The Man Without Shelter
By: Indrajit Garai
Genre: Fiction
Number of Pages: 122
Published: September 6, 2022
Publisher: Independently Published
Dates Read: January 31, 2023 - February 1, 2023
Format: Paperback

Trigger Warnings: Homelessness, suicide, murder, mentions of abuse, sex trafficking, rape

Arnault has just been released from prison after two decades when new evidence finally proved he didn’t commit the crime. Lucy is a young lawyer who is determined to help Arnault in his journey to full freedom.

The writing in this novel was a bit different for me. I’ve read a lot of Japanese translated books and some Dutch and Swedish, but I haven’t read many from France. That being said, the writing does dive into a lot of French politics and policies, especially about the homeless/unhoused population.

As a librarian, it was interesting to me to see how Paris’ homeless population was portrayed in this novel. The unhoused are many of my frequent patrons, so I hear and try to help with their struggles as much as I can. The circles one must overcome can’t be done without help: to get an ID, you have to have an address for 3 months, to have an address, you have to have a job in order to pay for address, to have a job, you must have an ID – and so the circle continues. 

Indrajit Garai does an amazing job at giving you characters who you root for page after page. Life wasn’t easy on Arnault, but he kept going and kept pushing and I wanted to know how the universe was finally going to give back to him what he deserved. The man had a tent where he lived with a geese couple and their chick and was content with it! And then with Lucy, even though she was on the complete opposite lifestyle as Arnault, we saw a lot of the world where people don’t care and were only out for themselves. I kept rooting for her that her eyes would be open to this other world (homeless/unhoused/migraint) and that it would change her for the better.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and will be recommending it to a lot of my library coworkers for sure. It’s not the greatest, happy-go-lucky book on the shelf, but it shows honesty and a life of someone who has been down and just trying to get back up on their feet honestly.