At the Edge of the Haight

October 15, 2020
A young homeless woman is an unwitting witness to murder in this debut novel set on the streets of San Francisco. All 20-year-old Madlynne Donaldo wants to do is to live an invisible life in the shadows of Golden Gate Park with her friends Ash, Hope, and Fleet. Having run away from Los Angeles, she's trying to figure out what her next steps should be even though life can only be lived a day at a time on the fringes of San Francisco. Unfortunately, as she's out walking her dog, she finds teen Shane Golden, who's taking his last breaths, and also spots his killer. Soon, Shane's parents come looking for answers, and Maddy feels pressured into helping. Maddy's past as the daughter of an absent father and a depressive mother is interesting but blurs away just before it can gather enough steam to be revealing. Seligman constantly shifts the narrative's focus as it chugs forward in fits and starts. Dave Golden, Shane's father, is unconvincing as a grieving dad, and his investment in Maddy feel tacked on and unrealistic. The novel is also unclear about its central thesis: Is this a murder mystery with a look at homelessness, or is it mostly about homelessness with a side of murder? Tangential plot points--Fleet is hospitalized from a drug reaction and Ash suddenly takes off for a Wyoming wilderness camp--further fray the already loosely held storylines. All told, Seligman is to be commended for an insightful portrayal of homelessness. She's at her best when showing just how tenuous life on the streets can be. "Stories were hard to decipher because they were filtered through people," a character says. This might well apply to this heartfelt and unfocused novel. Brave but scattershot storytelling.

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October 26, 2020
Journalist Seligman’s earnest if diffuse debut drifts between murder mystery and compassionate sociological study. One day, 20-year-old Maddy Donaldo, who is homeless, follows her dog into a thicketed area of Golden Gate Park, where she finds a dying teenage boy and a menacing man who claims to know where she sleeps. Spooked, she hides out as best she can, but after she tells her friend Ash about the incident, the case leads back to her. The boy is later identifed as Shane Golden, and after his parents come to San Francisco from Upstate New York, they want to talk to Maddy about how he’d been living and how he died. (In one of the novel’s several less-than-credible turns, the Goldens suggest Maddy come live with them in New York.) The killer is eventually identified, but the case founders, and Maddy becomes obsessed with finding out more about Shane. While Seligman has a strong sense of the city and of the challenges faced by the homeless, the murder plot fizzles out as the author goes on fruitless tangents, such as following Ash to a therapeutic wilderness camp after Ash’s parents track him down. Seligman’s portrayal of life as a homeless young person is immersive, but ultimately too sentimental.

November 1, 2020
Maddy Donaldo is a 20-year-old woman who lives in Golden Gate Park with her dog Root and several friends. Her days are built around avoiding citations from the police for camping, finding sources of food, and trying to survive in a city that is rapidly gentrifying. When she discovers the body of a young man who has been stabbed, she finds herself involved in a criminal investigation. The man's parents seek her out to understand what their son's life may have been on the streets of San Francisco. Maddy reflects on the circumstances that led her to become homeless as well as the barriers that keep her and her friends in their encampment. Through careful observation, author Seligman seeks to humanize a community that is often ignored and misunderstood. While readers may wish for deeper dives into supporting characters' backstories, Seligman's straightforward prose gives Maddy a memorable voice. Winner of the 2019 PEN/Bellweather Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction, At the Edge of the Haight is a thoughtful look at modern homelessness.

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