Reviews

Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond

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purplepierogi's review against another edition

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5.0

man, this is gutting and so important. i’m always a bit suspicious of ethnography, but this seemed really well done

cement_tree's review against another edition

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emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

khornstein1's review against another edition

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4.0

This book reminded me a lot of Random Family by Adrian Nicole LeBlanc. You start out reading a book that you believe will be an essay on the evils of being a landlord in an impoverished neighborhood and then--you get caught up in the characters and their Dickensian struggle to "move on."

I really liked Desmond's writing and didn't know until the end that he had lived in both a black inner-city neighborhood and a white trailer park to write this book.

Particularly heartbreaking was the section on domestic violence. Particularly well-done was the writing about the schoolteacher who had become a landlord, and the struggles she faced with her tenants.

Highly recommended for anyone interested in poverty and American cities.

kbissmeyer's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

I really enjoyed this read and am blown away by the author’s commitment. The stories told are moving and wonderful. Everyone should read this book and be moved to incite change.