Rust: A Memoir of Steel and Grit

by Eliese Colette Goldbach

One woman's story of working in the backbreaking steel industry to rebuild her life—but what she uncovers in the mill is much more than molten metal and grueling working conditions. Under the mill's orange flame she finds hope for the unity of America.

Steel is the only thing that shines in the belly of the mill...

To ArcelorMittal Steel Eliese is known as #6691: Utility Worker, but this was never her dream. Fresh out of college, eager to leave behind her conservative hometown and come to terms with her Christian roots, Eliese found herself applying for a job at the local steel mill. The mill is everything she was trying to escape, but it's also her only shot at financial security in an economically devastated and forgotten part of America.

In Rust, Eliese brings the reader inside the belly of the mill and the middle American upbringing that brought her there in the first place. She takes a long and intimate look at her Rust Belt childhood and struggles to reconcile her desire to leave without turning her back on the people she's come to love. The people she sees as the unsung backbone of our nation.

Faced with the financial promise of a steelworker's paycheck, and the very real danger of working in an environment where a steel coil could crush you at any moment or a vat of molten iron could explode because of a single drop of water, Eliese finds unexpected warmth and camaraderie among the gruff men she labors beside each day.

Appealing to readers of Hillbilly Elegy and Educated, Rust is a story of the humanity Eliese discovers in the most unlikely and hellish of places, and the hope that therefore begins to grow.

Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction, Biography, Biography Memoir, History, Audiobook, Mental Health

320 pages, Hardcover

First published March 3, 2020

Reviews

[Diane S ☔ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Told education was the road to success, Eliese discovers that good paying careers or jobs are not plentiful. Once wanting only to leave Cleveland and the huge steel plant engulfing her city, she soon finds working at the mill was the only way to get a decent paycheck. With fear, many doubts and some humor, she describes this experience beginning with her orientation.

My second job when I left school was for a steel company. Started as an office asst. and moving up was promoted to an inside sales person. So I learned much more about steel than I ever thought I would, and yes the salary and benefits were terrific.

Her writing about her time in the steel mill was vibrant, the best part of the book for me. Interspersed in between she chronicles her personal struggles, among them a mental illness. She also is not shy about stating her political views, but whether I agreed with them or not, I felt they were overdone.

I enjoyed parts, struggled with others, but congratulate her on her accomplishments. She had much with which to struggle and overcame much.

[Heidi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eliese Goldbach pulls back the curtain to reveal the unseen struggles and contributions to society by steelworkers in Cleveland, Ohio, her hometown. Along the way, she delves into complex issues of mental health, politics, socioeconomic status, gender equality, and religion in her own life. It is, ultimately, a memoir about hope, but there was great suffering on Goldbach's path to this realization.

When Goldbach was young, she viewed the stink of the steel mills as a type of pollution she needed to keep out of her body. But, when her plans to become a nun don't materialize and she faces hurdles to completing the paperwork for her masters degree, Goldbach applies at the steel mill for the paycheck, accepting it as a step backwards in order to move forward into self sufficiency.

"In a Rust Belt town, that flame isn't just a harbinger of weird smells and pollution. It isn't an anachronism, and it doesn't prove a lack of innovation. ... The flame is very much a part of our history and our identity. It's a steady reminder that some things can stand the test of time, even in a world where nothing is built to last."

A large part of Goldbach's failure to thrive is caused by her mental health struggles. It affects her ability to hold down a full time job, maintain her relationships, and makes her dread the future. Yes, she might be doing well now, she tells herself, but in another couple of weeks that might not be true any longer.

"Doctors would tell me that mixed-state bipolar disorder is one of the most dangerous forms of the disease. Depression brings suicidal thoughts, and mania adds impulsivity. When people with mixed-state bipolar disorder have the will for death, they are more likely to have the energy to follow through."

Raised in a conservative and religious household, Goldbach is trained from an early age to see feminism as a dirty word. Through her own life experience, she discovers that some of her assumptions about feminism are untrue and begins to speak up for those who are unable or unwilling to speak for themselves.

"While there were other women who worked in the mill, we were definitely a minority. ... There was a good deal of mansplaining, and there were offhanded comments that came straight out of the 1950s."

Goldbach's memoir shines in its examination and dissection of her personal beliefs and how those change through experience. It feeds into my own belief that only the person living a life has the true insight into its meaning and direction.

"I'm just disappointed in myself, I guess. I feel like I should have done more by now, and I'm worried that I'll get stuck in the mill."

Some readers may find Goldbach's politics off-putting. But I think the difficult conversations she describes at the dinner table with her parents are going on at other dinner tables all across the country. An open dialogue and willingness to look at our differences can be painful, but that doesn't mean we should never have those conversations.

Recommended for readers who enjoy memoirs and as a possible book club pick. Trigger warnings for mental health issues, especially those with bipolar disorder, and rape.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a free digital copy of this book. The brief quotations cited in this review may change or be omitted in the final print version.

[Olive Fellows (abookolive) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Click here to hear my thoughts on this book over on my Booktube channel, abookolive.


Rust is the memoir of a woman who stumbled into a career as a steelworker which proved to be very physically demanding, but also pivotal to her growth in a very transformational period of her life. She tells her story well and honestly in this book, though a few stories probably could have been left out (like the car shopping, for instance).

[Holly R W · Rating 4 out of 5]

"I was college educated, a Millennial, a woman. But I was also now a steelworker... I was straddling some invisible divide." So begins Eliese Goldbach's hard-hitting memoir.

She writes of growing up in Cleveland, Ohio in a middle class family. The Catholic church was very important to them - When younger, she dreamed of becoming a nun. As an older teen, she developed bipolar disorder and she writes here of experiencing mixed episodes, frightening in their severity. Goldbach completed college and then floundered through her twenties, finding low paying jobs as a house painter. The memoir focuses on her experiences working as a steelworker and her relationship with her boyfriend Tony, beginning in her late twenties. These are years during Donald Trump's candidacy and presidency.

As a Clevelander myself, I could not help but be drawn in. But more than this, Goldbach is able to capture all of the contradictions that make each one of us so uniquely human. Her discussions of the work world, steel making, Catholicism, mental illness, feminism, and politics are candid and well thought out. In discussing her parents, who are Trump supporters, Goldbach offers a more compelling explanation of why they supported him than any I have heard.

Goldbach's writing is gutsy and powerful. Recommended for those who like memoirs.

[Karen R · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eliese leaves no stone unturned whether it’s baring her struggles with bi-polar disorder or sharing snapshots of her life’s work in the local steel mill. The life of a steelworker is a dangerous one, exposing workers to almost inhumane conditions and where the smallest deviation could cause maiming or death. The mill was pretty much the only game in town though and high pay was a major incentive for the workers to provide better care for their families. Eliese shares her very personal and eye-opening account of life and struggles in the rust belt. I was impressed by her determination and grit. I was not a fan of inserting her political opinions.

[Jeremy Biermaier · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't know what to think of this book. It felt a little like bait and switch. I was more expecting experiences in Cleveland still mills during this time, and while the book had some of that included it more focused on the author's mental health issues. While I have no problems reading books about mental health issues, it was not what I expected when I picked up the book and made the book feel a bit disjointed to me.

[Justine S]

A few stories probably could have been left out, but this is an interesting story of a woman who unexpectedly found herself working at a steel mill and the change and growth she experiences during this period in her life.

[Jaime Oakeson · Rating 2 out of 5]

I listened to this book, and the reader did a lot of that "laugh talk" which I get is meant to express a casual looking back friends chatter kind of thing, but I didn't like it, it felt condescending. She also did odd (possibly ethnic) voices for some of the steel workers. I enjoyed some parts of the story but the whole thing fell a little short of "Steel and Grit" for me.

And let me add that a concealed carry permit has nothing to do with purchasing a firearm, just the actual carrying of it. I do realize each state is different and things change, so possibly at the time this happened this was the case, but I have never heard of such a thing, in a lot of years and a number of states I have had the experience.

[(Ellie) ReadtoRamble · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book so much, and I know that it's going to be up for a reread soon!
This book shows how Eliese is just so strong and even though she goes through her bipolar disease flare-ups and trauma, working in the steel factory and struggling with her personal life, she stays strong and she stands up for what is right.
This is the first memoir I have ever read, and I'm so glad I started with this one because it will stay with me for a long time.

[Hannah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think this book was intentionally misbranded. It's not a cross between Educated and Hillbilly Elegy. It's a memoir about a woman with a master's degree and bipolar disorder. She happens to briefly work at a steel mill before getting her bipolar disorder under control and then getting a job that uses her master's degree.

It came off as pretty elitist and shallow. "We [millennials] had to [work in a steel mill] before doing the jobs that gave our lives meaning." Ugh.

[Russell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well-written and thoughtful telling of Goldbach's transition to adulthood while struggling with bipolar disorder. Raised in a dogmatic, right-leaning religious family, she had set her sights on changing the world, through entering the church as a nun or in similar self-sacrificing ways, only to fall into deep depression due to her disorder and the effects of a college-age rape, for which she was blamed by the Catholic school's leadership. Stitching together a meager post-college existence painting houses, she finally settled for what she saw as a dream-killing job working as a hard hat at a Cleveland steel mill. While the continual shift changes at the mill helped trigger another bipolar episode, after recovering from that she found that working at the mill gave her the financial foundation and structure to complete her graduate education, and eventually realize her revised career dream of teaching at the university level and establish a successful marriage. Along the way, Goldbach gives us an inside look at the people and processes involved in producing various forms of steel, while establishing the futility, in that mill's case, of the disastrous Trump-initiated tariffs.

[Cindy H. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall this was an interesting memoir, well written with a good dose of humor to offset some of the heavier content. Eliese Goldbach, a promising student finds herself adrift after completing her schooling. At 26 she’s just getting by painting houses, when her friend suggests she apply for a job at the steel mill; a place that has loomed large over her entire childhood. Soon the mill & all it’s many workers start to fill a void in her life. The inner workings of the mill were both fascinating and overwhelming.
This is a nice addition to the wealth of memoirs that focus on Appalachia and other regional stories. It’s also a look at the Midwest steel workers mentality.
Roundup 3.5 stars
Thank you to #NetGalley and publisher for providing me with an ARC for review.

[Lainy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Time taken to read - 1.5 days

Pages - 308

Publisher - Quercus

Source - Review copy

Blurb from Goodreads


One woman's story of working in the backbreaking steel industry to rebuild her life—but what she uncovers in the mill is much more than molten metal and grueling working conditions. Under the mill's orange flame she finds hope for the unity of America.

Steel is the only thing that shines in the belly of the mill...

To ArcelorMittal Steel Eliese is known as #6691: Utility Worker, but this was never her dream. Fresh out of college, eager to leave behind her conservative hometown and come to terms with her Christian roots, Eliese found herself applying for a job at the local steel mill. The mill is everything she was trying to escape, but it's also her only shot at financial security in an economically devastated and forgotten part of America.

In Rust, Eliese brings the reader inside the belly of the mill and the middle American upbringing that brought her there in the first place. She takes a long and intimate look at her Rust Belt childhood and struggles to reconcile her desire to leave without turning her back on the people she's come to love. The people she sees as the unsung backbone of our nation.

Faced with the financial promise of a steelworker’s paycheck, and the very real danger of working in an environment where a steel coil could crush you at any moment or a vat of molten iron could explode because of a single drop of water, Eliese finds unexpected warmth and camaraderie among the gruff men she labors beside each day.

Appealing to readers of Hillbilly Elegy and Educated, Rust is a story of the humanity Eliese discovers in the most unlikely and hellish of places, and the hope that therefore begins to grow.




My Review


i don't know why but I thought this was going to be quite heavy on emotional/angst side, it wasn't that at all. Eliese had set ideas on the steel mills growing up as well as religion and politics. As Eliese becomes an adult and things happen in her life she finds herself not only questions but 360 on quite a lot of the ideas she had growing up.

Rust takes us into the steel mills, what it is like to work in a perilous environment, where one mistake can literally be death to you or a co worker. The hazards, the problems being a woman in this environment, the difference between being a new start and becoming an established part of the team with union cover and job protection. The stories of folk who have died in the company, the very real hazards, even in the departments most sought after. Eliese takes us on the journey of her life, through this very male dominated work force, money at the top and how current politics affects the job.

Aside from this, we have to remember this is a true story memoir and we get the rest of Eliese's lie experiences. A very honest and brutal look at mental health, how it affected her day to day life, relationships, good days and bad and a sexual attack and the impact that had on her and her views.

I am not a fan of politics but it was interesting to see how Goldbach examined hers and challenged her family, over dinner as you imagine with the current political issues this is happening across the globe, in many variations.

The book does jump around a wee bit, in time, from the job and heading back to growing up, ideas formed, back to current day/work back to college and what happened there. Her mental health is discussed sporadically throughout the book. When it comes up it does go into very vivid details cataloguing some of the episodes she survived or getting through that particular day. Then we go back to the steel mill and what was happening in that recounting. I really enjoyed the steel mill stuff as it isn't something I have ever thought about or read so I found it fascinating, the jumps may be a bit distracting to some readers but once she got into her stride, be it the mental health encounters or the mill I found it pretty fascinating and didn't want to stop reading. 4/5 for me this time, I think I would like to read more on the mills and prior to this book I doubt that is a sentence I would have thought let alone said. A raw and brave look into a woman's life who has battled so much and came out fighting at the other end.

[James R · Rating 5 out of 5]

I honestly didn’t expect too much from this book. I read it to pass some time while I waited for other books on hold at the library became available. I assumed it would be another well intentioned attempt at explaining midwestern blue collar conservatives to coastal liberals and there was a definite undercurrent of that. There are direct political references to Donald Trump. How could a memoir written by a young adult born in the mid-eighties to a conservative Catholic family writing about her life during the politically fractured eras of Obama and Trump not contain political references? She is a young liberal feminist woman living in a very conservative city in a staunchly Republican state working in a conservative male dominated industry. She also lives with a debilitating mental illness the impact of which she describes with stark clarity and brutal honesty. Her insights into what that is like for her, her parents and friends in and of itself makes this book important and worthwhile. The callous, paternalistic and misogynistic response by the administration of the Ohio Catholic university she was attending when she was raped by two students and the response by the priest she was directed to confess to is further testimony to her remarkable resilience. And finally the insights of what work and life in a modern steel mill is like, the culture of respect and support that exists there among the workers, how differences-even profound ones-were made secondary to the need to stay safe in an inherently dangerous environment provides a hopeful and instructive model. This is a very worthwhile book for these fraught times.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

As I read this book, I had to keep reminding myself that it is a memoir, not fiction; that every word is true. How could a young woman, derailed by the onset of bipolar illness, willingly suffer the rigors of working in a steel mill in a city she wanted nothing more than to escape? Rather than give way to self pity and shattered dreams, Goldbach gamely takes on the scorching heat, physical hazards, and occasionally obstructive coworkers that come with employment in what many of us thought was a dead American industry. In fact, when I first started reading, I was surprised to realize the book takes place very recently, not decades ago.

A window on an unappreciated and often misunderstood contingent of American workers, Goldbach's story is told with candor and compassion; like any good memoir it reads like a novel. With grace and wit, the author takes us on a tour not only of the mill, but of her personal life, adroitly shifting back and forth between the two and weaving in pertinent and compelling episodes from her past.

Be sure to preorder today!

[Theodore Newman · Rating 2 out of 5]

A disappointment given how well received this book was. Goldbach's story is potentially compelling, but it would have been better if it had been shorter and if someone else had told it. I have driven by the steel plant at the center of much of the story many times, and I didn't come away with much more feel dor its interior life than I had before slogging my way through Rust.
I made the mistake of listening to the audiobook. Kelly Pekar's delivery was consistently excruciating- full of overwrought breathiness, cloying chuckles, and simpering whimpers, depending on what she imagined in the particular scene needed to be overemphasized.

[Darius Murretti · Rating 3 out of 5]

First of all this is NOT a book just about steel mills . It is as if she started to write a book about steel mills but then digressed and decided to make it about her personal life and her political views, and is not a book I recommend or will reread. (although I LOVED the narrator )

It will certainly help you see life through her eyes

Good points
1) she points out how women are still mistreated in 2010-2017 time frame
2) she exemplifies a good work ethic and shows courage and determination in her professional life

BAD POINTS :
1) she ( foolishly) indulges in alcohol and drugs and smokes cigarettes ,
2) She explicitly vividly describes how she was promiscuous sexually molested as a school girl DURING CLASS by a fellow student WHEN THE TEACHER WAS IN THE ROOM ( yes girls should slap a boy in the face who is feeling her in class AND TELL THE TEACHER )
3) She had a big ego --she her self said --I did not want to become a nun out of a sense of duty to the world but so people would see me as " a god" which is the exact WRONG reason . She says "I did not want to be just an ordinary common person but something much greater and far above common boring people" . I have no problem with that but once should not want others to know about ones spiritual progress . in fact one should hide it as one should hide ones charity.
4) She labels people as Republican or Democrats . People are all Gods children and are in fact all ONE being .It, again , is ego that separates them into warring fractions

I kept telling myself as I read " There but by the grace of God go I" because as a teenager i shared certain traits with the author such as cruel impulses to kill deer with my bare hands which made me wonder whether I was controlled by the devil but then by God's grace I " saw the light" and how my life is one with all and how all life is one life and that ego is an illusion so whatever I do to others considering them separate from me I do to myself as so its its injurious I injure myself and can not escape the pain . ( of course my mind was not clouded by alcohol so I could assimilate this view into my life but even that was the grace of God ) If god had not intervened in my life I could have turned out just like this author . Thai book is like looking at where id be without his grace .

As I said I liked her strong work ethic , courage , ability to take hazing and dont give up attitude
but her ability to passively take crap from others was a negative when it cam to letting teh boy do what he did to her in class . Her problem was she could not discriminate between when to allow others to be unfair to her so as not to create a scene and when to create a scene . Alcohol certainly clouded her scene of discrimination .

plus we are all struggling souls and we all have our own crosses to bear . No one is perfect and God does help every single one of us

Her moment came when she was about to drown herself after her boyfriend up broke up with her during and due to her bipolar episode... a very dark moment in her if but is also when teh light dawned as suddenly she could look down upon herself from outside

This is a moment of Gods grace , divine intervention . I can only hope she continues to improve her conscious contact with God which will only be in proportion to a reduction in ego. ( I was once told that E.G.O. stands for Edging God Out .) However Although she clearly had a moment in the story where God prevented her from having a suicide She does not mention that having a relationship with God was a major part of her life after that. Most of her references to prayer we strongly mired in her catholic background --as if a residual from her childhood -- a childish thing-- she does not seem to have actively sought to improve her conscious contact with God via daily meditation. Your "God" is what you turn to in times of need . She seems to have turned to alcohol/drugs and human companionship -even when she went to a catholic college . Moral Drugs and God dont mix .She needs to give them up to go forward and go towards God . It is mind blowing that the priest she confessed to after her rape did not tell her this and include it in her penance.

We should write books to share helpful things with our readers . I felt her explicit narrative of how she was "felt up" by a boy during class was not helpful but perverting . She did not need to go into it in such "fiendish" detail . ( I did skip this part which went on for several minutes but I could tell she was going through it in great detail) )

It is not enough to be honest once should also use discretion when sharing events from our lives.
Again with her rape- she could have just said " They sneaked me a drug in my drink and raped me ". But she had to go into explicit detail leaving nothing out . The only one who would enjoy reading this would be a pervert or a rapist which I'm not so I did not enjoy it and I did not enjoy how she explicitly she wrote about her impulse to kill that deer I prefer to read acts of compassion and nobility.I would venture to say that she does not know how to keep her focus positive and lest her energy drift to negative focuses . She may say " well that's my Bipolar but I say If you dont control you focus who will ? That's why I read authors who control the focus of their writing keeping it positive and not plunging deeply into negative states taking their readers with them . Again truthfulness is not enough truth must be combined with discretion so it does not hurt others . Wisdom is also required.

I also dont understand how any one in how any one can make a conscious decision to smoke in 2010 when all the harmful effects are known . Drinking and drugging did not help her bipolar . Again one should hold to wisdom and be guided by it . One thing I learned from this book is how some people just cant see it.

Mirdad says "Wisdom is a burden to the half-wise as is folly to the fool. Assist the half-wise with his burden and let the fool alone; the half-wise can teach him more that you can." So ther are some pleope who I can not help

Midad also says < "Dark passions breed and prosper in the dark. Allow them the freedom of light if you would decrease their brood. " so YES one should talk to others about these guilt laden negative events or experiences or deeds to those who care about them and are "one their side" but not publish them in books for the general public .

This book may be helpful if you have a loved one who has bipolar or are considering becoming a steel worker and it is well written and I loved the narrator ( if the narrator had not been so good I would definitely not been able to enjoy the book . )

I did like the character who had model cars and liked to work on engines( forgot his name )

Bottom Line : if this author is to move forward she needs to take responsibility for what she chooses to focus on for which she will probably have to give up alcohol and take up some form of mental discipline for mind control to go i deeper into her conscious and seek god( her conscience ) there and not use bipolar as an excuse for her actions and decisions especially those performed under the influence of alcohol.

[Kristine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to this on audio and found it to be interesting and emotionally compelling. The author shares her personal experiences that mirror the experiences of many young women, particularly as relates to mental illness, being a female in a male dominated environment, and trying to determine what success looks like in this modern world. Definitely worth your time.

[Brandt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven't tried writing a review since we started sheltering in place.

Part of it is due to some technical limitations. I always used to write my reviews over my lunch hour while I was at work, but I haven't physically been at work for two weeks and my employer has asked that I not hit "non-essential" websites while I am on the work VPN, since bandwidth is limited. But since we've all basically hunkered down I've been using my lunch hour to take my dog for a walk around the neighborhood, keeping safe distance all the while (except from my son, who accompanies me on the trip.) In addition, my local library system (Cleveland Public) has closed down during the crisis, so my pile of books is slowly dwindling. But before they closed, Eliese Colette Goldbach's Rust was waiting for me, and I got in with about thirty minutes to go before the library shut their doors for the foreseeable future.

The reason I bring all of this up is that Goldbach and I are both native (and current) Clevelanders. This memoir is mainly about her time working in the steel industry, which is also how I make my living (but unlike Goldbach, I've never actually worked in a mill or a warehouse--I've always been a corporate stooge employee. But unlike most of the folks who have little experience with the steel making industry, I know Goldbach's lingo of her time working in the mill as well as the history of the particular location she was working at. But Goldbach is also like me in that my background was not in steel, but really in academia (I wanted to be an English professor) and Goldbach is a very good writer, so she is able to cast her time as a steelworker as a metaphor for her challenges in life (she has bipolar disorder and was sexually assaulted while in college) and for the city that we both live in and love.

When I was about the leave for college, I worked at the city of Elyria, OH Wastewater Plant as a manual laborer for two summers. I was trying to get a job selling snacks at the city pool, but the guy doing the hiring knew my dad and said that he had a job that was "almost" full time if I wanted it, and wouldn't be called off for weather like the pool could be. Since I felt like I didn't have anything better to do, I took the job. I may have resented it a bit at the time, but my experience was much like Goldbach's at the mill--there was a cast of characters that you would have never thought you could imagine. These workers had a depth if you knew where to look, instead of just looking at them as some sort of "laborer." And it was through them that I not only learned the value of hard work, but I also learned the lesson that no job was beneath me (except for carnival workers, but that's another story) and that the people who did things we could not see ourselves doing should be valued. When the truck shows up every Monday to pick up my trash, I appreciate the men who drive it. My co-workers at the Wastewater Plant taught me the important lesson that somebody has to make sure the shit that goes down your toilet leaves the water--and that person shouldn't be looked down at for doing it.

Goldbach, in telling her story has written a sort of love letter, not just to Cleveland, but to the workers that keep not just Cleveland but the world running. I'm blessed in that my industry has been deemed "essential" during this crisis and that's because it is. Steel isn't sexy or glamorous compared to the likes of Google or Microsoft but it is the foundational material that much of our modern world is built upon. And the people who do the work are people. Not automatons, not numbers, but people with dreams and goals and thoughts and feelings. Goldbach's personal journey is both harrowing and uplifting, but it is through her prism that we able to humanize those who do the jobs we maybe felt were somehow beneath us and for that fact alone, this book is well worth the read.

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can’t say steel production has ever been a particular interest of mine, but I’m a sucker for any book that takes place in my hometown of Cleveland and had seen an interesting review of Rust, so I decided to give it a try.

My resulting opinions were kind of a mixed bag.

Goldbach’s portrayal of Cleveland is accurate, but not quite adequate. In a book where the city and its culture could have and should have been its own character, it appears largely as a backdrop and is zeroed in on only in fits and starts. Goldbach certainly shows us her Cleveland, but it’s a fairly myopic perspective. Just for starters, her largely dismissive attitude toward sports and the city’s relationship with its sports teams is at odds with the way most Clevelanders feel.

The descriptions of the mill and working at the mill are thorough and detailed and to the best of my knowledge accurate, but unfortunately they aren’t all that interesting. I had high hopes for this component of the book, and it fell short.

Where Goldbach does do well is with regard to politics and socioeconomic class. Her personal account of her family’s fear-based voting for Donald Trump was a poignant and necessary snapshot of a bigger picture understanding of the belief systems, income and education, and perception of hopelessness exploited by the far right to win votes for Trump in 2020.

Goldbach describes in detail the rationale her blue collar, deeply Catholic parents used to justify their politics. This element of the book is, I believe, deeply relatable if you are from the area. The Cleveland suburb I grew up in wasn’t low income, but it was extremely Catholic-conservative. As someone from a non catholic, liberal family, my observations of it and feelings about it were similar to where Goldbach ultimately lands after gaining some moral autonomy from her parents as an adult.

And finally, there is the mental illness component of the book. I’ll be very direct and say that this is never a favorite topic of mine in fiction or nonfiction. Credit to Goldbach for handling the subject well and demonstrating excellent self awareness and education on the matter, even if there was way too much of it included for my taste and when compared to what the publishers summary leads one to believe.

[Leah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rust was a good book, but not a great book. The writer, Eliese Colette Goldbach, had much to say, maybe too much to say. What started out as an ode to the blue-collar working class (specifically the United Steelworkers) and a love letter to the city of Cleveland meandered into a lot of other territories that could've/should've been saved for another memoir. Halfway through the book, all of a sudden, we're exploring Eliese's struggles with bipolar disorder; the effects of a rape in college; her tedious relationship with her boyfriend Tony or Toby, I can't remember he was so forgettable; and lengthy political diatribes, which some readers may find polarizing or tiresome.
There was enough here that worked for me (Eliese is a gifted writer and there were one or two passages that were really beautiful and insightful), but nothing else that really resonated.

[Mary · Rating 1 out of 5]

It doesn’t seem that three years of employment at any position would make one expert enough to write a memoir on. I would much prefer to hear the stories of the veterans of the mill, the people who weren’t afforded the opportunity of college prior to starting their position at the job, those who truly need their position as a means of survival. I see this as a story of a young woman looking for a way to use her writing degree to move ahead, which is by all means fine, but I find it upsetting that it is sold to me as the story of a true steelworker. This was too elitist, too feminist and all around too liberal for me to buy into it. Give me the story of the true workers of the mill, the people with a multitude of years under their belt, not someone who did a few years and moved on to their “real” job.

[Jill · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved listening to this book. I worked for 29 years at one of the Big Steel companies bought out of bankruptcy in the early 2000's by Wilbur Ross (as was the company that Eliese worked for). Many of my steel mill experiences mirrored Eliese's, but I was hired as a salaried, non-union employee back in the 1970's when there were very few women working in the steel mills. I enjoyed her detailed descriptions of the various operating departments at the mill and the colorful characters who worked there and helped train her. She bravely shared her personal story of mental illness and abuse, and endured tough working conditions while she mastered her various jobs as a steelworker.

[Bettendorf Library · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this memoir, Goldbach, a young woman only a clerical error away from earning her master’s degree, makes an unlikely career move: she becomes a steel worker. Goldbach takes us through her decision to apply at the mill, her excitement at her job offer, and the ups and downs of steel work. Goldbach presents the tough parts of the job: the danger, the heat, the swing shifts and her lack of sleep. During her employment, she is diagnosed with mixed state bipolar disorder. Goldbach navigates her diagnosis, her imploding relationship with her boyfriend, and her job at the mill with the grit of a strong woman. Eventually, Goldbach regains her health, finds true camaraderie with her colleagues, and a new love for her hometown of Cleveland.
I love to learn about different careers, so this book appealed to me. Goldbach talks about the different parts of the mill, the molten iron, cranes, and giant coils. Danger seems to lurk everywhere; but I cheered when Goldbach earns her “orange hat” after her probationary period and became a union steel worker. -April

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rust is Eliese Colette Goldbach's memoir of sort of "settling" for a job in the steel industry when she initially had different dreams and aspirations for her career. The narrative goes back and forth from the "present" time getting adjusted to her job at the mill, to her past experiences. She talks about various incidents that shaped her (mostly negatively) growing up, as well as in college. It's largely a coming of age story dealing with mental health, feminism, rape culture, and overcoming stereotypes and preconceived notions of other people.

This book covered a LOT more than I thought it would be about, and I was surprised at how much I related to Eliese. Her background of growing up in a conservative, Catholic family and community, being victimized by purity culture, and political conflict within her family (especially her feelings of bewilderment and personal betrayal by her parents becoming Trump supporters, for example) all hit very close to home. Her mental health struggles (she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder), while not exactly mirroring my own, were very similar. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who likes these sorts of memoirs, and to those who enjoyed Educated by Tara Westover in particular.

[Karly Grice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reminds me a lot of Educated. Reminder of the intersections of class, gender, and mental health/ability and the assumptions made about blue color workers. As a girl who grew up blue collar, the child of manual labor workers, and came of age at the same time as the author experiencing the recession, gender dynamics, mental health issues, and living in the industrial south area (and later the rust belt Midwest), I saw a lot of self reflection and beauty in this.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

From a very young age, Eliese Goldback was convinced that her calling was to become a nun. Raised as a devout Catholic, in a staunch Republican household, Eliese saw this is the perfect way to help those less fortunate than herself.

But, twenty years later, horribly disillusioned and having lost all direction, Eliese instead found herself working in a Cleveland steel mill - during the 2016 election campaign.

How did she get here and what was happening to her country, if a man like Donald Trump was a serious contender for becoming the President of the United States of America?

Rust is part memoir, part examination of the times Eliese found herself in - a look at the way her attitudes have changed over the years, as a product of her experiences in childhood, at college and as a young woman. She no longer fits the mould her parents cast for her, but instead has learnt that understanding is the key to bridging the divide that splits her country in two.

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For me, Rust is the perfect memoir - one which is a very personal account of a life which has taken an unexpected turn, and one which is also able to teach me about something I knew nothing about before.

This story of a college girl who found herself a steel worker is both a fascinating and compelling and one which had me engrossed from page one. The detailed account of the workings of the steel mill was interesting enough in itself, especially as that of a woman in a man's world, but when you add to this the glimpse into the lives of Eliese's fellow workmates this book becomes so much more. It is so easy to see the workers of the Rust Belt as a bunch of sexist, Republican supporting, beer swilling types, but Eliese serves to show that they are in fact, made up of a wide range of individuals with very different experiences, beliefs and desires - and although mainly men, there are more woman working this job than I realised.

Eliese is very frank and honest about her own experiences in these pages, from her very youngest childhood years as a devout Catholic who yearns to serve God, through to the fracturing of her mental health as a result of rape during her college years, and her struggles to maintain a steady job and relationship as an adult. The sadness she felt as all her childhood dreams came crashing down is heartbreaking and I could not but feel very angry at the way she was treated by the very people who should have been protecting her - at times, even towards her own parents, whose logic often defies understanding. But the change in the course of her life that resulted has helped her to find other, surprising ways to express herself.

Throughout it all, the election campaign which brought Donald Trump to power is playing out in the background. From a Republican upbringing, Eliese has now settled on a left-of-centre position and it was both eye-opening and more than a little worrying to read about her conversations with her own parents, as she confronted them about the reality of Trump's poisonous message. Whilst the irony of Trumps arguments shines through, it is in fact easy to see how he was eventually victorious against all the odds - when you are convinced that the opposition is evil, it becomes oh too simple to accept an alternative that is far from perfect.

Yet, through all that life has thrown at her, Eliese still radiates a message of hope in this book. Her personal message is one of finding understanding where she was taught to believe there was only a desire to undermine the sanctity of the American Dream. She can acknowledge that although she does not see eye to eye with everyone, she understands that their actions are often based on fear - and this does not stop her loving her parents or them loving her back. If she can bridge this divide, perhaps others can too?

[Victoria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thanks to Netgalley and Flatiron for sharing this memoir with me. I had high hopes for this book, having grown up in the shadow of a steel mill myself (although not in Ohio) but it ultimately didn’t resonate with me. While I was interested in the descriptions of the mill and its workers and operations, I found myself not that interested in the writer’s personal struggles with mental illness, the economy and her faith. Perhaps I am of the wrong generation to feel much kinship with the woes of the millennials. I’m sure this has its audience, it’s just not me.

[Debbie Evancic · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eliese Colette Goldbach was born into a Catholic, Republican family. She was told she could be anything she wanted and she always felt she could make a difference in the world. (If you dream it, you can do it!) She went to college to pursue her career, but things came to a halt when she was raped by Aaron and Ben. Like many universities, no support was given to her after her attack. She floundered through the rest of her college years, even completed her master’s degree (without getting her actual degree at first), but lost sight of her dreams. Due to battling her bipolar disease, she found life rocky and unsteady. Eliese experienced both the highs of mania and the lows of depression, along with delusions that were off the charts. She started painting houses and found comfort in the routine of things and she definitely needed the money. When an opportunity presented itself for her to work at Arcelor Mittal, she couldn’t walk away from the money that was offered.

This is a memoir of her life at Arcelor, employee #6691. That is how they identify you. I know because my husband was #688 for 43 years. Eliese took us through her orientation, the steelmaking process, the many safety films (my husband talked about these all the time), and the harrowing dangerous jobs she had to work. This wasn’t years and years ago. This was during the 2016 Trump Election.

So many terms I have heard for years. The Iron Producing (when they take iron from iron ore), The Blast Furnace (when they heat up the iron), the forklifts, the shanty, booths, pulpits, the Hot Mill, the Temper Mill, the limestone, the coke, the Orange Hats, the Yellow Hats, the pits, and so much more.

When my husband worked there, everyone had a nickname, like Tackle Box, Quack Quack, or Dog Face, just like in the book. You were identified with what you did like if you burned steel, you were a Burner.

Mill workers should be respected for putting themselves at danger to produce a product that is needed in our country. This book shows you their inner world and the camaraderie among steelworkers.

Eliese talks about politics and feminism and how she works out having Republican parents when she has a definite Democratic view.

Everyone in this area should read this book. It gives you insight into the world of steel.

[Aimee · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's a lot to say about Rust - this story hooked me right from the beginning. Goldbach is from Cleveland, a resilient city with an industrial past (and present, and future).

I connected with a lot in the beginning of this book. Goldbach and I are both graduates of Catholic all-girls high schools. We're both from cities in northern Ohio (her from the northeast, me from the northwest). Our cities both have strong foundations in industry - hers in steel, mine in glass and cars. Goldbach and I are roughly the same age (I believe she's a few months older than me).

I've never worked in a factory. I've never had to and, honestly, have never considered it an option. Reading Goldbach's account as a woman in her late twenties (at the time) navigating life as an employee in a steel mill was fascinating. I think many of us can agree that when we picture a "factory worker" or a "steelworker" we do not picture a young, college-educated woman. Goldbach's account dismantled my idea of what a typical factory worker is like (which makes me sound like an idiot, but i'm not afraid to admit I was biased and I was WRONG).

I felt that this book lost its way a bit at times - it meanders from topic to topic, timeline to timeline, with few line or section breaks (but this could be something that is remedied in the finished copy). However, it's difficult to place a "review" lens on someone's life experience. There are moments where I forgot I was reading nonfiction (Goldbach is a great writer! And this memoir felt more like a novel sometimes).

This memoir isn't just about a young woman finding her way in the steel industry. It also focuses heavily on her struggle with mental illness, and is supplemented by observations and events surrounding the 2016 presidential election.

Content warnings: mental illness, rape, discussion of suicide/suicidal thoughts.