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angelicalomax's review
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.25
Reflective memoir on how housing laws in Detroit create gentrification and the author’s own experience in being forced into compliance as a low-income, disabled white artist in a Bengali neighborhood.
katienpascoe's review
5.0
so wonderful. love how this is written, a beautiful human story that weaves in poetic details encircling social phenomena and approachable information about detroit history
emmay8's review against another edition
4.0
Very interesting and important read. I know this was deliberate, but the choppy structure of the book, short anecdotes that may or may not be connected, sometimes made it laborious to read. Overall, I liked the book.
esdeecarlson's review
5.0
**This book was provided to me by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.**
A highly engaging and readable memoir.
Told in short, digestible vignettes, Gentrifier recounts the experience of the author after being “gifted” a “free” house in an underserved neighborhood in Detroit. Both Moore’s personal experience and the history of the house itself turn out to be more complicated, particularly within the broader American and Detroit-centric history of race, class, and power, than initially meets the eye.
What I particularly like about the memoir is that it knows when to pull back. My favorite vignettes concern the children in Moore’s neighborhood, particularly Nishat and Sadia, and the friendship Moore forms with them. A lesser writer would take this opportunity to reflect upon her own contributions to the girls’ lives; instead, Moore lets the girls speak through their own words and actions, and does away with any self-indulgent or self-centering reflection. She peppers in historical data when necessary, but this book isn’t a history of redlining or immigration or gentrification on a large scale—merely one woman’s, and “her” house’s, rather conflicted roles within it.
A highly engaging and readable memoir.
Told in short, digestible vignettes, Gentrifier recounts the experience of the author after being “gifted” a “free” house in an underserved neighborhood in Detroit. Both Moore’s personal experience and the history of the house itself turn out to be more complicated, particularly within the broader American and Detroit-centric history of race, class, and power, than initially meets the eye.
What I particularly like about the memoir is that it knows when to pull back. My favorite vignettes concern the children in Moore’s neighborhood, particularly Nishat and Sadia, and the friendship Moore forms with them. A lesser writer would take this opportunity to reflect upon her own contributions to the girls’ lives; instead, Moore lets the girls speak through their own words and actions, and does away with any self-indulgent or self-centering reflection. She peppers in historical data when necessary, but this book isn’t a history of redlining or immigration or gentrification on a large scale—merely one woman’s, and “her” house’s, rather conflicted roles within it.
glowbird's review
3.0
A fast, interesting read that ultimately became more unsatisfying right at the end. The vignette structure of the chapters is great when she’s examining social issues and living life. But because the chronology is fragmented, when we get to the real meat of the issue, how the house she’s living in came to be “free”, things get confusing. Partly because the local and state government is confusing, and partly because things just barely resolved before publication. Also, for all her punk ire at the really shady way this government profits off poverty, she’s incredibly careful not to piss off the powerful.
allisonrosetortorici's review
1.0
DNF- pg. 48
The author’s writing style, little vignettes that seemingly have nothing to do with each other, made it very difficult to read this book. My expectation of this book as an enlightening portrayal of a person’s own hand in gentrification and the impacts of that, were not met in the least. The book followed no clear narrative and had no true discussion or perspective on the impacts of gentrification in Detroit.
The author’s writing style, little vignettes that seemingly have nothing to do with each other, made it very difficult to read this book. My expectation of this book as an enlightening portrayal of a person’s own hand in gentrification and the impacts of that, were not met in the least. The book followed no clear narrative and had no true discussion or perspective on the impacts of gentrification in Detroit.
lbw's review
dark
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
The structure of vignettes related to the topic of the chapter took me a bit to get into, but after 50 or so pages, I really got into it. I enjoyed this.
sensorglitch's review
3.0
As someone who moved to Detroit for a period of time and watched a whole foods come in to his neighborhood, and abandoned buildings get taken down and replaced with nicer buildings, while more middle class people moved in and the previous faces I would see around the neighborhood get pushed out I had an interest in this book. However, I didn't really understand a lot about the book. It kinda seemed like someone took all of their tweets from a period of time in their life and then expanded on them in order to make a book. A lot of the book doesn't really talk to being a gentrifier, or really to Detroit. It speaks to a specific experience of being a white person who moved into a predominantly Bengali ethnic neighborhood but it didn't really seem to speak to Detroit as a whole to me. Yet the conclusions drawn from this specific instance seems to be applied to Detroit as a whole rather than the authors experience.
Also I haven't read or heard of Anne Elizabeth Moore, so their continue references to themselves as a famous author who gets death threats seem kind of like humble brags to me.
Also I haven't read or heard of Anne Elizabeth Moore, so their continue references to themselves as a famous author who gets death threats seem kind of like humble brags to me.
lianaespey's review
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
fast-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal cruelty and Animal death
Minor: Chronic illness
bexellency's review
2.0
Not great. Memoir is this genre that lets you get away with anything. Non-sequitors, personal anecdotes unrelated to the theme, lazy and disjointed writing, etc. Nominally about gentrification but in practice more about living into a community as a minority within that community, misogyny, chronic illness, scraping together a lifestyle with no traditional employment, etc. I picked this up looking for a book that would offer insights and thought experiments on the ethics of personal action within the larger context of gentrification - something for aspiring homeowners similar to what the Blue Sweater does for aid work and philanthropy. Instead got mostly narcissistic memoir with one heavy handed chapter on foreclosures. Luckily, it was short.