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Home Girl: Building a Dream House on a Lawless Block | 
| Author: Judith Matloff
Publisher: Random House
Category: Book
List Price: $25.00
Buy New: $3.80
You Save: $21.20 (85%)
New (36) Used (3) from $3.79
Avg. Customer Rating:  8 reviews
Sales Rank: 239316
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 304
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 6.1 x 1.2
ISBN: 1400065267
Dewey Decimal Number: 307.76097471
EAN: 9781400065264
ASIN: 1400065267
Publication Date: June 24, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
After twenty years as a foreign correspondent in tumultuous locales including Rwanda, Chechnya, and Sudan, Judith Matloff is ready to put down roots and start a family. She leaves Moscow and returns to her native New York City to house-hunt for the perfect spot while her Dutch husband, John, stays behind in Russia with their dog to pack up their belongings. Intoxicated by West Harlem’s cultural diversity and, more important, its affordability, Judith impulsively buys a stately fixer-upper brownstone in the neighborhood.
Little does she know what’s in store. Judith and John discover that their dream house was once a crack den and that “fixer upper” is an understatement. The building is a total wreck: The beams have been chewed to dust by termites, the staircase is separating from the wall, and the windows are smashed thanks to a recent break-in. Plus, the house–crowded with throngs of brazen drug dealers–forms the bustling epicenter of the cocaine trade in the Northeast, and heavily armed police regularly appear outside their door in pursuit of the thugs and crackheads who loiter there.
Thus begins Judith and John’s odyssey to win over the neighbors, including Salami, the menacing addict who threatens to take over their house; MacKenzie, the literary homeless man who quotes Latin over morning coffee; Mrs. LaDuke, the salty octogenarian and neighborhood watchdog; and Miguel, the smooth lieutenant of the local drug crew, with whom the couple must negotiate safe passage. It’s a far cry from utopia, but it’s a start, and they do all they can to carve out a comfortable life. And by the time they experience the birth of a son, Judith and John have even come to appreciate the neighborhood’s rough charms.
Blending her finely honed reporter’s instincts with superb storytelling, Judith Matloff has crafted a wry, reflective, and hugely entertaining memoir about community, home, and real estate. Home Girl is for anyone who has ever longed to go home, however complicated the journey.
Advance Praise for Home Girl
“Although I always suspected that renovating a house in New York City would be a slightly more harrowing undertaking than dodging bullets as a foreign correspondent, it took this charming story to convince me it could also be more entertaining. Except for the plumbing. That’s one adventure I couldn't survive.”
–Michelle Slatalla, author of The Town on Beaver Creek
“After years of covering wars overseas, Judith Matloff takes her boundless courage and inimitable style to the front lines of America’s biggest city. From her vantage point in a former crack house in West Harlem, she brings life to a proud community held hostage by drug dealers and forgotten by policy makers. Matloff’s sense of humor, clear reportage, and zest for adventure never fail. Home Girl is part gritty confessional, part love story, and totally delightful.”
–Bob Drogin, author of Curveball
“Here the American dream of home ownership takes on the epic dimensions of the modern pioneer in a drug-riddled land. Matloff’s story, which had me crying and laughing, is a portrait of a household and a community, extending far beyond the specifics of West Harlem to the universal–as all well-told stories do.”
–Martha McPhee, author of L’America
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| Customer Reviews: Read 3 more reviews...
 Excellent Read--Funny and Interesting July 25, 2008
I ripped through this delightful memoir in 3 days (and I have two young children, so that's quite a commentary in itself). The author is a journalist and the story of her experience is fantastically engaging but written with a journalist's detachment that keeps the pace fast and reduces the boggy personal reflections that can muck up a memoir. If you're a Glass Castles fan, and I am, then buy this and try to take your time savoring it. I'm a bit bummed that I finished it so quickly.
Great New York story July 23, 2008
As a New Yorker observing the gentrification of Harlem (the good and the bad), I thoroghly enjoyed Judith Matloff's tale of being on the frontier of this movement. Her characters are so real to me, I can see them walking down the block alternately amusing and scaring the new brownstone owners. Matloff shares her story with the perfect blend of humor and realism. A great read!
 U. S. Foreign Correspondent at Home July 22, 2008
RATING:4.5 out of 5
I have read a lot of memoirs written by foreign correspondents. I have to say that [Home Girl] puts a whole new perspective on reporting from the far reaches of the world even if it is only from West Harlem, USA. Ms. Matloff's brief summary of her work in other countries in the beginning is important, and one is able to see the danger and drama that she was exposed to over many years. One would think that would have prepared her for anything, and yet we learn very quickly that fear of the rebels can occur anywhere, even right here at home.
The book offers a glimpse at life on the edge of our "civilized" cities that so many choose to ignore on a daily basis. Ms. Mattloff's humor helps ease the absolute despair she describes about how many people live each and every day. She gives name and face and history to each of the characters that she encounters, both the "rebels" and the survivors of the war that is rages on in not only in West Harlem, but in other cities around the country. Her experience from overseas serves her well as she learns to negotiate with the homeless, the drug lieutenants, the cops, the realtors, the construction workers, as all of these people play some part in her survival and existence on a daily basis.
I heard someone say recently that "if only we knew their stories, we would understand their pain". She was referring to those who act out with violence and anger on the streets today. Ms. Mattloff's reveals some of the stories and pain that cause the violence and anger. And gladly, she tells us how change can happen for all the players over time when one just perseveres.
I would recommend this book to anyone who wants a "bird's eye" view from the street of the inner city.
funny intrepid revealing original AND true July 11, 2008
Having been through my own pioneering rennovation, I didn't think I had any residual sense of humor left about house matters.
But Matloff's book made me laugh many times. How delicious that is!
It isn't just her zany intelligence and her snappy writing style that make the story compelling--although that's a lot. It's also her authentic enthusiasm for humans in all their quirks, which shows up in the subtlety of her journalistic eye. And her very personal, clear voice.
Her engaging narrative goes down very smoothly. And woven into it is a revealing portrait of class and social issues in Harlem and, by reference, America.
To read Matloff, is to be drawn into her unusual and intrepid life, to feel that you really do know her, to love her storytelling voice.
Delightful and highly recommended.
The Story of a Couple More Adventurous than I July 7, 2008
5 out of 10 found this review helpful
Home Girl: Building a Dream House on a Lawless Block by Judith Matloff is the delightful story of an international journalist and her Dutch husband who decide to move back to New York City, Ms. Matloff's home town. While her husband is still living in Moscow, Ms. Matloff undertakes finding a home for them. She settles on a brownstone in West Harlem and describes the problems, sometimes hilarious, of renovating a home in a low income neighborhood. Her problems are compounded by the fact that her neighborhood is peopled by more drug traffickers than actual homeowners.
But this book is not just about drug trafficking. We also learn about the wonders of rehabbing an old brownstone, the delights of finding reliable workers and what to do when a kitchen wall falls down. Ms. Matloff also becomes pregnant during all this.
I really enjoyed this book. It was extremely well written and easy to read. Ms. Matloff is very good at describing her neighborhood and the people she encounters to the point you feel like you know those people. I could feel the atmosphere of the neighborhood. I just wish I knew what happened to all the delightful people I met in Home Girl! I can only hope she will write a sequel.
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