Under the Overpass Book Review!

Hey everyone, so my next review is a book review for the book Under the Overpass by Mike Yankoski. This book is a non-fiction book about a sort of experiment Mike and his friend Sam go on. Both of them decide to live on the streets for a few months in a few US cities to see what it's like.



Both of these guys are Christian and I did not realize this was a Christian book until I received it, not going to lie, I was kind of nervous. But the book was actually a fascinating read. I was worried that Mike would try and push his beliefs on the reader but instead it was just like part of the book, they go to church to pray every Sunday but the church actually plays a big role in helping the homeless in general. There are many rescue missions that feed and sometimes give the homeless a play to stay for the night as well.

I think the idea of just abandoning your life and job and live either on the streets or in the while is very interesting. I don't know why people decide to do it but it really is interesting to see what happens. I've read a few books about people living in the wild like Into the Wild (actually not at all like the movie, but a very great book that is more based on facts about Chris McCandless as well as other people going off into the wild. It's more documentary-based rather than plot-based like the film) as well as reading My Side of the Mountain when I was kid and loved it. But I never read about a person that decided to live on the city streets.

Aside from the fact that they're both living in different areas, Into the Wild focused on the wild of course and Under the Overpass focuses on city streets, it's also different because the author of Under the Overpass experienced this first hand and is not just telling a story he heard from someone. Of course, there's going to be opinions he has that you disagree with, but it's his story, his experiences. I just wish he was more informative sometimes, like why out of all the cities in the US did he only pick San Diego, Portland, Denver, Washington DC, Phoenix, and San Francisco? Why not New York City or Chicago or any of the other cities? I feel like these were kind of random.

But I did like that he did for the most part tell of all his experiences with people he met from drug addicts to mentally unstable people to just normal people that happened to be homeless, but he did it in a way that anybody can read it without being offended. There is no cursing or foul language which he said there is a lot of, but he just left it out of the book to make it an easier read, and it is. You still get the gritty story but no dirty mouths.

Overall, I think the stories and everything were pretty interesting. Who he meets along the way, what people actually stop and help homeless and what people disregard them in disgust. It makes you look at the homeless a little differently. It's worth a read if you're into that sort of subject.

Buy It! Head on over to Amazon or check out your local bookstore!