Amy Haimerl

This was a pretty breezy read, but not what I expected. I thought it was going to detail more of the renovation of the author's house, and that it was diy-style. Nope, she just pays a contractor. Now, there's nothing wrong with hiring a contractor, but to write a book about a renovation that you had virtually no part in is just kind of strange to me.

I also thought it was… interesting?... that Haimerl says she's middle class, yet sort of views herself as poor, and seems to lack an understanding of her own privilege; though, to her credit, she does seem to be trying to understand.

I found it very strange, though, that she brought up "gentrification" so much throughout the book, and made it seem like she was doing her best to cross racial barriers, only to reveal at the end of the book that, actually, all of her friends and everyone in her neighborhood are white.

Note: There was quite a lot of profanity in the book, especially the f-bomb.… (mehr)

As someone who grew up in the Detroit area, I am always excited to read books about the revival going on in this once magnificent city. This book by Amy Haimerl gave me a more personal view of the changes in the city and I'm glad that there are people like Amy and her husband Karl who want to do their small part to help Detroit come alive again.

Amy and Karl lived in NY and were looking for somewhere to live where they could afford to buy a house for cheap and re-hab it. They cashed in their savings and bought an abandoned house in Detroit for $35,000. "The house...has no plumbing. No electricity. No heat...There is essentially nothing left inside the walls. Every pipe, every radiator, every wire is stripped. Every door is missing...What we have is a pile of bricks with character." So begins their journey in Detroit. As they meet their neighbors and work on their house, they learn how to make Detroit their home.

I'd like to think that more people like Amy and Karl can save Detroit and maybe they can...one neighborhood at a time.
(Thanks to goodreads for a copy of this book for a fair and honest review.)… (mehr)