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Harsh and Real
A Well Written Moving Account Of Homeles Life On The Streets
It could have been much more
Terrible.......
Absolutely FANTASTIC book

Grand Central Winter
Lee Stringer
Manufacturer: Washington Square Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0671036548

Amazon.com

Curled deep in his burrow in a Grand Central Station crawlspace, Lee Stringer--ragged, homeless, addicted to crack--is digging around for something he can use to clean his crack pipe. Finally his fingers latch around "some sort of smooth straight stick": a pencil. In the days that follow, he carries it with him wherever he goes. "So I have this pencil with me all the time and then one day I'm sitting there in my hole with nothing to smoke and nothing to do and I pull the pencil out just to look at the film of residue stuck to the sides--you do that sort of thing when you don't have any shit--and it dawns on me that it's a pencil. I mean it's got a lead in it and all, and you can write with the thing." And so that's what he does. "Pretty soon I forget all about hustling and getting a hit. I'm scribbling like a maniac; heart pumping, adrenaline rushing, hands trembling. I'm so excited I almost crap on myself. It's just like taking a hit."

Grand Central Winter is the tale of Stringer's twin addictions--writing and crack--and the lengths he went to in order to satisfy each. But Stringer dwells on neither his descent into hell nor the long journey back. Instead, he paints a nuanced portrait of street life itself, its pleasures as well as its terrors. Hustlers, hookers, dealers, and addicts come to life in a series of vignettes that are tough, unsentimental, but compassionate to the core. There's honest rage to be found in Grand Central Winter, but precious little political posturing. "Policy is never the real issue," he writes in "Dear Homey," his advice column for New York's homeless paper, Street News. "The real issue is the hearts of men."

Book Description

In the underground tunnels below Grand Central Terminal, Lee Stringer -- homeless and drug-addicted over the course of eleven years -- found a pencil to run through his crack pipe. One day, he used it to write. Soon, writing became a habit that won out over drugs. And soon, Lee Stringer had created one of the most powerful urban memoirs of our time.

With humane wisdom and a biting wit, Lee Stringer chronicles the unraveling of his seemingly secure existence as a marketing executive, and his odyssey of survival on the streets of New York City. Whether he is portraying "God's corner," as he calls 42nd Street, or his friend Suzi, a hooker and "past-due tourist" whose infant he sometimes baby-sits; whether he recounts taking shelter underneath Grand Central by night and collecting cans by day, or making a living hawking Street News on the subway, Lee Stringer conveys the vitality and complexity of a down-and-out life. Rich with small acts of kindness, humor, and even heroism amid violence and desperation, Grand Central Winter offers a touching portrait of our shared humanity.

Download Description

In the tunnels below Grand Central Terminal, Lee Stringer -- homeless and drug-addicted over the course of eleven years -- found a pencil to run through his crack pipe. One day, he used it to write.

Customer Reviews:

Harsh and Real.......2007-06-29

I encountered this book on a sale rack and didn't expect much from it. After all why would be so discounted?

I was wrong. This was a chilling and real depiction of life on the streets as a crack addict. What it may lack in direction, it makes up for with hard-hitting writing.

If you are looking for a nice breezy read, this is not the book for you. If you want some food for thought, then don't miss it.

A Well Written Moving Account Of Homeles Life On The Streets.......2005-04-24

This book is an autobiographical account of a time in the author's life, Lee Stringer. Mr.Stringer begins the book describing his life as a homeless, crack addict who finds a pencil he intends to use to clean his crack pipe with. Then he realizes that a pen can be a very powerful tool and he starts to write. He writes about the streets where the homeless are seen but so often overlooked and his eventual position as a writer for a newspaper.Stringer has realized in this book that "the pen is indeed mightier than the sword" as he goes about seeking Recovery and Redemption. This book is a very well written account of a man's struggle to free himself from a serious addiction.The reader will cheer for Mr. Stringer as he tries to regain his Life and his Dignity.

It could have been much more.......2004-06-20

I stuck the book out for about 2/3 of it always hoping for some point to be made from the various unconnected stories he tells, but most have no point or real end...such as the story of the blonde hooker who becomes central to his life for many months or the even less understandable the defrocked Greek priest who wants to be in the newspaper.Very little of this book is about how it is to be homeless or to sleep under subway tunnels etc. It's mostly about his hustling newspapers and cans and taking drugs,but even that is surface level & not very detailed.

Terrible..............2002-07-11

This was the worst book I ever read.I thought the story was going to be about the homeless in Grand Central.Yet all the
main character Lee talks about is his work with a newspaper
written by the homeless.The book drags on and on going nowhere.
The characters Lee mentions in the book are as dull as the book
itself.I was trully disappionted.The only thing this book is good
for is putting you to sleep.

Absolutely FANTASTIC book.......2002-07-09

As Kurt Vonnegut says in the opening pages of this book, Lee Stringer can write. Vonnegut isn't lying.

Lee Stringer is ruthless in his description of how corruption and greed overcome the true hearts of men - how the problems of homelessness can never be solved unless there is true caring, courage and compassion on the part of our leaders. The most encouraging part of this book is the excerpts from "Ask Homey," a column written by Lee Stringer in the newspaper "Street News," where he directly addresses the issues of the homeless without pause.

Lee Stringer also changes the mentality that homeless people are people that somehow scrape the bottoms of the buckets of accountability, dignity, and humanity. They are most certainly not - they are people that could be your next door neighbor...or are, for that matter.

Don't miss this one. it is an unforgettable read, especially the second or third time.

Grand Central Winter Stories From the Street

Average customer rating:

Grand Central Winter Stories From the Street

ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0965696952

Product Description

Publishers Weekly, 06/15/1998 "In New York City," writes the author, "there are three centers for people living on the street: Central Park, Grand Central Terminal, and Central Booking." And in this candid, sad, yet upbeat memoir we visit them all. Stringer once co-owned a graphic-design company, but with the death of his partner and his substance abuse found himself evicted from his apartment and camping in Grand Central Terminal. We see what life is like on the street and how the homeless search for shoes in a bureaucratic city agency. In one shelter we see hams, turkeys and other roasts going into the kitchen, but only fried salami is served. We witness homeless being rousted by cops for criminal trespass for sleeping in Grand Central, then learn that often the police do this only at the end of their shifts in order to collect overtime. The author relates the embarrassment of meeting an old business colleague while collecting cans for their five-cent redemption fee; how he rescued a coked-up businessman from muggers; and how the authorities ruthlessly cracked down on the homeless to move them out of Grand Central. Street News, the newspaper of the homeless, helps get him back on his feet, first by selling it, then by editing and writing for it. From stories about flim-flamming clerics prying on the homeless, to the streetwise Romeo who wants to make the prostitute mother of his child an "honest woman" ("I can't believe it, [she] even charged me to go to bed with her on our honeymoon night"), to the manipulations of being on the Geraldo show, Stringer possesses a sharp eye for the street and the rich, sagacious talent of a storyteller. (July)

Average customer rating:

Grand Central Winter - Stories From The Street
Lee Stringer
Manufacturer: Seven Stories Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000IX16OS

Grand Central Winter. New York - ganz unten.

Average customer rating:

Grand Central Winter. New York - ganz unten.
Lee Stringer
Manufacturer: Herder, Freiburg
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 3451052652

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