“Stuart: A life backwards” Alexander Masters

“Homelessness–it’s not about not having a home. It’s about something being seriously fucking wrong.” Epigraph for chapter 5

This was a birthday gift from my sister who got it off of my amazon.com wish list. However, it was not what I expected. I think I had another book in mind when I put it on the list, “Simon: A Genius in My Basement.” But now, having read “Stuart,” I can see that Masters writes about people on the fringe. Now, I’m even more eager for “Simon.”

Masters was born in New York but studied mathematics and physics in London and Cambridge. This book was written in and about the people of Cambridge, but I keep thinking about the fact that Masters was transplanted there. I wonder if Masters' view of things would be the same as if he were born in Cambridge instead of the U.S.

This is a biography of Stuart, a homeless, drug addicted criminal, but to describe him that way is to trivialize all that he is. Masters met him through his work at Wintercomfort, a day center for the homeless. In 1999, the director and the manager of Wintercomfort were arrested and given prison sentences of 5 and 4 years, respectively, for the drug use that occurred on the grounds. Masters, Stuart and others began a campaign to make people aware of the injustice of this conviction. Thus began the relationship that culminated in this book. Masters spent several years interviewing Stuart, his family, his social workers, and anyone who knew about his life. Stuart taught Masters that his life was so far removed from that of the ‘chaotic’ life spent by ‘rough sleepers’ that he didn’t even know what questions to ask.

Masters didn’t just write about a subject, he wrote about a friend. The care in which he wrote about this troubled man and their rocky relationship is part of what makes the book such a good read. That and the importance of telling the story of lives that are literally under our feet every day.

When Stuart first read Masters’ manuscript he said is was ‘bollocks boring.’ That it needed to be a mystery, an intrigue. Stuart told him to write it backwards, with the mystery being how someone like him became the way he was. The book runs on two timelines, both starting about the time of the arrest of the Wintercomfort workers, one works its way backward to Stuart’s childhood while the other runs forward through Masters’ friendship with Stuart. At the same time that we see the situations and conditions that led Stuart to living on the streets, to his drug use and to his violent nature, we also see how Stuart copes on a day-to-day basis, his views on prison life and "the system," with a few recipes thrown in.

I take exception to some of the review quotes used on the dust jacket: "hilarious," "funny" and "delighted." I see too much of Stuart in people I know to think of his life as “hilarious,” but Masters recognizes that there is humor in everyone’s life and he includes the fun of Stuart’s life along with the tragic. Other words used in the review blurbs were more in line with my thoughts: "gripping," "heartbreaking," "compelling and inspirational." Masters exposed what is wrong with “the system” by learning from Stuart why some of the mechanisms well-meaning people put in place to help the homeless and the addict are counterproductive. Stuart teaches us that “rough sleeping” can become comfortable in a short time, albeit “bollocks boring,” and that it is hard to break the habit.