"The Street Sweeper" by Elliot Perlman

The Street Sweeper by Elliot Perlman

I saw this book reviewed in a January Entertainment Weekly. I was somewhat interested in the book but when I read this by the reviewer, I knew I had to pick it up: “In the best kind of books, there is always that moment when the words on the page swallow the world outside -- subway stations fly by, errands go un-run, rational bedtimes are abandoned -- and the only goal is the gobble up the next paragraph, and the next, and the next." -- Entertainment Weekly book reviewer Leah Greenblatt.

I will say this right off – if I had known it was another Holocaust book, I may not have picked it up. I read too many Holocaust books over the last few years and, frankly, needed a breather. However, I am glad that I didn’t realize this book had to do with the Holocaust until a few hundred pages in – by then I was interested and had invested too much time to drop it. Without giving too much away, this “take” on the Holocaust is different in that it is connected to the American civil rights movement. This has not been seen before by me, so it is fresh.

There are multiple characters throughout the book and many pages – some right up until the end – you don’t know the connections. But as the book continually talks about history and that history has many paths that run parallel, you know the connections will happen somehow. The two main characters – a hospital sanitation worker on a work-release program from prison and an apathetic-toward-life history professor – seem as far removed as possible, but around page 115 (of the 617 page book), the connection is revealed. And, without giving anything away, you don’t realize the connection of book’s title until the book is nearly finished – and I would actually like to talk about that with someone, so if you read the book, call me.

There are many characters and multiple stories, switching from decade to decade, changing within chapters without warning. It takes a while to remember all the stories and who is who, but you soon realize that the stories will somehow cross and interweave and staying focused helps remember. And that is so much of what this book is about – remembering, honoring those who have gone before by telling their stories and making sure they are not forgotten. Characters continually impress on those around them that it is incumbent upon the older generation to tell their story and for the younger generation to listen and revere what has come before and to whom they owe their freedoms and their wisdom.

Adam, the history professor, nails the crux of The Street Sweeper while lecturing to his class – “…you never know the connections between things, people, places, ideas. But there are connections. You never know where you’ll find them. Most people don’t know where to find them or even that there’s a point to finding them. Who even looks? Who’s got the time to look? Whose job is it to look? Ours. Historians.” (p117)

I do recommend the book, but only when you have the time for its length and its density. As I was getting close to finishing, I had other reading I had to get to and my class was beginning, so it got a bit rushed – and that does not help the book. When you have the time to dedicate to it and can give it a solid focus, pick it up. I would buy it to lend out, but I wouldn’t reread it. (I got it from the library – big waiting list for that one and I just happened to get it early.)

“She took him to the library where, as she explained, the books would always be waiting for him.” (p68)