A truly eye-opening and heartbreaking look at the crisis of poverty in Detroit. I wish the writing had been a bit more engaging (it's a bit too finance and statistics oriented and less character-driven) but the story is one that everyone should read.

As someone who grew up near Detroit and now lives in the suburbs, I deeply appreciate this book. Detroit is often misunderstood and I think Jodie's portrayal of Detroiters was moving and illuminating.

This non-fiction book by Kirshner delves deep into the economic downturn and financial plummet of the city of Detroit, Michigan.

It’s not just a book that covers the economic standpoints, but also the people themselves that are so hardly hit by Detroit’s crumbing economy. Families that can’t sell their homes, businesses closing, people trying to find work to put food on the table and pay the electric bills — this helps add to the book and make it more relatable to the reader.

While this book was certainly informative, it read more like a series of court documents or news reports.

There was plenty of information to be had about the overall dysfunction and mismanagement that led to Detroit’s financial ruin but, even with the addition of personal narratives, it came across cold and, honestly, boring at times.

Perhaps I wasn’t in the right mindset to read something as dense and meticulously researched, as this obviously was, but this was a slog; several times I felt compelled to dump it altogether because it was simply ...too much.

Overall, a great bit of research and, certainly, a book that’ll leave you with a greater knowledge of Detroit’s tenuous position, but not a read to be entered into lightly.

As a Michigander—with a fair amount of family in Detroit—this was a painful and fascinating read. It’s an important look at financial, legal and bureaucratic factors can gut a city. It is definitely (as hyped) on par with Evicted.

Detroit was Broke. Through seven people’s stories, the author attempts to explain what went wrong, what went right, and what was the end result of Detroit’s trip through the Great Depression and bankruptcy.

Detroit was an urban oasis of jobs and industrial might until the 1960s. Then, race riots encouraged white flight to the suburbs reducing tax revenues. Deindustrialization and movement of factory jobs to other lower-wage countries decimated jobs in the city. Lack of jobs led to increased crime and mortgage defaults, which led to abandoned houses and squatters making them unsellable. Lack of jobs also forced subpar credit scores on local residents.

All of these factors led to opportunists buying these houses cheaply in bulk. After repackaging them, the investors used predatory lending practices to sell them to local residents who could not qualify for bank loans. The new homeowners were at an increased risk of default making them defacto renters of properties they were required to bring up to livable condition. And one missed payment and they were out with all their previous payments, improvements, and sweat equity lost with no legal recourse.

In the meantime, city government was forced into bankruptcy by the state. 30% of city jobs were cut. City bonds went into junk status making getting money substantially more expensive just when tax revenues were cratering due to the city resident issues detailed above.

How Detroit turned itself around from this domino effect of disaster after disaster makes an empowering read. The author attempts to not point the finger at race and Republicans for Detroit’s issues with minimal success. However, there were many issues caused by globalization and the economic crash that were clearly out of the city’s control. Overall, Broke is an intriguing story of failure, resilience, and hope—both individually through the seven people’s stories and on a national scale. 4 stars!

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

This book honestly captures what citizens of Detroit are experiencing after their City filed for bankruptcy. Promises were made and promises were broken. The people profiled by the author tell of buying property and then discovering that there are unpaid bills that they are now responsible for, how some struggle to pay for car insurance and get their children to school due to their being no school buses. The simple everyday tasks that so many of us take for granted are a struggle for these citizens due to the bad decisions made by every level of Government.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I wanted and hoped to like this book as much as I enjoyed Matthew Desmond's Evicted, but didn't. First, it felt like the author was writing about her subjects from a great distance, and not from Detroit itself. Second, I felt like I didn't get to know the characters as three dimensionally as I hoped. For example, I found it easy to mix up some of the male subjects in the book--reading a few paragraphs was often required to refresh my memory.

While Broke attempts to achieve the same things as Evicted, the latter--written by a sociologist--is far better researched and written.

The title "Broke" is entirely appropriate, as this searing case study approach to understanding the impact of Detroit's bankruptcy and post-bankruptcy "resurgence" focuses on the ground-level impacts of federal, state, and municipal policy decisions and demonstrates quite clearly that in the case of Detroit, purportedly utilitarian economic policies have been anything but beneficial to the greatest number of citizens. However, a more fitting title (if less appropriate in another sense) comes from a quote early on in the book: "Shit-hard Town." Detroit breaks the hearts of those who love it most, and each of the interwoven case studies in this book speak truth to that observation. Every remedy seemingly comes with strings attached, some of which are explicit barriers erected out of distrust of the people, others the long legacies of past injustices and personal failures. A couple of years ago, "Detroit Resurrected" took a command-level view of the policy bargaining during the Snyder administration to put the Motor City back on its feet, and took a laudatory stance toward the administration's actions. The stories told here throw a massive bucket of ice water on any warm glow left behind by that previous book. The genius of this reckoning is that it builds from these individual stories to make a larger point about urban policy in America, much like last year's "The Poisoned City" analyzed infrastructural disinvestment across the country through the lens of the Flint water crisis. This is essential reading for policymakers who risk complacency in assuming that once done, a law, regulation, or ruling from above will solve everything for those below.

I was conflicted about how to rate this book - partly because I think I would have enjoyed it more if I knew what it was going to be about. I thought this book was going to be a memoir or story about the life of those struggling in Detroit a la "Maid" or something similar. While parts were that, large parts were analysis and a breakdown of finances and circumstances in Detroit - which at times I found overwhelming. I think the book would have resonated more with me if it had followed more of the personal stories of the characters, but it was still a challenging and moving read to realize some of the horrendous situations people still face in 21st century America.

Thanks to Netgalley and St Martins for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a Did not finish for me after getting 15% in. I’ve sat on this book for months and realized I didn’t want to force myself to read it. I guess I am just not that interested in this topic.

I will say the information on Detroit is great. It wasn’t interesting for me to read but it was informative and maybe would really appeal to someone else.

I read up to 20% of Broke before I decided to put it down. Initially, I was interested in this non fiction read because I love learning about new places, and I thought this was going to be a deep dive into individuals living there -- a peak inside their day-to-day lives and emotions.

Unfortunately, I felt Broke missed the mark on the character development aspect. There were a lot of facts about Detroit that I wasn't previously aware of, but they read like a facts sheet more than immersing me in the sights and sounds of Detroit.

I think if you like a factual account of an event vs. a character-driven account, this would be a book for you to check out. I found myself really skimming through a lot of the facts, and ultimately that was why I decided to pause reading.

Thank you Netgalley for my ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Admittedly, I enjoy a good, detailed non-fiction that teaches me something about the world. I was completely absorbed by Evicted about the housing crisis in Milwaukee. Broke sounded intriguing - a story of Detroit and it’s slow inexorable fall into bankruptcy, as well the impact on its neighborhood and its people. Unfortunately, it fell flat for me. It is extremely detailed, to the point that my brain hurt from statistics. I was interested in the people the author chooses to follow to tell the story of Detroit, but needed more emotion in telling their stories. I own that this is a personal taste of my own, wanting to be wrapped up in their lives. I think this is a very well researched and written book for people working in urban planning, policy, social work, government, etc. but perhaps not for me.

What happens to people when cities are left to die? In Broke: Hardship and Resilience in a City of Broken Promises, Jodie Adams Kirshner explores the story of Detroit post-bankruptcy through the eyes of people living through it. While it will never be super clear why we as Americans allow federal and state policy to be so outstandingly punitive, Kirshner shows how resilience is at the heart of this once great city. Recommended.

My family moved to Metro Detroit in 1963 for a better life. My folks did achieve their dreams--a blue-collar job, a home of their own, medical insurance, a decent income, and a pension to retire on. Dad loved his job at Chrysler.

Just a few years later my friends and I watched as planes with National Guard troops flew overhead and tanks lumbered along Woodward Ave., heading to Detroit. The city's legacy of racist policies had birthed rebellion.

Over my lifetime the once-great city plummeted into bankruptcy and stretches of 'urban prairie'.

Why do we remove people from homes, leaving the houses empty to scrappers and decay and the bulldozers? Isn't it better for all to have the houses occupied, assist with their improvement, to have neighborhoods filled?

Jodie Adams Kirshner's Broke relates the series of events and decisions that brought Detroit from vibrancy to bankruptcy. But Kirshner doesn't just give a history of racist housing discrimination and government policy decisions. We experience Detroit through the stories of real people and their struggles to achieve their dreams.

Homeownership is the American Dream. Detroit's homeownership rate was once one of the highest in the nation. Then, African American neighborhoods were razed for 'urban renewal' projects while redlining curtailed housing options.

Kirshner shows how governmental decisions on the federal, state and local level disenfranchised Detroit residents who valiantly endeavor to remain in their homes and neighborhoods.

Bankruptcy, we come to understand, is not just a fiscal issue but hugely impacts individuals' lives.

These six people's stories are moving and devastating. They dream of owning the home in which they live. They purchase houses, repair them, and discover back taxes and water bills follow the house, not the resident, and they can't pay them. Investors purchase houses and let them stand empty while the family who had been living there are forced out.

They can't afford the $6000 a year car insurance they need to work--and to get their kids to school as Detroit has no school buses.

Some are native Detroiters but others were drawn to Detroit's atmosphere and sense of possibility. They are unable to obtain mortgages to purchase empty buildings for development.

They are never sure if rent payments are actually getting to the landlord, or if the discount car insurance they purchase is legit.

House damage remains unrepaired by distant landlords, jeopardizing the safety of a woman and her child.

Meanwhile, Midtown and Downtown development draws suburbanites at the price of huge tax breaks while neighborhood needs are ignored.

Kirshner is a journalist and bankruptcy lawyer and teaches at Columbia Law School. Broke offers deep insight through compelling narrative writing that illuminates and reaches our hearts.

I was granted access to a free egalley by the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.

I was granted access to a free egalley by the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.

I think this book gives a ton of insight into what it's really like to be broke in the United States today. I plan on writing a longer review for my blog later.

4 stars
Broke is the true story of a once great city falling to pieces after the enormous loss of jobs and the mortgage fiasco of a decade ago. The schools and city services are failing their citizens. The very small police force seems to be harassing the few citizens it has left.
This book is maddening, frustrating, unbelievable and at times inspiring. I love the grit shown time and time again by those featured in this book, who are just trying to overcome their circumstances and their multiple setbacks.
Broke is a must-read. It shows what happens when American jobs go away, when schools fall apart and when people lose hope. Broke also highlights those citizens who love their town and desire to prosper and live there..


I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher and NetGalley. The views given are my own. #Broke #NetGalley

An in-depth look at the economic troubles in Detroit. A hard read but a good one.

Many thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

The author has taken a hard look at the state of affairs in Detroit. Through the voices of seven people whose lives have been changed forever by the mismanagement of the city and its eventual bankruptcy.

I visited Detroit regularly during the late '80s and through the '90s. It was a huge, sprawling place and going downtown was heartbreaking. To see block after block of neglected and abandoned homes and businesses.

There is enough blame to go around in this look at how cities are not getting the support they need to provide the services people need to survive and thrive. Everything is broken. The real estate market, the banks, the inept leadership, the lack of state and federal support. 

About 40 percent of the city lives below the poverty level. Where is the investment in creating new jobs? How do these opportunists get by with paying $1000 for a foreclosed home and turning around and charging 3 times that in rent? The entire thing is falling apart and who is going to bail them out?

Detroit isn't the only city in trouble. We just rarely hear anything about the others. The research in this book is very well done!

I appreciate the author bringing this into the light. And I hope people read this and stand up and do the right thing by their fellow human beings.

Highly Recommended Reading!

NetGalley/  November 19th, 2019 by St. Martin's Press

Broke is the type of book that everyone should read simply to be better informed. When you live in the South in the country, it's hard to imagine a place like Detroit, especially the most poverty stricken areas, because I've never actually seen anything remotely close. I couldn't explain the why or how of the housing crisis any more than I could fly to the moon. That's why I chose to read this book. I want to be informed. Broke definitely gave me an education about subjects unknown to me. The Detroit situation is so much worse than words can say. I'm glad a book was written about the poorest from their own perspectives. How can anyone understand what they have not experienced? The author obviously researched tons of information. The result is a well written thoughtful story about heartbreaking hopeless situations that seem impossible to someone like me. It's beyond unfortunate that this is truth instead of fiction. Read this book and inform yourself. Thanks to NetGalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.