Rooming with Independent Reading

We made it! I decided to dedicate this final mini-blog to Matthew Desmond, the author of Evicted. While reading this book I couldn't help but think about all the research that went into it. Yes, all nonfiction books require research, but this one... wow. I've never read a nonfiction book that contains so many tidbits of information (both statistics and interviews). Danielle Shaw and her relatives after being evicted Matthew Desmond, a Harvard sociologist, studied the evictions of poor families in Milwaukee. He was drawn to study this because " It brings together poor and non poor people—tenants, their families, landlords, social workers, lawyers, judges, sheriffs—in relationships of mutual dependence and struggle" (2014). The interest in poor society is something that Desmond's sister also pursues as well. In his acknowledgments, Desmond writes "This book is dedicated to my sister, Michelle, who continues to inspire me with her pure curiosity and hear...

Aghhhh. Today is the last day of break... and the last day of freedom. The worst eight days of the Jewish calendar - Passover - have begun... let's just say I could definitely be in a better mood. As for Evicted....  Frustration. Yes... I am frustrated. As my fifth mini-blog encapsulated, I am not a fan of nonfiction. This book is 341 pages of writing (and 70+ pages of notes, acknowledgments, etc.) and I have struggled to advance. Evicted ... she is thicc. Most of the book is made up of information about the eight different families and the people they know. Basically, it has A LOT of information that is useless to the actual plot. I cannot skim along the book, as I will always miss an actual important bit of information. However, reading it so closely takes very much time... and patience. I am planning on doing a recreation of the book cover because, well, look at it. While relating very well to the book, this cover lacks in artistic expression... which I will attempt to cr...

I've noticed while reading the text my feelings towards characters tend to flip... a lot. Because Matt Desmond focuses on both the landlord and tenant perspectives I can see the pros and cons of each side. To set some perspective, you must know that Sherrena Tarver is a landlord in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Arleen is one of her many tenants. Arleen rents in one of Sherrena’s building until the amount of money she owes (over $11,000) leads her to an eviction notice from Sherrena. Each eviction is taken to court. Some tenants show up and fight, some show up and accept their fate, and some do not even bother to come. Arleen showed up at the courthouse ready to accept the sentence that would shove her and her children, Jori and Jafaris, back onto the streets. My favorite passage that I have read so far is “When Sherrena and Arleen walked out of the courthouse, a gentle snow was falling. Sherrena had agreed to give Arleen a ride home. In the car, Sherrena paused to rub her neck, and A...

Out of the eight story lines that I have followed in Evicted, Scott's has impacted me in a way different from the others. For many of the tenants that I've followed, the life that they live was in some way not their fault. They were abused by boyfriends, their parents brought them into poverty, or they had a child who they struggled to support. I feel for all of them, in the sense that things that I do not even need to think about are struggles for them to obtain. Scott didn't start out in poverty. He was a well educated, kind, and respected nurse. Like Lamar, Scott fell into trouble through drugs... something that terrifies me a lot. Lamar was a soldier in the navy, and when he returned from war his demands were not met. He turned to drugs, which eventually led him to crack. Lamar was able to get clean and provide a somewhat normal life for his children, but Scott's journey was quite different. Scott, as he says, always had a knack for caring for elderly peop...

So... here we go again. Another book, four more mini-blogs, and two more major blogs. But this time it's nonfiction... which I'm less than thrilled for. While trying to find a nonfiction book for this assignment I was less than ecstatic. I searched up "Pulitzer prize winners nonfiction" in Google and let my sorrows come sweeping in. The first book that I saw was Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond. It won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize so I figured... sure, why not? I've never been a fan of nonfiction. Growing up I was an avid reader, devouring page after page, chapter after chapter, and book after book. These books were all different, of course, but they had one similarity. Fiction. They were ALL fiction. I always figured that I had to learn about nonfiction things in school, so I might as well enjoy fantasy in my spare time. My teachers were concerned, so they told my mom I needed to broaden my horizons. My response: So, when I pic...

(Open this image in a new tab to view it close up) Emma Donoghue herself admits that one of the biggest challenges she faced while writing was the contrast between light and dark themes. Personally, I think she did a fantastic job, but it must be recognized what the purpose of these themes were. These 7 scenes/events in the book stand out to me, as each shows either an important aspect of the characters, or highlights an issue that the characters are facing.  Light: Jack's happiness with a string of eggshells show that living in a "bubble" like Room is beneficial for his mind; teaching him to be grateful for the littlest of things. Jack's escape from Room allowed him to unlock his life's greatest potential and opened up his horizons drastically . Meeting his relatives, like his Grandmother, Steppa, Grandpa, Aunt, Uncle, and cousin helped Jack find a connection to the "Outside" that lessened the pull of his want for Room. When Jack and Ma get...