Goodreads Reviewers' Group discussion

Greetings All,
I'm looking for people to review What's So Bad About Being Poor? Our Lives in the Shadows of the Poverty Experts.
Please contact me at [email protected] (or reply to this thread with your email) and I’ll send you a free gift (kindle) copy in exchange for an honest review here or on Amazon. I hope to start generating some dialogue, even with people who don't agree with me.

Summary: What’s So Bad About Being Poor? Our Lives in the Shadows of the Poverty Experts by Deborah Foster is a riveting exploration of poverty that dismantles the sanitized narratives often crafted by policymakers and academics. Foster delivers a powerful critique of a system that reduces human lives to statistics while ignoring the emotional and social toll of poverty. Through vivid storytelling and sharp analysis, she unveils sub-themes of resilience, community, and systemic inequality, offering a window into the lived experiences of those marginalized by economic systems.

Foster reveals how poverty is not merely a lack of resources but a complex web of societal neglect, stigma, and structural barriers. She critiques the dehumanizing "solutions" proposed by poverty experts, exposing how they often overlook the creativity, resourcefulness, and dignity of the people they aim to help. Sub-themes such as generational trauma, the intersection of race and poverty, and the psychological toll of being unseen are interwoven throughout the narrative.

At its core, this book is a call to action, urging readers to move beyond detached sympathy to genuine understanding and systemic change. Foster’s blend of personal stories, social critique, and unflinching honesty makes this work both deeply moving and thought-provoking. It challenges readers to rethink poverty not as a failure of individuals but as a societal failure to uphold justice and equity.

Thanks so much.
Deborah

Hi Deborah,
I would be happy to review your book. Can you send it to [redacted--email received]?
Best,
Miles

Summary: 5-stars. Deborah Foster’s What’s So Bad About Being Poor is a memoir about family legacy, poverty, and personal triumph. It is a visceral and intellectual illustration of the trauma inherent in extreme childhood poverty. I was leaning heavily towards 4-stars until about the 130th page. The content and level of introspection are well worth a 5-star rating. What’s So Bad also has a remarkable level of human compassion. Highly recommended.

The book contains thoughtful insights on molestation, mental illness, the medical establishment and pharmaceuticals, rehabilitation vs. condemnation, depression and hypomania, parenthood, childhood, the interrelationship of national politics with family values, destructive charitableness, the dangers of unthoughtful professionals in authoritative positions, abuse of government authority, race relations, white flight and white racism, racism in general, housing policy, detachment, nutrition, misplaced trust in conmen, self-deception and self-realization, spiritual search, religious cults, food, and poverty, to name a few.

Not a huge fan of the font selection, particularly fonts on the title page and the faux-cursive font in headings. The font does not seem to correlate with the subject matter. I have similar thoughts about the section breaks.

You could add a little to the prologue to ease the transition from prologue to main body. It was a bit disconcerting to go from social critique straight to memoir. One or two transition sentences might be enough.

The book has a handful of typos. Examples include Page 67—missing period between “failure” and “She”; Page 90: “I realize” should be past tense. One more round of careful editing would be warranted.

To Deborah: Your self-awareness is staggering. I was heartened to see in the epilogue that writing this book was cathartic. You have taught me more than a thing or two about DBT, an approach I have struggled to intuit. Happy to discuss your book more if you have any particular conversation topics in mind. I wish you and your entire family health, warmth, laughter, and love for all of time.

Quotes from the book:

“Acting scared in your own neighborhood was a good way to end up a target.”

“Now, grow up, parent. I want to be young.”

“Especially in light of the stealing, her comments were a cry for help that is easy to see in retrospect. But none of us reacted then.”

“After conducting a needs assessment of the community, it became clear that what everyone needed most was tutoring.”

“Foster children have twice the rate of PTSD as soldiers.”

“There are large numbers of people who believe the pharmaceutical industry has taken advantage of the diagnosis in such a way as to medicate generations of children rather than address social issues that might drive their symptoms.”

“Extreme poverty affects a greater portion of children in America than in several developing nations.”

“These wonderful folks and my parents prove something critical in American society that I am endlessly trying to see identified. Racism is real and it takes a toll. Classism is real and it is underappreciated.”

“It costs an estimated $10,000 per year to offer community services to an individual, while paying to keep them in jail for a year, for instance, costs approximately $35,000 per person.”

“It prolongs your suffering to refuse to accept the reality of a bad situation.

Dear Miles, Thank you very much for inspiring and positive review of my book. I wanted to immediately react to your thought of giving the book a four up until about the the 130the page. There was an era of a War on Poverty that ended when I was ten years old. My theory is that this is because different people took charge of power. Of course, this happens because the mood of the people changes. I feel I can fully explain the backlash against the poor as a combination of classism and racism. I believe what you finally saw on that page and going forward was those structural variables coming through. At least that is my hope. Thank you again.

And I sincerely wish you well with your DBT. It took me time to get it, but once you do, it can bring you peace.

Deborah wrote: "Dear Miles, Thank you very much for inspiring and positive review of my book. I wanted to immediately react to your thought of giving the book a four up until about the the 130the page. There was a..."

Interesting. I will have to ponder those ideas about shifts in the War on Poverty. BTW, DBT is not something I am going through, but I have seen it in practice numerous times. The concept is just so foreign to me. One of my favorite quotes is from William Shakespeare: "Happy are they that hear their detractions and can put them to mending." My approach to self-awareness is what I like to think of as brutal honesty, so in many respects I expect others to call me out clearly and directly. Your approach to self-awareness, it seems to me, is also one of brutal honesty, but in no way does it come across as self-detracting. When your book started talking about DBT, it opened my eyes to its possibilities.

Thank and my apologies. I shouldn't have assumed. DBT is so mainstream now, that I have to remember that many people know about it. I used to watch Myka and Joe on Morning Joe on MSNBC (until they sucked up to Trump). Anyhow, Myka Brzezinski is well known proponent of DBT. She believes it should be taught in elementary school to every child. Once she put that idea in my head, I thought it was a good one. At least, teaching children socio-emotional developmental skills could improve relationships. I have started to advocate for the idea in educational conversations.

I would add that CBT and psychoeducation should also be taught to every child.

I would love to read it if that is still an option!

Zoe wrote: "I would love to read it if that is still an option!"

Absolutely, that is an option. Send me an email at danddfoster at the usual gmail, and I will send you the file.

send it @[email protected]