‘Scratch' an Algeresque beginning for talented writer

By Pádraig Belton

For the AJC

A Google search for “American dream” returns, among other things, links to a limo hire, a New York City hostel and the “UK's first choice for 100% human hair.” Clearly Horatio Alger is much with us.

Just out of college, author Adam Shepard sets out to show the dream is still alive. Seeking his start from rock bottom, Shepard's narrative is one of “get rich slowly,” a move from rags to posher rags.

Investigative tramping has distinguished Orwellian precedents. Concealing his degree, skills and credit history, Shepard arrives in Charleston, S.C., with $25. His first stop is the Crisis Homeless Shelter, a grimy, sternly policed organization that provides each inhabitant with a caseworker, a job and medical assistance. His portraits of the inhabitants are vividly drawn, like Dickens gone Gonzo. What he seems most to enjoy is the shelter's camaraderie and easy banter, finding that friendship is most sincere for those who have nothing to lose and can speak their mind.

His second day, Shepard is able to find work through a mildly exploitative day labor company (his first days netting $28.61 and $36.48). Within two weeks, he is employed as a mover ($160-$250 a week), and two months later he relocates to shared, rented accommodations. From governmental agencies he receives tokens for discounted bus passes, food stamps ($80 monthly) and vouchers redeemable for clothing from a charity shop. By nine months, he has an automobile and $2,514.36 in his account. So far, so much proven.

In the experiment, Shepard has in his sights two books by Barbara Ehrenreich, “Nickel and Dimed” and “Bait and Switch.” He draws a portrait of humor and humanity in the down and out, and the ways up for those who can take them. Ehrenreich describes why these paths can be difficult to traverse for those unlike Shepard, who is in good health, unusually motivated and unencumbered by recent tragedy. Ehrenreich means to shock us to social reform; Shepard means to inspire us.

Shepard self-published his manuscript in 2008; it is now being released by Harper as a paperback, an Algeresque tale itself. His wit, flair and deft comic touch together make one hope this first book will be followed by more.

Pádraig Belton is a foreign correspondent completing a doctorate at Oxford.

Nonfiction

“Scratch Beginnings: Me, $25 and the Search for the American Dream”

By Adam Shepard