What readers think of Rough Sleepers, plus links to write your own review.

I love books and movies and compare them. “Rough Sleepers” by Dr. Tracy Kidder is the heart-wrenching story that the fictionalized movie “Patch Adams” wanted to be. Yes, the movie was a comedy, but Dr. Hunter Patch Adams wished to be known for more than humor.
Dr. Jim O’Connell gets the hero’s welcome he deserves for serving people experiencing homelessness.

Like most award-winning nonfiction, I recommend this with a caveat: It is heavy! If you read and survived “Evicted” or “Poverty, by America,” expect similar tugging of the heartstrings. The one positive is that the government funded the program better than you would expect. The glaring negative is that few could break the cycle of living as “rough sleepers.”

Next is a series of anecdotes in which the rough sleepers dodge their rough pasts and drug addictions to find roles for themselves, arousing more sympathy than judgment. You may have taken your access to physical and mental health for granted, and reading books like this will keep that from happening. I had difficulty complaining after hearing these horrifying stories.

I often wonder if I would survive like these subjects (Kidder wisely seldom mentions their race), becoming so accustomed to doing without that they do not recognize their health needs. The characters are sympathetic, which is hard to do since we have all read books about these types of disadvantaged people before, with potential and subject to unfortunate circumstances.

I can be opinionated but never argue about medical issues with doctors. Helping a group of people is a human trait, but when the odds are stacked against them (for environmental and self-destructive reasons), you know Dr. O’Connell’s frustration. The author appropriately mentions Sisyphus a few times, but you cannot help but root for these patients to get over that hill.