Book Club: Breaking Night, by Liz Murray
But I know I didn’t love school for school’s sake. I had never really been what people call an ‘academic’ person, nor did I see myself becoming one. Instead, I took pleasure in the fact that my work existed in a social setting, one that was based on the promise of a brighter future. I knew that what I adored about school was that each of my assignments – readings, essays, or in-class presentations – was inseparable from my relationships […] If I loved school at all, I loved it for what it provided me access to: bonds with people I grew to cherish. And nothing was better than working toward my dreams alongside people I loved who were doing the same.
― Liz Murray, Breaking Night: A Memoir of Forgiveness, Survival, and My Journey from Homeless to Harvard
Our second memoir for Fall 2024 Book Club is Breaking Night: A Memoir of Forgiveness, Survival, and My Journey from Homeless to Harvard (Hachette Books, 2011), an international bestseller, by Liz Murray, a graduate of Teachers College, Columbia University, and co-founder of The Arthur Project.
In the vein of The Glass Castle, Breaking Night is the stunning memoir of a young woman who at age fifteen was living on the streets, and who eventually made it into Harvard.
Liz Murray was born to loving but drug-addicted parents in the Bronx. In school she was taunted for her dirty clothing and lice-infested hair, eventually skipping so many classes that she was put into a girls’ home. At age fifteen, Liz found herself on the streets. She learned to scrape by, foraging for food and riding subways all night to have a warm place to sleep.
When Liz’s mother died of AIDS, she decided to take control of her own destiny and go back to high school, often completing her assignments in the hallways and subway stations where she slept. Liz squeezed four years of high school into two, while homeless; won a New York Times scholarship; and made it into the Ivy League. Breaking Night is an unforgettable and beautifully written story of one young woman’s indomitable spirit to survive and prevail, against all odds.”
Be sure to read about Liz Murray’s journey to Teachers College here.
Fall Book Club is co-sponsored by the Graduate Writing Center. It meets once a month throughout the semester, with a program for three books. It is open to all students and staff, and the first eight people to rsvp will receive a free copy.
Where: 305 Russell
