Matthew O'Brien
Author of Beneath the Neon: Life and Death in the Tunnels of Las Vegas
About the Author
Matthew O'Brien is a journalist and social worker who has been considered the foremost authority on homelessness in the Las Vegas storm drains for the past fifteen years. As managing editor for the Las Vegas weekly newspaper CityLife, he co-wrote a series on the issue in 2002 that went viral and show more received national media attention. In 2004, he began work on a book about the subject. Beneath the Neon: Life and Death in the Tunnels of Las Vegas. In 2009, O'Brien founded Shine a Light, a not-for-profit organization that provides food, clothing, housing, and counseling services to those in the drains O'Brien is also the author of My Week at the Blue Angel. He has a master's in creative writing from the University of Nevada-Las Vegas and a Silver Pen (mid-career award) from the Nevada Writers Hall of Fame. show less
Works by Matthew O'Brien
My Week at the Blue Angel: Stories from the Storm Drains, Strip Clubs, and Trailer Parks of Las Vegas (2015) 17 copies, 1 review
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Gender
- male
Members
Reviews
There is a whole society beneath the streets of Vegas and Matthew O'Brien painstaking drawns this community out. Drain by drain, dark tunnel by tunnel he explores their world and shares their stories with the likes of us. From the moment I spied the words "drooling algae" on the first page (p 1), I was hooked. The trip Matthew takes us on is creepy, dark, violent, sexy, artistic, tragic, ill, romantic, pitiful, dangerous and sweet. Everyone in the drains has a story: running away from drugs, show more running to them. Gambling. Hiding. Healing. Living. Dying. Some say they are saving to "get out", others know they will die where they sleep. Some are moved to tears, others could care less. Sleep to dream, sleep to die. It makes no difference in the tunnels under the Vegas Strip. show less
My Week at the Blue Angel: Stories from the Storm Drains, Strip Clubs, and Trailer Parks of Las Vegas by Matthew O'Brien
Excellent book. Exposes the reader to a side of Las Vegas most people never see. The stories are all interesting, while at the same time some are sad and some are funny.
investigation, journalist, homelessness, hopelessness, las-vegas, nonfiction
Matt goes into the flood control drains beneath the surface of Las Vegas in 2004, originally to follow the trail of a convicted deranged murderer. It became something more for him as he met the men who lived down there, some of them for several years. Each chapter is the result of interviews and experiences in a particular drain. The descriptions of sights, sounds, and impressions are as clear as if drawn with more show more than pen and ink. Well done!
Alan Carlson narrates as convincingly as if he was the writer, and that's a very good thing. show less
Matt goes into the flood control drains beneath the surface of Las Vegas in 2004, originally to follow the trail of a convicted deranged murderer. It became something more for him as he met the men who lived down there, some of them for several years. Each chapter is the result of interviews and experiences in a particular drain. The descriptions of sights, sounds, and impressions are as clear as if drawn with more show more than pen and ink. Well done!
Alan Carlson narrates as convincingly as if he was the writer, and that's a very good thing. show less
This is an incredibly interesting topic, but each chapter was exactly the same.
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Statistics
- Works
- 5
- Members
- 110
- Popularity
- #176,728
- Rating
- 3.1
- Reviews
- 6
- ISBNs
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- 1
- Favorited
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