I keep telling people, my husband & friends, that I want to read more fiction. But I keep picking up nonfiction. This one has been so engrossing, I’m consumed with these stories, the statistics, and it’s tragic.
I wanted to be sympathetic to the landlords in the book. I tried hard to care about their struggles and the hardship of property ownership. But I lost what sympathy I had quickly. I sympathize more with the renters, the struggle to find work, and the pain in knowing that 60% of your income or more goes to your housing and after reading about the conditions these folks are living in is beyond heartbreaking.
Desmond shares the stories of eight families, all the names are changed and their rental journeys from 2008-2009 from the city of Milwaukee. He makes the point that these stories are not special to Milwaukee, they are the same stories told by those all across the country. Some of these families are black, white, men, women, old, young.
Desmond effortlessly weaves story with fact citing housing reports and statistics and the heart breaking affects of housing assistance not rising with the cost of living or inflation and how much harder it is to make assistance go as far as possible.
Evicted is packed full of emotional stories, heart break, tragedy and property owners. It’s a book about tragedy, about the impossibility of picking yourself up, about making the choice to pay the electric bill or to buy food after you’ve paid rent.
This is not an easy read.
Tenants who can’t pay rent & utilities.
A vicious cycle that is merciless.
Get a copy of the Pulitzer Prize winning book, Evicted by Matthew Desmond.
I was provided this book free for review. All opinions are my own.
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Stylishly Shelby 