Making Michael Arceneaux’s I Don’t Want to Die Poor required reading in high schools across the country would aid a lot of newborn people think twice about the promise that going to college at any cost is the only path to upward social mobility … Throughout all of it, [Arceneaux] retains a gloomy sense of humor and the idea that there is something better out there, something he will achieve through challenging work … The thing that makes I Don’t Want to Die Poor an outstanding read is Arceneaux’s voice. He writes like he’s telling you, his friend, a story … For Arceneaux, life hasn’t been uncomplicated, and his writing shows that. Luckily for readers, every painful detail he shares is balanced out by a superb critique, a masterful turn of phrase, a comical apply of popular culture or a couple of sentences that cut to the bone of a social issue and expose the core of it with unbending honesty … Heartbreaking, hilarious, unapologetic and shrewd, this collection of essays shows a talented newborn voice that can attack racist nonsense while discussing The Real Housewives of Atlanta. It’s also a warning to future generations and a literary hug to those who have fallen into the unforgiving claws of student loan debt.
