A 500 House in Detroit, Drew Philp
A 500 House in Detroit, Drew Philp
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A $500 House in Detroit
Rebuilding an Abandoned Home and an American City

Author: Drew Philp

Narrator: Jacques Roy

Unabridged: 8 hr 53 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 04/11/2017


Synopsis

A young college grad buys a house in Detroit for $500 and attempts to restore it—and his new neighborhood—to its original glory in this “deeply felt, sharply observed personal quest to create meaning and community out of the fallen…A standout” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review).

Drew Philp, an idealistic college student from a working-class Michigan family, decides to live where he can make a difference. He sets his sights on Detroit, the failed metropolis of abandoned buildings, widespread poverty, and rampant crime. Arriving with no job, no friends, and no money, Philp buys a ramshackle house for five hundred dollars in the east side neighborhood known as Poletown. The roomy Queen Anne he now owns is little more than a clapboard shell on a crumbling brick foundation, missing windows, heat, water, electricity, and a functional roof.

A $500 House in Detroit is Philp’s raw and earnest account of rebuilding everything but the frame of his house, nail by nail and room by room. “Philp is a great storyteller…[and his] engrossing” (Booklist) tale is also of a young man finding his footing in the city, the country, and his own generation. We witness his concept of Detroit shift, expand, and evolve as his plan to save the city gives way to a life forged from political meaning, personal connection, and collective purpose. As he assimilates into the community of Detroiters around him, Philp guides readers through the city’s vibrant history and engages in urgent conversations about gentrification, racial tensions, and class warfare.

Part social history, part brash generational statement, part comeback story, A $500 House in Detroit “shines [in its depiction of] the ‘radical neighborliness’ of ordinary people in desperate circumstances” (Publishers Weekly). This is an unforgettable, intimate account of the tentative revival of an American city and a glimpse at a new way forward for generations to come.

About Drew Philp

Drew Philp’s work has been published both nationally and internationally and has appeared in publications, including BuzzFeed, The Detroit Free Press, Metrotimes, Corp! Magazine, the Bakersfield Californian, and the Michigan Daily. He lives in Detroit with his dog, Gratiot. A $500 House in Detroit is his first book.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Karen on March 30, 2017

I myself just live 3.5 miles north of the 8 Mile Road division line of Detroit and the suburbs, just off of Gratiot, the name the author gave to his adopted dog. My grandparents and great aunts and uncles all lived in the "city" at one time and slowly moved out. Since that time a lot has gone down,......more

Goodreads review by Esil on April 09, 2017

I almost gave up on a $500 House in Detroit, but I'm glad I didn't. It's not perfect, but somewhere in the middle it had me fully engaged and by the end I was even a bit teary. Drew Philp moved to Detroit when he was 23 years old. He had very little money, was a few credits shy of a degree from the......more

Goodreads review by Nancy on February 05, 2017

I wanted to read Drew Philp's book A $500 House in Detroit because he, like so many other young people, have returned to the city to make it home, to help establish a new city, a better city. Like the young man at my hair salon who bought a house in Brightmoor , who, starting from scratch, is making......more

Goodreads review by Sarah on April 13, 2018

I picked this up on a whim from work and read it in two sittings. I’ve heard bits and pieces about Detroit over the years and here was a story about someone living it. The author, while white, doesn’t come off too much like a know it all who has all the answers to race relations or the answers to th......more