CRITICAL BOOK

REVIEW

LIMBO
 Merriam-Webster defines Limbo
as an intermediate or transitional
place or state.
WHAT IS
LIMBO?
Blue-collar workers who made
the transition to white collar work
find themselves in limbo
struggling to overcome their
previous way of life.
 WHO IS ALFRED LUBRANO?

Lubrano attended
Alfred Lubrano grew
college at Columbia
up in Brooklyn as the
while his dad worked
son of two working
on the masonry of the
class parents.
campus buildings.
 L U B R A N O ’ S PA R E N T S WA N T E D N O T H I N G M O R E T H A N
F O R H I M T O H AV E A W E L L - PAY I N G W H I T E - C O L L A R J O B .

By this he is implying that once

As Lubrano points out, blue someone has an education, it is
collar parents figured than an believed to be like magic and
education – genie-like automatically elevate one to a
whole new tax bracket.
A major portion of the book is spent with Lubrano working through his
personal struggle with relationships after transitioning to white collar
education and ultimately a white-collar job.

Another large portion of the book is from Lubrano conducting interviews

with individuals also stuck in Limbo and re-telling their accounts to
reinforce his own struggles while searching for a meaning in all the struggle.
 ONE OF THE
ACCOUNTS IN THE
BOOK RECALLS A TIME
WHEN AN
I N T E RV I E W E E O F
L U B R A N O ’ S WA S T O L D
TO BRING A DINNER
JACKET TO DINNER
(187). DANA GIOIA,
F R O M I TA L I A N A N D As it would turn out, a dinner jacket, a term
M E X I C A N D E S C E N T,
D I D N O T U N D E R S TA N D from the upper class, is known by the blue-
W H AT H I S W E A L T H Y
C O U N T E R P A R T WA S
collar crowd as a tuxedo. This interaction is
REFERRING TO BY
THIS.
only one of many where Lubarno highlights the
obstacles that someone trying to fit in with the
white-collar class must attend with.
 BLUE-COLLAR INDIVIDUALS TEND TO
P R I D E T H E M S E LV E S O N M A K I N G T H E
B E S T O F A D I F F I C U LT S I T U AT I O N .

• However, there is always the question on how much

more one might have been able to accomplish if they
started out with the white-collar benefits.

• They are then left with the question whether they would
have been able to achieve the same level of success had
all of their class advantages been taken away.

• Lubrano emphasizes this back and forth by including

testimony from his interviewees.
 PURPOSE
• Lubrano’s purpose for writing Limbo is twofold. The first being that he
wanted to bring to light an issue that was not readily discussed. That is,
that there is so much more complexity and tribulations for am individual
to elevate themselves to another class. This goes against what one might
initially surmise.
• The second, being that Lubrano wanted to let others know that it is
perfectly normal to feel like you do not fit in.
 Limbo is about blue-collar individuals and
their struggle to adapt to the complex
foreign environment known as the white-
collar world.

Limbo introduces the idea that there are

CONCLUSION barriers preventing blue-collar individuals
from easily making the transition.

Limbo highlights the importance that it is

perfectly fine to feel like one does not fit
in.
 One of takeaways for the reader should be that it is
good to talk about one’s desires, no matter what
social hierarchy they belong to. It is also important
TAKEAWAY that you do a job that you enjoy and try not to be
money driven.