MADreads

Home girl

March 4th, 2009 Liz C. - Alicia Ashman

As an investigative reporter for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor, Judith Matloff spent a considerable amount of time in her career in various troubled spots around the world, including Rwanda and Chechnya.  In her forties she and her husband decide to settle in one place and start a family.  She and her husband pick New York City.

Even with a hefty savings, it is a hard locale to find anything affordable and desirable unless you are willing to be flexible about locale.  West Harlem has the cultural diversity and strong community ties that she and her Dutch husband are looking for.  And in Home Girl: Building a Dream House on a Lawless Block they make the move to their new home.  The problem is that along with the diversity and community feeling comes a thriving drug trade - the house they have purchased was a crack den - and heavily armed members of the police force are regular visitors to the area.

Home girl is an entertaining, often humorous tale of house hunting and renovation in an area most people would find undesirable if not frightening.

Entry Filed under: Memoir & Biography, Nonfiction