A $500 House in Detroit

January 30, 2017
In this impassioned memoir, a young man finds a community flourishing in a city so depopulated that houses are worth less than a used Chevy. Journalist Philp moved to Detroit fresh out of college in 2008 and bought a derelict house in Poletown, a once bustling but now desolate neighborhood going to prairie and ruin. He finds that deep poverty, scant city services, and little police protection have birthed a culture of do-it-yourself improvisation and mutual aid among its denizens: artists, scavengers, hipsters, and longtime homeowners hanging on by their fingernails. Philp ably captures the frontier feel of Detroit—he gets attacked by wild dogs, fends off a home invader with his shotgun, and is forever gazing at burning buildings—as he laboriously rehabs his ruined house from foundation to roof. His homebuilding narrative is engrossing, but his city-building prescriptions are less so: he serves up overwrought anticapitalist soapboxing against “the calculating men in suits trying to squeeze every last little bit of profit from all I find holy” and extols tired urban farming nostrums that would only further the hollowing-out of Detroit. The book shines when he sticks to the “radical neighborliness” of ordinary people in desperate circumstances. Photos.

March 1, 2017
A young man finds joy in a "place they said no one could love."In 2009, at age 23, Philp bought a house for $500 in Detroit: an abandoned 1903 Queen Anne with a wraparound porch. One of many such bargains available in the bankrupt city, the house and the story of its yearslong rehabilitation are the focus of this fresh, honest, often stirring debut, which began as a BuzzFeed feature. A shy, idealistic working-class white kid from rural Michigan, the author arrived in the 80 percent black city with no friends, job, or money. Fixing the house "would be a protest of sorts," he reasoned, an expression of his contempt for the wealthy suburban lifestyle of Ann Arbor, where he had just attended the University of Michigan. Working odd jobs, he found himself in a frightening city of wild dogs, frequent shootings, suspicious fires, and near-daily offers of drugs or sex. One new neighbor, Zeno, a crack dealer, asked him, "are you wearing a wire, motherfucker?" Another told Philp about a county auction of thousands of abandoned houses, an event that kicks off this deeply felt, sharply observed personal quest to create meaning and community out of the fallen city's "cinders of racism and consumerism and escape." Often hungry and scared, the author had help from his parents and new friends (most wild spirits sharing in the adventure of a revitalizing city) in working with abandoned materials to cobble his broken-down home, from chimney and stairs to foundation. The grueling process not only reveals his growing maturity, but also becomes a window on the look and feel of present-day Detroit and the neighborly people struggling to achieve satisfying lives there. Philp ably outlines the broad issues of race and class in the city, but it is the warmth and liveliness of his storytelling that will win many readers. "It is your sacred duty to find hope somewhere," he reminds us. A standout in the Detroit rehab genre.

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February 1, 2017

Detroit is a city with a history intertwined with American manufacturing, once hosting a thriving automotive industry. Unfortunately, it has also had a massive departure of such major businesses, eliminating jobs as a result. Philp's first book highlights the stagnation, collapse, rise, and rebirth of Detroit; a city that has had "the greatest sea change in American culture since the 1960s." This is a story of the author's move to Detroit in 2008 after graduating from the University of Michigan, when he purchased a home in the city for the unbelievable price of $500. Here, he explores the juxtaposition between the desperate poverty of the city and the wealth he observed in college, utilizing a mixture of recollected memory and detailed journal entries to describe his journey. Philp quickly becomes an involved resident, using creativity, resourcefulness, ingenuity, and positive thinking to create a place for himself in a depressed city. Ultimately, living in Detroit and being a part of a relatively small group of locals with similar values help give his life meaning. VERDICT Highly recommended for general readers interested in the history and resurgence of Detroit and other U.S. cities. [See Prepub Alert, 10/10/16.]--Gary Medina, El Camino Coll., Torrance, CA

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