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Gimme Shelter
 
 

Gimme Shelter (Hardcover)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: Mary Elizabeth Williams, New York, Carroll Gardens (more...)
4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (41 customer reviews)

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Williams, a freelance journalist, provides a blow-by-blow account of the recent inflation of the real estate bubble and its economic—and emotional—impact on middle-class families like her own. The author paints a vivid picture of the crisis in New York City, where even with a housing budget of $400,000, she and her husband found only properties that provided less than 1,000 square feet of living space or were located under bridges or facing expressways or were in dire need of six-figure renovation. She provides cogent explanations of the recent financial crisis and foreshadows its still-developing repercussions, given that she is one of the millions who signed onto an Alt-A (not quite prime) mortgage. Her family's search for a home and their journey through the mire of the New York real estate market rises to affecting heights and is a compelling, clearly written story that will interest anyone seeking a personal perspective on the causes, depth and long-term consequences of the financial crisis and the ramifications of past and current policy decisions. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


From Booklist

*Starred Review* Williams had a young daughter and was considering having another child when the tinyness of the family’s Brooklyn apartment, the pressure of the New York housing market, and the house-hunting and -buying activities of friends all brought to a fever pitch her own desire to take the plunge into home ownership. Over a three-year period that included the birth of a second daughter, Williams discovered the alarming pace of gentrification in New York, the maddening inverse relationship between home price and mortgage rate (when one was rising, the other was falling), the dizzying array of elements that go into buying a home (from finicky co-op boards to snippy real-estate brokers and lenders), and the widening gap between those who can and do own their homes and those who don’t. Loath to leave their beloved Brooklyn, Williams and her husband looked further and further afield, pondering the similar moves their friends were making across the nation. In this engaging and personal look at the home-buying process, Williams takes the reader on an emotional roller coaster of fear and envy as she illuminates some of the market pressures that lie behind the nation’s current financial crisis. --Vanessa Bush

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 336 pages
  • Publisher: Simon & Schuster; 1 edition (March 3, 2009)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1416557083
  • ISBN-13: 978-1416557081
  • Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.4 x 1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (41 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #424,202 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

More About the Author

Mary Elizabeth Williams
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Visit Amazon's Mary Elizabeth Williams Page

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Customer Reviews

41 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.6 out of 5 stars (41 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars First aid for the pain of real estate, March 7, 2009
By Liz L. (Bronxville, NY) - See all my reviews
Very, very funny. I only wish we had this hilarious handbook during the two miserable years we spent searching for plausible, affordable real estate within commuting distance of Manhattan.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars truthful and hilarious, February 28, 2009
gimme shelter is mary elizabeth williams' quest for a simple reasonably-priced home. and what does she get? more monsters, setbacks and double crosses than frodo and his fellowship.
apparently real estate folk have more nifty lies than a bar full of frat boys and williams tell us all about them. the writing is precise, honest and very funny. if one got paid for laughs generated Mary Elizabeth Williams would be a wealthy landowner with many cows by now.
read this book in the warmth and comfort of your undersized, overpriced but rent stabilized apartment and feel good about yourself. apartments - they aren't just for losers anymore.
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Intelligent, Fun, Informative-and a good read!, February 25, 2009
I just finished Gimme Shelter, and even though I was reading ever faster to see how the personal story that's woven through the book ended, I'm sorry it's over. It's the real estate bubble from the inside, told in a funny and searingly honest voice that puts even the whole sub-prime mess in terms we can understand. Mary Elizabeth Williams was in the thick of it, trying to buy in New York City, one of the most overheated markets out there, and she deftly intersperses her experience with what's going on all across the country, offering pricelessly lucid explanations for everything from no-interest loans to the mortgage default rate in between descriptions of apartments with triangular bedrooms and stoveless kitchens bordering graveyards and expressways, all at prices that any New Yorker will recognize and everyone else will blanch at. It's a good story, an engaging memoir and an informative read all in one.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Could not put this book down!
I was riveted by this book, although I don't live in or plan to live in or around New York. Williams' style is engaging, her storytelling skills are awesome, and I found myself... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Millie Guggenheim

5.0 out of 5 stars Real Estate Folly
Mary Elizabeth Williams, living in a rental apartment in Brooklyn with her husband and two daughters, became obsessed with owning an apartment in New York City--even though they... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Marysz

4.0 out of 5 stars Loved this book
Loved this book. OK, so I like real-estate porn (I read the NYT Real Estate section weekly, watch HGTV, check out real estate listings, etc. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Tricia C

3.0 out of 5 stars 3 stars, one for each time I laughed
MBW can definitely write. There are some phrases in this book that made me laugh out loud. Like... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Someone Like You

4.0 out of 5 stars 4.5 Stars... Compelling reading
"Gimme Shelter: Ugly Houses, Cruddy Neighborhoods, Fast-Talking Brokers and Toxic Mortgages: My Three Years Searching for the American Dream" (320 pages) brings the tale of author... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Paul Allaer

4.0 out of 5 stars Home Buying--Not For Dummies
Mary Elizabeth Williams' saga of buying her and her family's first home was funny, gut-wrenching, and informative. Read more
Published 4 months ago by shrinkrap

4.0 out of 5 stars Tells it like it is.
A fun and honest look at purchasing a home (apartment) in New York. The author discusses the longing for home ownership as well as the trials and tribulations of searching for... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Lois Lain

5.0 out of 5 stars pop goes the bubble
Mary Elizabeth Williams deftly weaves her story of braving the Brooklyn/Manhattan real estate market with pithy analysis of the housing bubble - and how it burst. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Julia A. Hrysenko

4.0 out of 5 stars Funny and Sad
Ms. Williams' book beautifully captures what it was like to be a young family in New York City in the '00s trying to catch the American Dream, only to watch it get farther and... Read more
Published 5 months ago by markshelby

5.0 out of 5 stars Shelter for the weary
"Gimme Shelter" is a timely and witty read. Ms. Williams gives an insightful and wickedly funny view of the housing market from the inside out. Read more
Published 5 months ago by J. Burke

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