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Reviews tagging 'Drug use'
Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond
42 reviews
zoe_271's review
4.75
Evicted follows several real people in poverty between 2008-09, Desmond having lived among them for months to get as true a look into their lives and struggles as possible. He masterfully depicts how hopelessness and struggle can keep people down. The importance of having a stable roof over one's head truly cannot be understated, and yet this is a privilege the richest, supposedly most well-developed nation on the planet does not choose to prioritise, allowing children to grow up in cockroach-infested drug-ridden homes, not through parental failure, but policy choices.
I cannot emphasise the need to read this book enough for anybody wanting to understand the intersectionality of poverty. Desmond displays fantastically what we all know - home is the centre of our lives, and for that to be unstable tilts everything else off-balance.
Graphic: Drug use
Moderate: Gun violence, Racial slurs, Toxic relationship, and Fire/Fire injury
bucklace27's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Drug abuse, Racism, and Classism
Moderate: Drug use and Gun violence
Minor: Sexual assault
barefootsierra's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Animal death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Racism, and Classism
canngrob's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Classism
Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, and Racism
alaiyo0685's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Drug use and Violence
emmehooks's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug use, Racism, Alcohol, and Classism
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, and Pregnancy
amyvl93's review
4.5
Desmond treats all the individuals he features with such empathy, it really felt like you were alongside them. There are moments of great tragedy sitting alongside everyday tragedies. He shines a light on systems that exploit those they should protect - from the incredibly profitable business of filling your properties with those on state support because you don't run the risk of losing rent, whilst not considering whether the properties really meet their needs, to the truly insane practice of raising grievances against landlords when residents call the police (including in cases of domestic abuse) that can lead families being evicted because landlords don't want to be considered nuisance properties. When this happened to one family, who finally appeared to be on the 'up', I very nearly cried out of frustration for them.
Alongside the problems of housing, Evicted also looks at the factors that can tip people what many may refer to as 'chaotic lives'. Drug addiction is a pattern for many of those profiled here - a nurse who loved their job who gained an opioid habit following an injury loses his job after he stole and finds himself in a trailer park. But alongside this is abusive relationships, childhood trauma, limited employment that enables the flexibility that many women raising children need and proximity to crime. The families that are able to find stability are those that are able to finally get themselves into spaces where they can build connections, find stable employment and access support - all of which is underpinned by high quality housing. Desmond very clearly articulates how being stuck in a horrible home impacts the way people feel about themselves; and how a home to be proud of improves people's ways of seeing themselves - which is even more true of the children and teenagers profiled here.
Written in 2016, so much of Desmond's writing and findings feel prescient to today. I'm looking forward (?) to reading his latest book Poverty next.
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Child death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Racial slurs, Racism, and Grief
knitswhilereading's review
4.75
Graphic: Addiction
Moderate: Drug abuse
Minor: Animal death, Child death, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury
rystonlentil43's review
4.75
Graphic: Addiction, Drug use, Racism, and Classism
Moderate: Domestic abuse and Fire/Fire injury
esjackson's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Racism, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism
Moderate: Bullying, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Animal death, Cursing, Gun violence, Incest, Self harm, Suicide, Grief, and Murder