Eliese Colette Goldbach

Former Cleveland house painter and English graduate Eliese Goldbach describes her three-year spell as a worker in the big AcelorMittal (now Cleveland Cliffs) steel plant in the Cuyahoga valley. During that time she worked in several different areas of the plant. She writes about the hazards of working with hot metals and large and heavy machines, about her interactions with other workers, managers and the union, about the stress of working irregular shifts, and gives a lot of fascinating detail about a world most of us only ever see in a historical context or in clips showing hot metal pouring out of a furnace or ingots going through a roller mill. It clearly looks rather different when you are actually working with it. Goldbach seems to give us a very good sense of what it’s like, and tries to put her finger on what it is that defines the identity of rust-belt industrial workers in the 21st century.

Oddly, the element of the book I was expecting to find most interesting — what it’s like to work in the traditionally male world of heavy industry as a woman — doesn’t really come off. Other people had fought the real battles before Goldbach got there, and she seems to have found that what was needed to survive was a bit of a tough attitude and a readiness to swear at people who annoyed her. I imagine that a male college graduate would have experienced much the same.

Goldbach weaves into the story an outline memoir of her earlier life, dealing with her Catholic, Republican upbringing in a working-class family on Cleveland’s West Side, her experience of date-rape at what sounds like a third-rate Catholic university, and her later struggles with mental illness and boyfriend troubles. All very worthy, and her candour about her problems obviously does her credit, but it somehow all feels a bit routine. What she has to say about her work experience writes itself, because there simply aren’t all that many firsthand accounts by intelligent people about contemporary industrial work. But what she says about her personal life somehow struggles to maintain the level of a mediocre novel.… (more)

Thank you to Flatiron Books for providing me with a copy of this novel for review purposes.




Steel is the only thing that shines in the belly of the mill...







Plot:



This a memoir of a young woman who returns to her conservative hometown to work in the monster that is the backbone of their existence - the steel mill.



It was never Eliese's goal to work there, in fact, she had tried to escape her home town and follow her dreams. But when she needs to find financial security she moves home to work in the male dominant workplace of the mill.



Throughout the book Eliese introduces the world to the community and individuals she has grown to love.



AUTHOR DEETS - debut, old hand, how they are expert at this etc



Goldbach opens up about her rape and mental health breakdowns throughout this novel, so please take this into consideration if this is triggering for you.



Review:



I was first drawn to this memoir because of the woman in a male workplace narrative. As I grew up in a small town surviving on the back of a coal mine, I was interested to read Goldbach's experiences.



I got much more than I bargained for, and truly fell in love with her story.



One of my 'what if' daydreams is based on pursuing a career in aforementioned coal mine. Plenty of the boys in my HS gained apprenticeships, and I know the money there is good. There have been a few low moments in life I wish I could go back take this route.

Like a lot of kids who grow up in Cleveland, Ohio, I mostly wanted to leave.Eliese Colette Goldbach

So Rust really took me down that path of 'what if'.



There really is a dynamic to working in male dominant workplace as a woman. Especially as a young single woman. Especially if you aren't in a typical admin based role. Goldbach describes incidents where she had to play the game, to not take shit but not break the sacred camaraderie. Its a delicate game but she had good advise from her colleagues and has some wins.



The theme I was not expecting was the politics in the novel. Goldbach lives in a conservative state, and as an Australian I am learning the US political scene rather slowly. I was really invested in Goldbachs transition with her support, and her discussions with republican coworkers.







Raised religiously, Goldbach is let down by many of the institutions that she trusted in to keep her safe. From these experiences she begins to questions many of her beliefs, something I felt I could also relate to.



We learn how the men and women that work in the steel mill were exploited during political debate. As an insider Goldbach offers her insight and experience of that campaign. Watching her reality stereotyped on a national stage.



Lastly, Goldbach goes through the experience of living with a mental health diagnosis. We get front row seats her her manic phases, management and the effect it has on her personal and professional life. I especially appreciated the insight into her self awareness (or lack thereof) during this time. Knowing that her role and the circumstances of her job were not always helpful to her condition, and recognizing the start an episode.



These themes come up throughout the story, as Goldbach takes us through what it is to get your life together during 2016. To navigate being a woman in this decade, to feel defeated, navigate gender roles and tackle relationships.


I fell in love with this book, even if it isn't the sort of story that you might relate to as much as I did, the insight and commmentary from a woman in the industrial sector is well worth the read.








I hope you enjoyed my thoughts on Rust- A Memoir of Steel & Grit. Have you read this? Tell me what you thought!
Feel free to comment below or on my 'bookstagram' at @ReadWithWine .
This review was originally posted on ReadWithWine… (more)