Rough Sleepers

Dr. Jim O'Connell's urgent mission to bring healing to homeless people

De: Tracy Kidder

Narrado por: Tracy Kidder

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The powerful story of an inspiring doctor who made a difference, by helping to create a program to care for Boston’s homeless community—by the Pulitzer Prize–winning, New York Times bestselling author of Mountains Beyond Mountains

“I couldn’t put Rough Sleepers down. I am left in awe of the human spirit and inspired to do better.”—Abraham Verghese, author of Cutting for Stone

A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: NPR, BookPage, Chicago Public Library

Tracy Kidder has been described by The Baltimore Sun as “a master of the nonfiction narrative.” In Rough Sleepers, Kidder tells the story of Dr. Jim O’Connell, a gifted man who invented a community of care for a city’s unhoused population, including those who sleep on the streets—the “rough sleepers.”

After Jim O’Connell graduated from Harvard Medical School and was nearing the end of his residency at Massachusetts General, the hospital’s chief of medicine made a proposal: Would he defer a prestigious fellowship and spend a year helping to create an organization to bring health care to homeless citizens? That year turned into O’Connell’s life’s calling. Tracy Kidder spent five years following Dr. O’Connell and his colleagues as they work with thousands of homeless patients, some of whom we meet in this illuminating book. We travel with O’Connell as he navigates the city streets at night, offering medical care, socks, soup, empathy, humor, and friendship to some of the city’s most endangered citizens. He emphasizes a style of medicine in which patients come first, joined with their providers in what he calls “a system of friends.”

Much as he did with Paul Farmer in Mountains Beyond Mountains, Kidder explores how Jim O’Connell and a dedicated group of people have improved countless lives by facing and addressing one of American society’s most difficult problems, instead of looking away.

Reseñas de la Crítica

“Excellent . . . a detailed portrait of the lives of homeless Americans . . . [Kidder] asks us—correctly, I think—to consider that in a world of far too much cruelty, the compassionate person standing at the bottom of the cliff is part of the story too.”—The Washington Post

“Excellent and immersive . . . sure-handed.”—The Wall Street Journal

“To read Rough Sleepers is to confront not only the consequences of homelessness, but to wrestle with knowing that, as terrible as the problem is now, it would so be much worse if not for the sacrifices of people like O’Connell.”—Los Angeles Times

“Wrenching.”—The New York Times

“O’Connell is a fascinating protagonist . . . not only one of the good guys but a good guy who is vigorous, self-critical and even funny.”—Minneapolis StarTribune

“[An] uneasy portrait of the United States . . . Kidder turns his meticulous but generous eye on Jim O’Connell.”—Harper’s Magazine

“A book that celebrates the great good that one man and his program have done in the face of grueling, unimaginable odds. Kidder has humanized a sprawling, thorny subject by focusing on people, not policy.”—Portland Press Herald

“Tracy Kidder has reported the hell out of important stories before, but never more finely and relentlessly. It’s a story full of hard questions, a story with many heroes.”—William Finnegan, author of Barbarian Days

“The estimable Tracy Kidder has found another unsung saint—this time not in the backcountry of Haiti or in genocide-ravaged Burundi but on the streets of a major American city. And once again, he has crafted a story that sheds light on a larger landscape of injustice.”—Adam Hochschild, author of American Midnight

“Rough Sleepers is yet another enlightening reminder from Kidder that we should, and can, do better.”—The Christian Science Monitor

“A searching, troubling look at the terrible actualities of homelessness.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“With a straightforward scrutiny that reveals without judging, Pulitzer Prize winner Tracy Kidder offers a long, hard look at the lives of homeless people. . . . Intensely immersive.”—BookPage (starred review)

“Keenly observed and fluidly written, this is a compassionate report from the front lines of one of America’s most intractable social problems.”—Publishers Weekly

Excellent audiobook

“Rough Sleepers” was an eye opener. Although I have participated in poverty simulations and tours of homeless areas as part of community awareness and volunteering, this was a much more in-depth view of homelessness and helped to dispel many of my preconceived notions of homeless folk.

A wonderful program trying to help the most vulnerable in our city

The people are so accessible thanks to Tracy Kidder's ease in storytelling. Such real, down to earth descriptions and characterizations.

The story of a real life saint

The people of BHCHP are real life heroes. This is such a beautiful and inspiring book.

A tremendous book and audio book

As a Boston resident, I found this book to be one of the most moving that I've read/heard in the last several years. Dr. Jim O'Connell is an unforgettable character and his work so admirably documented by Tracy Kidder is simply amazing. The book is moving and sad and filled with poignant scenes. I will never look at homeless people, especially the rough sleepers in the same way.

I could not stop listening!

Jim O'Connell and I were Notre Dame classmates, although our paths never crossed, to my great regret. His work with the homeless of my native city has been the subject of magazine articles and radio interviews over the years, but I never fully appreciated how fully he has devoted himself to the physical, emotional and social needs of his fellow men and women until I read ROUGH SLEEPERS. As an emergency medicine physician, I know full well the enormous energy, patience and compassion that is required to provide quality medical care to "rough sleepers." These patients were among the most challenging I encountered in my practice, with their manifold medical problems, atrocious living conditions, and lack of social support. They represented only a small fraction of my patient population. It takes a very special doctor to devote his entire practice to the care of the homeless, drug-addicted, despised denizens of the streets. Dr. O'Connell's patients and co-workers call him a saint. After reading ROUGH SLEEPERS, I can't think of a better word to describe this wonderful human being.

Must Listen

Kidder does an amazing job in accurately and urgently engaging the listener in a most important telling of an oft overlooked slice of society cared for by one of the nation’s foremost leaders and healers. Eloquently articulated prose of Dr. O’Connell’s work, passion, and practice. Not only important and urgent, Kidder continues his practice of immensely engaging writing (and narrating) making it hard to “put the book down” or stop listening.

Incredible story and mission

A truly remarkable story about the unhoused community in Boston - there is community, compassion, joys, and tribulations. It has made a long-lasting impression on me.

Read this Book

Working with atypical patients and patient populations is an extraordinary privilege. This book captures the hope, pain, and complexity of being kind to humans and trying to help them—on their own terms. If you are curious about how we—as a country can begin to ease the burden of being homeless, on the homeless themselves, this is a valuable blueprint that centers our shared humanity.

Heartfelt and moving

Excellent look into a subject far too few people explore. I recommend it to everyone!

A must read

Tracy Kidder does a brilliant job bringing us the human connection that Dr. Jim O’Connell creates with a population overlooked. It illustrates that there really are, “angels among us”.