While Zhao’s protagonist’s Fern is completely fictional, most of the cast and characters including Linda, Swankie Wheels, and Bob Wells are real people Jessica Bruder met and spoke to throughout the book. One thing I didn’t expect was to recognise so many characters from the movie.
“It’s not a wage gap- it’s a chasm” Jessica Bruder Little details like this, encouraging the reader to investigate further are what made this book so great for me! Early on, when Jessica speaks about the lost town of Empire, Nevada (the hometown of Fern in Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland) she mentions that all that remains of the now ghost town is its “google maps street view… that hasn’t been updated since 2009”. Nomadland is a book that shines brightest when you give it the time it deserves. My copy is filled with post-it notes for pages to return to and citations to look into further. I found myself fascinated with every aspect of the novel. “without living in Halen I don’t think I would have gotten close enough to hear their stories.” Jessica Bruder Moreover, her time spent working at amazon’s almost dystopian ‘Camperforce’ warehouses gives a glimpse further into these Americans’ lives and her dedication to her reporting. Jessica spent months at a time living in “Halen” (a 1995 GMC Vandura named after the rock group “Van Halen”) to get closer to the Nomads and enhance the quality of the book. Bruder’s expertise and love for journalism are shown time and time again throughout her writing, from her deep connection to the Nomads she met on her journey and her ability to put their personalities onto paper, to the retelling of her own experiences, working in the gig economy.įor me, the best part of the book came when Bruder revealed her own time spent living the nomadic life. Originally planned as an article for The New York Times, Nomadland beautifully reveals the lives of the ever-increasing number of Nomads across America. Working low paid temporary jobs into their traditional retirement years due to the economic crash and soaring house prices they persist as America’s forgotten community. Nomadland tells the story of travelling American Nomads who live in vans, renovated school buses and RVs across the United States.
“When I first read Jessica Bruder’s book I was so impressed by what she has captured of the baby boomer generation and what the world meant to them” Chloé Zhao
“As I write this, they are scattered across the country-” Chloé Zhao’s Oscar-winning, Nomadland is one of my all-time favourite movies, so naturally, when I heard it was based on the nonfiction book by Jessica Bruder, I jumped at the opportunity to read it. The book that inspired Chloé Zhao’s masterpiece is one of the finest pieces of journalism of all time and a work of art in its own right.
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