It is quite difficult to comment on such a book, which is part essay, part autobiography. Moreover, in many parts I felt directly involved: undeniably middle-class, because of my age and education I have been part of quite a few organizations and movements to 'eliminate poverty', obviously in my country, Italy. At a certain point, however, I realised that McGarvey's analysis was acute and penetrating, because I remembered that never had a real 'poor person' set foot in one of our gatherings, never had they been the focus of attention. Now, they say that you are born an arsonist and die a fireman, but I think that is the real purpose of this book: to make the many well-meaning people who want to "eliminate poverty" understand, before it is too late for any of them, that the only way to do this is to stand back and listen.

Well written to the point of being compulsively readable despite being mostly a journey in the theories of class analysis interspersed with memoir and brutally honest self-reflection. McGarvey warns you that it lacks structure but it would have really benefited from some (after several chapters I expected conclusions but no, it kept going). All of his encounters in the present could have done with more fleshing out which is interesting considering his reflections on Ellie-that he lives/works too much in the past- and his conclusions -the future/change is where it's at.

A blistering account of the poverty that politicians don't seem to realise exists. In my work I come across people who use foodbanks and are on their uppers, and they are a world away from Ian Duncan Smith and his grinning cronies.

The book is especially important in light of Brexit. All should read it, left or right. A truly important book.

Thank you to Netgalley for an arc of this book.

I've been trying to expand my non-fiction reading so decided to read Poverty Safari as it was focused specifically on the UK. It was certainly thought-provoking but not quite what I imagined it was going to be. Nevertheless, it was an engaging exploration of contemporary poverty and one that had me questioning constantly.

Poverty Safari by Darren McGarvey unsettled me to my core. Part autobiography, part social commentary, McGarvey shares his experience of being born and raised by an alcoholic mother and a father who does his best in impossible circumstances, in one of the most deprived areas of Glasgow. Having worked as a food bank volunteer in the past, I thought I understood something of the stressful and chaotic lives the poorest in our society endure. However, McGarvey questions all I thought I knew. Eloquent and fiercely intelligent, at times his writing becomes a rant, but then perhaps if I were McGarvey I would rant too. Poverty Safari raises questions, rather than providing answers, but maybe that is point, to make readers consider deeply what it means to be poor.

Darren McGarvey grew up in a deprived area of Glasgow and in this book he discusses the brutal realities of poverty, his personal experiences, the politics and what can be done, the poverty ‘industry’, class enmity and personal responsibility. This is a challenging read but very powerful. McGarvey raises many important questions, demanding the reader reassess their assumptions, while simultaneously calling himself out for the assumptions he’s made about other people. He is a man who has faced huge adversities in his life - bereavement, homelessness, drug addiction - but finally come out the other side and has learned to challenge everything he allowed himself to unthinkingly believe. This is a call for change but also a call for humanity.

Compelling and devastating. It took me a while to get into mcGarvey's storytelling style, but once I did I was so good I persevered.

I am from these backgrounds, these lives need to be listened to.

A brilliant non fiction essay for
2018, funny, insightful must read.

Because I work in a deprived area of Glasgow, I was looking forward to reading this autobiography which was written by someone who grew up in a similar area. I think it needs good editing. The style is very rambling and the content less than interesting unless you skim read through it. I found it largely disappointing.

This is an excellent, emotionally driven look at the effects of systemic poverty and it is also an unflinching account of the writer's difficult childhood. There is a sense that Darren McGarvey's views are evolving even during the writing of Poverty Safari, which adds to its urgency and means that there are contradictions through the text. Anger, resentment, compassion, care, wit and a blistering honesty fire up and propel the narrative, wrenching similar emotions from the reader.

How to feel about a book that talks about the need to examine and challenge our dearly-held assumptions on politics and those seen as 'other' yet excoriates 'these types'(ch 20) whether those allegedly living in 'a parallel reality where 'twibbons', safety-pins, free-hugs, Huffington Post think-pieces, Tumblr blogs and gender-neutral gingerbread products are all that's needed to resolve a crisis' (ch 21) or 'one hyperventilating Guardian subscriber after the other' (ch 21)? How to feel when McGarvey discusses within the book's introduction the 'endurance test' of reading for enjoyment and his tactic of reading 'bite-size portions to feign that I had read the book in its entirety' yet his chapter headings are deliberately chosen from literature (Wuthering Heights, The Naked Ape etc)? I felt disorientated, infuriated and invigorated.

I am slightly disappointed in McGarvey's writing on libraries as I don't see any signs that he consulted library users or librarians. I wholeheartedly agree with him about the need for quiet spaces - most if not all library services are aware of this problem and are trying to find a solution to balance needs (perhaps advertising 'quiet times', although that raises the question of how these are to be enforced, or at least advertising when noisy Bookbug sessions etc will be held). But imagine if Bookbug sessions, reading groups and so on were to be evicted from libraries to community centres. How then do libraries begin to address 'the fact that less people use libraries' (ch 22) - how do they encourage people through the door? People who go to a library initially to access a group or session are surely more likely to visit to access other library benefits than those who have no experience of a library. If social groups are to be taboo so that people have a quiet space, how are other users' needs met? Lonely people who come to the library for a chat, parents with young children who might be noisy - how welcoming a space will they find a library to be in these circumstances? And surely McGarvey at least welcomes the early intervention ethos of free rhyme and reading sessions for babies and toddlers which aim to improve literacy for all, and can see obvious reasons why the library is an ideal location for these?

In contrast, I found myself nodding along to McGarvey's writing on the bureaucratic hoops local groups must jump through - I would add the example of credit unions, which could once have been run from someone's kitchen but are now subject to the same legislation as building societies, requiring too much of small groups of local volunteers no matter how dedicated.

I think the length of my review indicates how much Poverty Safari has resonated with me, provoked me and riled me. It is not a perfect read but it is a vital one that demands a response from the reader. I eagerly await Darren McGarvey's next book.

I received this ebook free from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

This is perfect , charged intelligent articulate and important . It makes you realise what is happening beyond the newspapers and tv

I wanted to read this as I vaguely know who the author was. It opened my eyes and gave me a completely different view of many aspects of life. I grew up (a few years earlier) a couple of miles down the road from the author, but our experiences could not have been more different. I had no idea the type of lifestyle described here was still going on. This was a reality check for me, and challenged much of my thinking. I did find it quite hard going, as I do like my reading to be a lot lighter and fiction, but I'm glad I came across this, and think middle class kids in Glasgow should be challenged to read this.

This book was very well written. Angry in parts - but understandably so. I have listened to this author in interview and he presents as extremely clever, and articulate his views in a forthright no nonsense manner. The reader is taken to a deeper awareness of the underlying causes of poverty - options which "could/might exist" to eradicate it - the very real reasons why eradication is probably not possible - and overwhelmingly the adverse effects of child hood poverty on the majority of lives it touches. A very thought provoking publication, if this description is not too trite for the gravitas of the subject. There are many to whom I would recommend this book.

I am interested in this type of book which is not in the 'misery memoir' genre but is about surviving poverty and a poor start in life. I was looking for a narrative about the author's life in Pollock near Glasgow and in the main this is what I got. However, there was a lot of dry reading to get through between the autobiographical parts of the narrative and I felt that the reader doesn't learn how the author goes from the deprivation of life in the 'scheme' to his life as a rapper and how he got clean from the drugs and booze.
However, I admire him for his admission that some people blame the places they grew up in and that anyone can rise above their past if they really want to. A good read in many ways but not what I was looking for.

I don't really know what I was expecting when I went into this, but I was left disappointed anyway. I suppose I was looking for a social commentary on the working class and poverty stricken people of Britain, but this read more like a political statement.

Granted, it was better than a channel 5 documentary that exploits the vulnerable, but I didn't really find it all that interesting either. Good intentions, but it didn't really deliver.

This book is mainly a memoir. Darren McGarvey tells about being brought up in poverty and his feelings about poverty and being brought up that way. His writing style and sense of humour add to the book.

Darren McGarvey announces that he does not want ‘Poverty Safari’ to be viewed as a misery memoir and he is successful in managing the relationship between well argued, heartfelt political views and the often traumatic, shocking personal experiences that inform his beliefs. Some books fashioned in this vein might become an angry rant, understandably so. However, McGarvey takes terrible personal experiences – being held at knife point by his mother, for example, and uses them to highlight how children brought up in an environment of violence will live with stress as a norm and how debilitating this is – and who can flourish in those circumstances?
Mc Garvey moves from the personal to the general and then back again throughout the text. For example, he looks at the role that thoughtlessly designed and poorly built housing plays (one example of many) and, through this, reminds us that the poor are never genuinely consulted for their views when local projects are being developed and so, disenfranchised, learn to feel powerless and worthless.
He suggests that we dip in and out of his book, perhaps appreciating that to read it from cover to cover is an emotionally exhausting experience. However, such is the passion and power of his writing and his ability to look at the terrain objectively, as appropriate, that it is difficult to dip out of this particular safari. The sights may not be spectacular or wondrous but they are certainly memorable and thought- provoking. McGarvey is not asking for pity – there have been too many ineffectual do-gooders who have brought this in bucket loads to his community. Rather, he is asking that everyone recognises the importance of the long-term planning and political and economic investment needed to save a significant number of people in the UK from wasting their potential through lives lived in abject poverty.

As the author himself acknowledges this is part " misery memoir" but used to good effect to allow an easy to read debate about poverty. I think the suggestion it will help to "understand the anger of Britain's underclass" may be a bit optimistic but it provided food for thought.

Not what I expected. I thought it was about poverty, not young offenders! D.N.F.

This book dares to lift and illuminate the rock, under which the legacy of Austerity and Poverty has been allowed to hide for decades. No subject is too 'touchy' for this remarkable author. From Child Abuse to Racism, Addiction to Apathy. A call to both Left and Right and more importantly the Working Class themselves, to re-engage within their own Communities, on their own terms and to their own agenda. Buy this book. Buy a copy for a friend. Buy a copy and gift it to your MP.