Reviews

The Unclaimed: Abandonment and Hope in the City of Angels by Stefan Timmermans, Pamela Prickett

hedleyreads's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

kimberlyf's review

5.0

This book centers around the lives of four Los Angeles residents who have passed and became “unclaimed”—their bodies under possession of the county when nobody stepped forward to claim them. We follow their lives, hearing from friends, family, coroners, medical examiners, and more. This book begs questions like, How can someone surrounded by love in life be left alone in death? If there is no one to claim your body—to justify your existence—did your life have meaning? What does it take to become unclaimed? Can it happen to me? How can the legal system fail humans so drastically, even in death?

This work of narrative non-fiction is well researched, powerful, and incredibly thought-provoking. I will be thinking about it for quite some time.

triumphal_reads's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

4.75

akdorman's review against another edition

informative sad slow-paced

2.0

she_reads_truth_365's review against another edition

informative

4.0

aksharpes's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.25

azlanm's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative sad medium-paced

5.0

theclassickid's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

writergracie's review against another edition

dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

2.0

I struggled with the book's structure. I would have preferred if each individual's story was told in its entirety rather than broken up across sections and chapters, interspersed with the other individuals' stories. I listened to the audiobook. Reading this as a physical or ebook would have been better so I could flip back and refresh my memory of individuals' backstories. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

sam_h's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.0