Deirdre Mask is an excellent storyteller. She seems like someone who could strike up a conversation with anyone and find out something interesting from them. Because of this, I found this book to be full of interesting people with insightful stories to tell. Unfortunately, I think the title of the book is too weighty for its contents and it falls short of living up to its potential.

Honestly, the only hang-up I have in this review is somewhat ironic considering its subject matter. So many people in the world live without an address or a way to be found or labelled. If this book had not been labelled ‘what street addresses reveal about identity, race, power, and wealth’ and instead was just ‘insights and stories about street addresses around the world’ I would have found it so much easier to relax into the stories themselves and would have enjoyed the book more.

The people discussed and interviewed are incredibly interesting people from around the world. They are doing inspiring work serving their communities and finding unique ways to solve a problem I was unaware even existed. And while I found the writing captivating and the stories interesting, I found I was left waiting at the end of each chapter to really have the point driven home. Where was the conclusion, the evidence, that Deirdre Mask was trying to present? In fact, a lot of the time it seemed she would spend the whole chapter trying to make one point only to backtrack at the end with another example which mollified her point.

I suppose this is a very long review just to say: interesting stories with a poorly executed thesis. I believe the title misleads and ends up clouding what could have been a more enjoyable read.