Gentrifier

In 2016, artist, writer, and cultural critic Moore (Body Horror: Capitalism, Fear, Misogyny, Jokes) was awarded a house in Detroit as part of the Write a House Fellowship. The fellowship was intended to give writers that all-important room of their own and revitalize Detroit's underserved neighborhoods with the work of their artists-in-residence. Moore was concerned about the ethics of a white woman being given a house in a majority-Bangladeshi neighborhood in Detroit. It turned out that the years she spent there imparted a complex street-level view of the ways she and her neighbors were affected by Detroit's history and housing policies, and of the way gender, race, health, and resources intersect with living in the midst of civic collapse. (One revelation from this book: Moore's "free" house turned out to be neither free nor the city's to bestow). Moore does her best to unpack her privilege, reflecting on her presence in the neighborhood and on Detroit's revitalization in general. In this book's grouped vignettes, she portrays her neighborhood with affection and captures corruption and bureaucracy with a frustration that is both comedic and fierce.