As memoirs go, this is a pretty light read about a startlingly familiar situation. I'm not up to house-hunting just yet, though I'm aware of the prices, but I am still an apartment-dweller and I move a lot. And I live in Boston. So I'm intimately familiar with the "anything we can afford is going to suck" phenomenon.

The geography in the book is different (NYC instead of Boston) but I can certainly relate to the situation. Not quite 4 stars, maybe 3.5, but it did entertain me more than a mediocre 3-star book. ( )

It seems that the best way for me to add my increasingly devalued two cents for this one is in the form of a brief response to Lexi’s recent review. Lame certainly, but I’m tired and my mother’s the only one who claims to read these things anyway.

On the one hand I completely agree with Lexi’s opinion that the lengthy title promises more than is delivered. Beyond some cursory post-bubble statistics at the book’s conclusion, topics such as sub prime loans hardly get attention beyond what the broker/agent/bank/whomever told them during a phone conversation. This is simply an autobiographical account of William’s trials and tribulations incurred by looking for a New York condo or townhouse on a tight budget.

Which leads to the core of Lexi’s review – that this is nothing more than the whining of the privileged. If the desire to simply own one’s home is an issue solely for the rich and famous, then she has a point. Living in Boston, I’m not disillusioned enough to think I can afford to purchase anything beyond an uncovered parking spot. Nonetheless, I definitely don’t think that trying to raise a family with sub-$100,000 household income in “The City” qualifies as “privileged.” If they were in a similar situation in, say, Houston, then they would find themselves exploring housing options with something like a $35,000 budget. Hardly extravagant.

I would give this 4 stars except I think the exclusion of any real information – as the cover implies – is a significant problem. Thus this teeters on the edge of being nothing more important than your run-of-the-mill family blog. However it is often humorous, very well written, and there’s no stories nor pictures describing fluffy house cats in Bill Cosbyesque sweaters… so 3 ½ stars! ( )

Mary Elizabeth Williams, her husband and two daughters's search for a home in New York City is recounted in Gimme Shelter- Ugly Houses, Cruddy Neighborhoods, Fast-talking Brokers, and Toxic Mortgages: My Three Years Searching for the American Dream.

Timing is everything, and Mary Elizabeth and her husband started their search in 2003,at the height of the home buying insanity. After living in a cramped apartment with one daughter and another on the way, she convinced her husband it was time to look for a home of their own.

If there is anything harder than finding an affordable rental unit in NYC, it's finding an affordable condo, co-op or home to buy. Williams places her story in the perspective of the national experience. Many of her friends were buying homes across the country, and she tells their different stories- from San Francisco to post-Katrina New Orleans to St. Louis to Minnesota.

Williams and her husband lived in Brooklyn, and they loved it there, so it was there that their search began. She figured they could afford a $350,000 mortgage, but everything in that price range was awful, filthy with missing stairs, sagging porches and a home that had mushrooms growing inside the house.

Brooklyn was becoming as expensive as Manhattan, as Manhattanites were spreading over the bridge and making real estate prices skyrocket. Getting a mortgage was a scary proposition as well. While Williams and her husband had excellent FICO scores, they did not have the 20% required for a down payment.

No problem; this is where the creative ideas of mortgage brokers come in. They could get a no-doc loan. This type of loan requires no pesky checking by the bank to see if the information provided by the prospective buyers on salary and credit history is accurate. Williams humorously described this type of loan as the banking industry's version of "don't ask, don't tell". While Williams and her husband were good credit risks, other people who received no-doc loans were not; thus created the housing crisis that tanked our economy.

For three long years, Williams and her husband looked at condos, co-ops and houses. They finally found a co-op they liked in a neighborhood that, although far from Brooklyn, had a big park, a grocery store, decent schools, and most importantly a nearby subway station. (Anyone who lives in New York understands how crucial that is.)

There is as much suspense as in a Stephen King novel as they wait for approval by the co-op board in a timely manner in order to get the low interest rate they need to afford the bank loan.

This is a timely book, as Williams shares her personal story of looking for the American dream of home ownership in the context of the beginning of the housing crisis. It is immensely readable, reading almost like a novel, and if you have ever bought a house, you will relate to her story. ( )