76 Culture The Economist June 4th 2022
had been repackaged so many times that
investors were far from sure which finan-
cial products, and which banks, were safe.
So they avoided them all, thereby exacer-
bating the panic.
These supply chains have evolved in the
name of economic efficiency. But Ms Judge
suggests they are inherently fragile and
that their opacity can mask the costs paid
by consumers—and the profits made by in-
termediaries—as well as the environmen-
tal damage they cause. In addition, what
she calls the “middleman economy” has
led to the emergence of powerful interme-
diaries such as Amazon or Walmart. These
companies may offer low prices to con-
sumers, but their relentless focus on costs
may have adverse social effects in the form
of low wages or poor working conditions at
their suppliers.
Ms Judge urges readers to buy directly
from suppliers when they can, noting that
only 15% of the money consumers spend
on food goes to the farmer who grew it. One
initiative the author recommends is “com-
munity supported agriculture”. At one
such site, Genesis Farm in New Jersey,
more than 300 families come each week to
pick up a basket of vegetables. They have
no choice over which items they get: that
depends on the weather, the season and
the farmer’s planting decisions. In return,
however, consumers get fresh produce and
the prospect of a healthier diet.
All this may be very commendable, but
the scale of such projects is inevitably lim-
ited. It would hardly be practical, let alone
environmentally sound, for everyone who
lives in Manhattan to trek out to New Jer-
sey to buy their produce every week. When
you contemplate all the items in a typical
supermarket trolley, it is clear that most
consumers will simply not have the time
or the resources to buy more than a hand-
ful of items directly from the suppliers.
And while complex supply chains have
their drawbacks, relying on a single suppli-
er can be problematic, too—as European
countries dependent on Russian gas know
only too well. More consumers bought
their food directly from local suppliers in
the late 19th century, but that was an era
marked by adulterated products and out-
breaks of food poisoning.
As a concept, the “middleman econ-
omy” is a little imprecise. There have been
middlemen around since ancient times in
the form of merchants. Retailers are mid-
dlemen, as are banks. But Ms Judge is right
to point out that intermediaries have ac-
quired a lot of power in the modern econ-
omy. She offers guidance for policymakers,
including making sure “existing antitrust
laws are applied with rigour”. Consumers,
too, should be made more aware of the role
intermediaries play, the associated fees
and the working conditions at the original
suppliers of the goods they buy. New American fictionDesperate straits
“I
t doesn’t matterhow lucky you are”,
says the protagonist of Leila Mottley’s
debut novel, “because you still gotta work
day in and day out trying to stay alive while
someone else falls through the cracks.”
“Nightcrawling” tells the compelling story
of a young black woman who, despite her
best efforts, finds herself “stuck between
street and gutter”. Set in the author’s native
Oakland, California, and inspired by a true
crime which made headlines in 2015, the
book is both a searing depiction of sexual
exploitation and a gripping account of a
struggle for survival.
Seventeen-year-old Kiara Johnson has
had her unfair share of hard knocks. Her
father is dead and her mother is in rehab.
She lives with her brother Marcus, a fellow
high-school dropout, in a rundown apart-
ment complex generously called the Regal-
Hi. As he follows his deluded dream of
making it as a rap star, she is forced to act
practically. Kiara divides her time between
searching for a job to cover their rent and
caring for Trevor, the nine-year-old son of
her drug-addicted neighbour.
A fateful drunken encounter with a
man who believes her to be a sex worker
leads Kiara to resort to desperate measures
to stay afloat. “It’s just a body,” is the man-
tra she repeats to herself as she takes to the
city’s streets after dark. She realises that
there is more to it than that when she ispicked up by police officers and turned
against her will into their personal play-
thing. There is the sex, she says, “and then
there is the terror, the fear, the marble
white of their eyes”.
Deprived of choices, Kiara is manipu-
lated and misused by the very men who
should protect and help her. A way out pre-
sents itself when one police officer kills
himself and leaves behind a suicide note
which incriminates his colleagues. She is
given the opportunity to name and shame
her abusers in a grand jury trial. But does
she have the courage to speak out, and will
her voice be heard?
Much of the novel makes for a sobering
read. However, its grittier sections are
grimly captivating and throughout them
Ms Mottley—who is almost 20—conveys
corruption, brutality, injustice and suffer-
ing in a manner that is hard-hitting but
never heavy-handed. She offsets Kiara’s or-
deals with moments of happiness, like the
valuable time spent with Trevor or best
friend Alé, and she ensures her court-case
climax is a nail-biting final stretch.
Ms Mottley has a background in poetry
and in 2018 she was chosen as Oakland’s
youth poet laureate. Some of her imagery is
overblown (“her eyelashes short ghosts
framing her eyes”), but more often than
not it is rich and inventive. “Fear don’t do
nothing but paint red across the neck, tell
them all how easy it is to split you open.”
This is an accomplished first novel with a
remarkable heroine whom the reader wills
on every step of the way. Leila Mottley’s debut novel is gritty, skilful and soberingNightcrawling. By Leila Mottley. Knopf;
288 pages; $28. Bloomsbury Circus; £16.99