SUNBELT BLUES The Failure of American Housing

This audiobook is about the unequal recovery of some Americans from the 2008 economic crash, specifically those who are still struggling in the Sunbelt. Narrator Ramon de Ocampo provides a steady voice to describe the unsteady lives of the addicts, hustlers, Disney World workers, and other scrapers-by who live on the outskirts of Mickey Mouse's empire. Many theme park workers can't afford to live near the high-end housing where tourists stay, so they occupy motel rooms and homeless camps along Route 192. Their lives are marked by "barely": barely able to pay the rent, barely able to eat, barely able to survive. This is a deeply disturbing audiobook about housing inequality, its causes and impacts. De Ocampo's performance is admirable. It is well paced, and he employs voices and strategic pauses to good effect. In sum, both the writing and narration are first-class. G.S. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine [Published: DECEMBER 2021]