be more involved in our son’s life. Plus, things were changing. Crack cocaine had arrived in the city. Twice our dog’s alert thwarted a theft of our car. Houses were being broken into by through the skylight.
  
  There was a time when he couldn’t have imagined living beyond twenty-one, let alone having a well-paying professional job.
  from Live to See the Day by Nikal Goyal
  
  When I saw that Live to See the Day was set in Kensington and Olney I had to read it.
  
  The book follows the stories of three North Philadelphia Puerto Rican boys growing up in poverty, with food insecurity, meth addicted parents, and school systems more interested in criminalizing students and ignoring systemic problems than in the welfare of students. And, it traces the generational trauma that warped lives.
  
  We feel compassion for these young people, understanding the towering challenges they face. We feel anger at how they have been marginalized and ignored, and guilty for our complacent ignorance.
  
  Through the stories of these young people, Goyal shows the political reactions to systemic problems that got us to ‘here,’ the ways policies have failed, and the innovate approaches that allowed these boys to succeed.
  
  All they wanted was to finish high school and get the diploma that would allow them an opportunity for a better future.
  
  In other countries, governments support families in need. My Finnish exchange student daughter had lost her job when she married an unemployed teacher, but they had an apartment and food through the state. Here, we break up families and give foster children the support that, if given to their families, would have kept the family intact. Here, children who are not safe at home live on the streets or friend’s couches or in substandard and insecure shelters.
  
  And yes, the book was alive for me because I had been to the places described, although in somewhat better times, but also because it is a masterpiece of narrative nonfiction. Goyal raises important issues and, thankfully, shares an example of approaches that succeed.
  
  Thanks to the publisher for a free book.
• 
  Richard Thompson

  The stories in this book are moving biographies of young people growing up in poverty who face terrible problems in a system that is stacked against them. They try to find ways to build meaningful lives and human relationships, to get educated, and to help their families, but every time they turn around, they hit a wall. They get kicked out of school, they have run-ins with the police, they are raped or shot or stabbed. Basic food, clothing and shelter are sometimes missing. It is an old sad story, and we have been letting it go on for years in our country without doing much to fix the problems. And after the hopeful efforts to fight poverty in the 60s, we have taken some giant steps in the wrong direction.
  
  The stories here are very personal. It's impossible to read these stories and have no compassion for these young people. Just a little bit more help could do wonders to make their lives better. To me it was nothing new. I don't want more anecdotes. I want action. I'd rather read a book that points more in the direction of solutions. It's not that this book is poverty porn, though at times it has elements of that. I do think that it is important for conservative groups and self-satisfied rich folks to see that the people who suffer in urban poverty are human beings, real people with real lives who are not lazy or criminal and are trying hard to improve their lot. Maybe books like this can help, but in my reading, I'd rather focus more what we can be doing to fix the problems that I already know are there.
• 
  Sara Broad

  Nikhil Goyal's "Live to See the Day" centers around three teenagers who grow up in Kensington, a marginalized community in the northern part of Philadelphia. Mass incarceration, substandard housing, poverty, and urban blight are just a few of the themes that are part of the painful reality of the lives of many Philadelphia, especially its young people. Goyal does a great job using Emmanuel, Giancarlos, and Ryan's experiences in Philadelphia's chronically underfunded schools as a cause for and effect of poverty. Too many students who live in poverty have heard that they aren't doing well because they don't care, but the abuses of poverty that underscore every facet of the lives of these three teenagers and what they do to obtain a high school education discredits all negative assumptions. I liked how Goyal takes the narratives a step further by providing a history of the rise and fall of Philadelphia's industrial sector and uses other sources to show the conditions that have created lives filled with much hardship. This is a really good read and is especially relevant if you are a Philadelphian.
• 
  Lisa Weldy

  This is a very important read about the state of education and how it affects kids in very low socio-economic homes. I enjoyed getting to really know the boys in this book, and understanding more how generational trauma can impact a family for many decades.
  
  I think this book could've been trimmed down a touch--a tighter edit was needed in my opinion. While I did enjoy the in-depth writing style, there were times when there was just too much unnecessary description. Not everything needed to be spelled out or detailed, especially some of the more mundane details.
  
  Overall, I think this book is a well-written account of how the cards are stacked against so many who were born into certain socioeconomic circumstances. While this book focuses on areas in Philadelphia, this is clearly a national issue.
  
  Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me an advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review.
• 
  Sam Hughes

  AGH! This was so well done and I'm so thankful to Macmillan Audio, Netgalley, and Nikhil Goyal for granting me advanced audiobook access to this grotesquely horrific depiction of America's impoverished communities, being dealt very little and even less as time goes on. With politicians touting Pro-Life sanctions left and right, it's pretty corrupt given how government and the system it runs couldn't get a rat's ass about children growing up and getting handed around from bandaid fix to another.
  
  I think this was really sad, but also really informative of how things are set up, unfortunately. I think everyone should listen or at least read this book, because it was so profound.
  
  Live to See the Day hits shelves on August 22, 2023.
• 
  Amanda E

  5 stars for the writing, because I haven’t read a page turner nonfiction like this in a while. I saw Nikhil and the 3 young people mentioned in the book speak at the bookstore I work at and was captivated by their resilience. Nikhil did a great job of telling their stories and perfectly intertwining economic info and history of different policies. Really thorough, and great research here on progressive policy.
  
  The recommendations focus mostly on economic things which was the focus of the book, but all the issues of poverty and violent neighborhoods won’t be resolved just from economic policies since they’re so deep rooted. Makes you wonder if we’ll ever heal these fissures in our society ….sigh
• 
  Jamie Park

  I picked this up because the sociologist in me needs to know about things like social security payouts, racism, underfunded schools, and just about anything else that affects our society.
  This book hit all the spots for me.
  I loved how they introduced us to the boys and told us their story, while also introducing us to their parents and communities.
  There is a theme of teen pregnancy and jobs that do not pay a living wage, as well as housing that isn't stable. We, as country, know how to fix these things but we opt not to.
  I already have three friends in mind I will be recommending this book to.
• 
  Cindy

  Remarkable documentary of the education and coming of age of 3 young Latinos growing up in the Kensington neighborhood in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The author skillfully weaves details of each boy’s life story together with well-researched background about the politics of education funding, housing, policing and corrections in the area and other poverty stricken areas. The daily challenges each boy faced were vividly depicted. This book makes a compelling case for equity in education, housing, child care, mental health and all other resources for all communities lacking adequate resources. Unparalleled classic. A must read for all, particularly people in positions of power.
• 
  Tara Kat (MagnoliaPigeonBookBlurbs)

  A poignant and heartbreaking look at the trickledown effects of generational trauma, racism, classism, the failure of the public education system and over policing in the community of Kensington. Live to see the Day takes a hard look at the struggles faced within the Kensington boarders while highlighting the importance of the implementation of harm reduction, second chances, community outreach and the overwhelming need for change.
  
  Thank you to Macmillan Audio for the advanced copy.
• 
  Susan Claire

  I was looking forward to reading this but ended up finding it very dry. There was FAR too much detail about extraneous people and about schools, activism, etc. None of the people were really "brought to life" in a way; it almost felt as if the author was just reporting. I started skimming the second half because I was bored. Instead of this book, read "The Working Poor" by David Shipley. He really got to know his subjects and I felt as if I really understood their lives.
• 
  Brian

  This was a very gritty book about three young adults, who have a very difficult upbringing. The book is told in detail about their lives, and you find out anything some of which are unbelievable but I believe they really did happen. The author put a lot of work into this book and it really shows because of the details that talk about the different peoples lives.
• 
  Ellie

  Really good book