57 pages 1 hour read

Matthew Desmond

Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2016

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Important Quotes

Quotation Mark Icon

“Sherrena shared something with other landlords: an unbending confidence she could make it on her own […] that she could strike out into nothing and through her own gumption and intelligence come back with a good living.” 


(Chapter 1, Page 12)

Early on, landlord Sherrena Tarver is presented as being like the heroine of a Horatio Alger story, a person whose sheer force of will and work ethic builds a real-estate portfolio worth two million dollars. This is how most of the landlords like to see themselves: as heroes overcoming the odds—tenants, building inspectors, the legal system—to come out on top. As the book progresses, Sherrena proves to be completely amoral, lacking any compassion, and interested in only one thing: the accumulation of money no matter the cost everyone else around her must bear. 

Quotation Mark Icon

“He’s a player, that’s all he is. Time for him to go […] They just try to take, take, take, take, take.” 


(Chapter 2, Page 30)

This is what Lora, Sherrena’s friend who’s also a landlord, thinks about Lamar Richards, Sherrena’s tenant. Lamar has no legs below his knees and has been crawling around on the floor painting an apartment for Sherrena, in order to catch up on his rent, but the women see him as they see virtually all renters: impediments to collecting the money they so richly deserve

Quotation Mark Icon

“Sometimes I’m a shrink […] Sometimes I’m the village asshole.”


(Chapter 3, Page 36)

This is how Lenny characterizes his job as the onsite property manager at College Mobile Home Park. Lenny is not completely uncaring, but he has one goal in mind regarding his interactions with the trailer park residents: collecting enough rent each month to earn his bonuses.

Related Titles

By Matthew Desmond

Study Guide

logo

Poverty, by America

Matthew Desmond

Poverty, by America

Matthew Desmond

Plot Summary

logo

Race in America

Matthew Desmond, Mustafa Emirbayer

Race in America

Matthew Desmond, Mustafa Emirbayer