Reviews

“It is hard to argue that housing is not a fundamental human need. Decent, affordable housing should be a basic right for everybody in this country. The reason is simple: without stable shelter, everything else falls apart.”

Horrifying, disturbing, and profound. The complexities of poverty are far more reaching than I have ever thought; an eviction is just one aspect of life in poverty yet creates huge hardships, beyond the obvious, that deepen the poverty cycle that people find themselves stuck in.

Matthew Desmond did a superb job discussing statistics and facts while never losing sight of the humanity of those whose life stories he highlights within the book. His writing felt like a narrative that read easily and was never dull. It felt story-like. While it was a deep book, it was accessible and lent well for reading quickly.

Eviction is a must read book for all. The insights gained are ones we all should be aware of; they hold value.

Side note: Do not side-step reading the Epilogue and About This Project as they each add another layer and depth to the text. After reading these two sections, I came away feeling more impressed by the structure, writing, and context of Evicted.

I read the book, and also listened to the audiobook. The narrator, Dion Graham, did an awesome job. I usually steer away from non-fiction audiobooks because it’s hard to keep tabs on the facts presented. The audiobook was doable, and effective which is another testament to the author’s writing.

hollydyer328's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

4.5

My grandmother lived in the North side of Milwaukee and I spent a lot of time in that neighborhood as a kid under her care. I don’t think I would ever expect that neighborhood to be profiled in a Pulitzer prize-winning book, especially on the poverty and evictions that satiate this low-income neighborhood, but I’m glad that this was the book to do that. Matthew Desmond takes great care in telling the stories of these individuals living in low-income neighborhoods of Milwaukee, and he does it with such detail, honor and care. These families struggle with eviction and obtaining affordable housing, which pulls them even further into poverty. He raises critical awareness on affordable housing as a basic human right and exposes the ways that landlords and the wealthy exploit the poor for profit. The ending was probably my favorite when he went at it with a searing critique and going into his ethnographic approach with the reporting. My only qualm was it felt difficult to keep tack of the many individual stories throughout.

haleyanne's review against another edition

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5.0

See the epilogue for reflexive ethnography

lou_1440's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

derekpotts's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

4.0

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