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East of Troost
Under the guise of a starting-over story, this novel deals with subtle racism today, overt racism in the past, and soul-searching about what to do about it in everyday living.
East of Troost's fictional narrator has moved back to her childhood home in a neighborhood that is now mostly Black and vastly changed by an expressway that displaced hundreds of families. It is the area located east of Troost Avenue, an invisible barrier created in the early 1900s to keep the west side of Kansas City white, "safely" cordoned off from the Black families on the east side.
When the narrator moves back to her old neighborhood in pursuit of a sense of home, she deals with crime, home repair, and skepticism--what is this middle-aged white woman doing here, living alone? Supported by a wise neighbor, a stalwart dog, and the local hardware store, we see her navigate her adult world while we get glimpses of author Ellen Barker's real life there as a teenager in the sixties, when white families were fleeing and Black families moving in--and sometimes back out when met with hatred and violence. A regional story with universal themes, East of Troost goes to the basics of human behavior: compassion and cruelty, fear and courage, comedy and drama.
East of Troost's fictional narrator has moved back to her childhood home in a neighborhood that is now mostly Black and vastly changed by an expressway that displaced hundreds of families. It is the area located east of Troost Avenue, an invisible barrier created in the early 1900s to keep the west side of Kansas City white, "safely" cordoned off from the Black families on the east side.
When the narrator moves back to her old neighborhood in pursuit of a sense of home, she deals with crime, home repair, and skepticism--what is this middle-aged white woman doing here, living alone? Supported by a wise neighbor, a stalwart dog, and the local hardware store, we see her navigate her adult world while we get glimpses of author Ellen Barker's real life there as a teenager in the sixties, when white families were fleeing and Black families moving in--and sometimes back out when met with hatred and violence. A regional story with universal themes, East of Troost goes to the basics of human behavior: compassion and cruelty, fear and courage, comedy and drama.
- GenresFiction
328 pages, Paperback
Published September 6, 2022
34 people are currently reading
350 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 52 reviews
January 19, 2024
This is a novel I categorize as 'cozy' Kansas City. It's really about Kansas City history in the area east of Troost where the author grew up although it's told as a fictional story of a woman who has lost her husband and her home in California and moves back into her childhood Kansas City home. What I love about the story is how it captures Kansas City history from the mid-20th century to present. The protagonist is re-inventing/re-creating herself by going back to where she came from and looking at the changes. The other side of the coin, which isn't brought out as much in this novel, is how a woman loses her husband and her home (2 separate events) and can no longer afford the lifestyle she had despite what seems to be a solid position (after all she's able to move to Kansas City and telework). My rating is 4 stars for while I enjoyed reading this, a lot of things fell into place (which is why I call this a cozy story) that would not particularly happen in real life. (I live in Kansas City in the mysterious 'Northland' and find going south of the river a bit like going into foreign territory.)
January 22, 2024
Sadly this book fell far below my expectations. I grew up in a suburb of Kansas City, MO so was looking forward to this story. Although I didn’t live near Troost, it was a major, well-known area. I was anxious to better understand the struggles and how it went from a solid mid-income neighborhood to a lower-income, higher crime area and the struggles those families encountered. The main character is a nameless white female that buys the home she grew up in and moves into the now mostly black area. Although the author touches on the challenges, concerns and also joys of both her and her neighbors, 80+% of the story involved endless, repetitive pages of the new homeowner literally thinking out loud, making list after list after list of things she needs to buy, scratching off some things, what she needs to fix up, what store she is going to for the things she needs, etc. WHAT??? My 2 rating over a 1 is because I did enjoy the references to several places I often frequented - Swope Park, the Zoo, Raytown, and the famous Country Club Plaza. I am sure the author meant well; it just didn’t come near to hitting the mark for me.
September 7, 2022
Barker wrote a pleasant book about an older woman who moves back into her former house in her old Kansas City neighborhood.
I liked the book. I liked reading how she rehabbed the house and got to know her neighbors.
Some of the book talks about the changes in the neighborhood due to constructing, population shifts, and residents.
The reader is never told the narrator’s name, but it isn’t a big deal.
Thanks to She Writes Press for the complimentary copy.
I liked the book. I liked reading how she rehabbed the house and got to know her neighbors.
Some of the book talks about the changes in the neighborhood due to constructing, population shifts, and residents.
The reader is never told the narrator’s name, but it isn’t a big deal.
Thanks to She Writes Press for the complimentary copy.
April 22, 2022
Have you ever dreamed of going back to the place where you spent innocent days as a child? Barker's protagonist has lost everything--her husband to a neurological disease, their money to his misguided investments, and now their home and everything in it to a California fire. Suffering from deeper trauma than she herself realizes, she takes what she has left and buys the wreck of a house that was her childhood home in a slum of a neighborhood in Kansas City--the Missouri one. The house becomes a character in this novel alongside the protagonist and as our heroine tries to repair the house and its neighborhood, she is also repairing herself. The neighborhood is a tale of urban blight, one of those places we're all told is 'too dangerous to go' that have suffered from freeways bi-furcating them, and neglect in every direction. I loved the surprise ending but won't share more so that you can discover it yourself. For readers interested in urban issues, traumatized souls and finding your way in troubled times.
June 3, 2022
I had the pleasure of reading an advance copy of Ellen Barker’s debut novel, East of Troost. Recovering from major losses, the narrator moves across country to her childhood house in Kansas City. Most of the white families of her childhood have moved out of the neighborhood blighted by the construction of a freeway, high crime, and long-standing racial segregation. Interestingly, the wreck of a house is a main character in this novel written with captivating detail and humor of what happens when a middle-aged white woman attempts to go home again. The narrator sets about rebuilding her life and forging bonds with her neighbors as she refurbishes her childhood home, reflecting on past and present societal influences that shape such neighborhoods and cities (drawn from the authors own life) and offering hope for the future—with a delightful surprise ending.
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September 5, 2022DNF (Did Not Finish)
I wanted to love this book. I really tried.
The writing itself is engaging.
But...
I found the story tedious and dull. We spend an excessive amount of time on details that just aren't interesting, such as assessing necessary repairs, making t0-do lists (several of them), walking around the neighborhood while comparing what it was like decades ago to what it is now, etc.
This could have been an interesting aspect of the story, but it didn't hold up as the central focus. I needed more grit, more emotion, more... something.
I pushed on to page 106, and still nothing of consequence was happening, so I gave up.
But this is just my opinion, based on my reading preferences. You might love the story.
*I received an ARC from She Writes Press.*
I wanted to love this book. I really tried.
The writing itself is engaging.
But...
I found the story tedious and dull. We spend an excessive amount of time on details that just aren't interesting, such as assessing necessary repairs, making t0-do lists (several of them), walking around the neighborhood while comparing what it was like decades ago to what it is now, etc.
This could have been an interesting aspect of the story, but it didn't hold up as the central focus. I needed more grit, more emotion, more... something.
I pushed on to page 106, and still nothing of consequence was happening, so I gave up.
But this is just my opinion, based on my reading preferences. You might love the story.
*I received an ARC from She Writes Press.*
June 16, 2022
Is it possible to go back to the past to make a new future? East of Troost is the absorbing story of a White woman in her 50s who, after suffering tragic losses, buys her childhood home in Kansas City. She seeks a sense of safety in the familiar, although her parents and neighbors abandoned the neighborhood decades before when a new expressway destroyed home values and community ties and Black families moved in. A true child of the ‘60s, she hopes to do some good by renovating the run-down “problem house.” With her painstaking restoration, resourcefulness, and empathy, she embodies a resilient spirit that just might win over the skeptical neighbors. A deeply satisfying read.
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April 28, 2023DNF pg 100
This was an incredibly boring daily narrative. I’m not interested in a diary entry like book.
This was an incredibly boring daily narrative. I’m not interested in a diary entry like book.
September 14, 2022
Have you ever started over, crushed after life-changing events? Had your emotions rule, perhaps skew, your actions? Set out to find a long-buried place of safety, only to find it greatly changed?
This is where our narrator’s story begins. She has lost all in California and has moved back to Kansas City where she grew up, a place her lizard self has told her is safe. Owning only what she brought in her car and her endearing dog, she starts the step-by-step process of reclaiming the little house she grew up in and creating some sense of community.
I immediately warmed to the middle-aged narrator’s wry voice and was with her every step she took through her story. She reflects on the 1960s and 1970s when she was growing up in a changing world that included racism and purposely placed highways that cemented racial lines in neighborhoods. She slowly comes to understand that perhaps she can help bring about change for the better in her languishing neighborhood that suffered because of racism and dislocation.
Our protagonist drops any pretenses of her more elevated existence in California to deal authentically with her new reality. After the sagging kitchen ceiling is replaced and a strong door is in place, she looks at her grief and her condition of “fasting from everything in my life except food.” With the gentle nudging of a childhood friend, she devotes time to be with her feelings and learn what she needs to do to get on with her life.
Reading this book revealed wisdom. For example, our hero has the common sense to step back from stressful events, knowing she is too fragile to engage with them. We learn her discipline of keeping quiet when her emotions might color her speech. We learn to ask these questions of ourselves: Can I make a change? Can I make a difference by my choices? Can I be a positive force?
The writing contains humorous turns of phrase that had me smiling as I kept turning the pages. By the end I had a new friend I wanted to get to know much better. I hope there is a sequel.
This is where our narrator’s story begins. She has lost all in California and has moved back to Kansas City where she grew up, a place her lizard self has told her is safe. Owning only what she brought in her car and her endearing dog, she starts the step-by-step process of reclaiming the little house she grew up in and creating some sense of community.
I immediately warmed to the middle-aged narrator’s wry voice and was with her every step she took through her story. She reflects on the 1960s and 1970s when she was growing up in a changing world that included racism and purposely placed highways that cemented racial lines in neighborhoods. She slowly comes to understand that perhaps she can help bring about change for the better in her languishing neighborhood that suffered because of racism and dislocation.
Our protagonist drops any pretenses of her more elevated existence in California to deal authentically with her new reality. After the sagging kitchen ceiling is replaced and a strong door is in place, she looks at her grief and her condition of “fasting from everything in my life except food.” With the gentle nudging of a childhood friend, she devotes time to be with her feelings and learn what she needs to do to get on with her life.
Reading this book revealed wisdom. For example, our hero has the common sense to step back from stressful events, knowing she is too fragile to engage with them. We learn her discipline of keeping quiet when her emotions might color her speech. We learn to ask these questions of ourselves: Can I make a change? Can I make a difference by my choices? Can I be a positive force?
The writing contains humorous turns of phrase that had me smiling as I kept turning the pages. By the end I had a new friend I wanted to get to know much better. I hope there is a sequel.
August 22, 2022
East of Troost is about the main character who has grown up and moved away from her childhood home, but tragedy in her life finds her wanting a simpler time. After losing both her house and her husband, she packs everything up and on a wim purchases her childhood home. She travels back to Kansas City, only to find the neighborhood has changed greatly since the the highway was built down the middle, separating the White and Black families on each side. She moves East of Troost, onto the side more Black families now reside, even though she herself is white. The story proceeds to tell her experience in fixing up the home, meeting neighbors, and getting settled into her new life and the challenges it brings.
The first positive thing is that I love the cover of this book. It's clean, fresh, and does an excellent job of taking me back to my childhood. I liked this book a lot, but I didn't think it was outstanding, I couldn't give it five stars. It was very simple which was probably the point, but I didn't feel it delved into the subjects at hand enough to engross me to the point I wanted to be engrossed. It was very bland at points and I kept waiting for the ball to drop or something major to happen to through the storyline in a different direction. That all being said, I think everyone should read it because it's nice to have an uncluttered book in our lives.
The first positive thing is that I love the cover of this book. It's clean, fresh, and does an excellent job of taking me back to my childhood. I liked this book a lot, but I didn't think it was outstanding, I couldn't give it five stars. It was very simple which was probably the point, but I didn't feel it delved into the subjects at hand enough to engross me to the point I wanted to be engrossed. It was very bland at points and I kept waiting for the ball to drop or something major to happen to through the storyline in a different direction. That all being said, I think everyone should read it because it's nice to have an uncluttered book in our lives.
September 12, 2022
East of Troost
Author, Ellen Barker
Thank you @booksparks for my #gifted copy of this #fallpopups novel!
Troost is a street. A street that our 50- something female protagonist grew up on. She moves back to her childhood home seeking solace and comfort after experiencing devastating personal tragedies and is now somewhat ready to tackle the world alone.
Much has changed in the neighborhood since she lived east- of - Troost as a girl. The neighborhood is now a predominately black neighborhood and the landscape looks and feels completely different. This novel read more like a personal diary than an action- packed plot. Written in the first person, our protagonist, who we never learn of her name, takes her readers through her everyday mundane chores and activities- from walking her dog to planting in her garden to paving her driveway. And from meeting her neighbors, befriending workers at the hardware and resale stores, and reestablishing relationships with family, she slowly begins to rebuild her life in a quiet and courageous way.
With subtle themes of white privilege, independence, and second chances, and a dive into humanity, East of Troost is a glimpse into what divides us and what brings us together.
3.5 stars!
Author, Ellen Barker
Thank you @booksparks for my #gifted copy of this #fallpopups novel!
Troost is a street. A street that our 50- something female protagonist grew up on. She moves back to her childhood home seeking solace and comfort after experiencing devastating personal tragedies and is now somewhat ready to tackle the world alone.
Much has changed in the neighborhood since she lived east- of - Troost as a girl. The neighborhood is now a predominately black neighborhood and the landscape looks and feels completely different. This novel read more like a personal diary than an action- packed plot. Written in the first person, our protagonist, who we never learn of her name, takes her readers through her everyday mundane chores and activities- from walking her dog to planting in her garden to paving her driveway. And from meeting her neighbors, befriending workers at the hardware and resale stores, and reestablishing relationships with family, she slowly begins to rebuild her life in a quiet and courageous way.
With subtle themes of white privilege, independence, and second chances, and a dive into humanity, East of Troost is a glimpse into what divides us and what brings us together.
3.5 stars!
December 21, 2022
An easy to read book that was riveting - partly because I lived in Kansas City many years but also because I have seen what happens to a community when a freeway is constructed through it. The narrator had lived east of Troost as a girl and had many wonderful memories of her life there. Now she returns 30-plus years later to live, once again, in her childhood home. As she relates stories of her current situation of dealing with the condition of the house, the freeway, her old neighborhood, crime, etc., she recalls the neighborhood during her growing up years and what happened to her family and the area with the construction of the freeway. Ellen's writing is supurb with laugh out loud humor peppered into Nora's journal.
Every one who is a city planner or on a commission that is considering the infrastructure of a city and neighborhood could benefit from reading this book. Delightfully free of statistics, it is none-the-less a lesson in social issues and citizens' lives that depend on fair decisions of persons in control.
I am going to share this book with my book club!
Every one who is a city planner or on a commission that is considering the infrastructure of a city and neighborhood could benefit from reading this book. Delightfully free of statistics, it is none-the-less a lesson in social issues and citizens' lives that depend on fair decisions of persons in control.
I am going to share this book with my book club!
September 15, 2023
Rarely does a debut novel succeed on multiple levels, but Ellen Barker’s East of Troost is not your ordinary fare. Barker’s story speaks deeply of grief and comfort, prejudice and reconciliation, isolation and community. Hers is an absorbing and utterly human account, one woman’s return from the ruins of her shattered life to the remains of her old, blighted neighborhood. There she encounters a dramatically changed landscape and a diverse collection of neighbors, held at arm’s length at first, before in time earning her friendly embrace.
Barker brings Kansas City to life, past and present, from its painful history of red-lining and white flight to its continuing struggles to facilitate reconciliation and rebuild depressed communities. The rebirth of the old neighborhood mirrors one woman’s new beginning. It turns out, we can go back to the old home place. Revisiting our roots can be a source of healing and growth and renewed faith, never better expressed than in East of Troost. Much enjoyed and highly recommended.
Barker brings Kansas City to life, past and present, from its painful history of red-lining and white flight to its continuing struggles to facilitate reconciliation and rebuild depressed communities. The rebirth of the old neighborhood mirrors one woman’s new beginning. It turns out, we can go back to the old home place. Revisiting our roots can be a source of healing and growth and renewed faith, never better expressed than in East of Troost. Much enjoyed and highly recommended.
May 30, 2024
A woman buys the house she grew up in and lives there again. But in between this house was part of the transformation because of redlining, block busting, white flight, and defunding to ghettoization. How can you possibly mess up this story? And in Kansas City, where J.C. Nichols perfected the suburbs of racial covenants!
Easy. You don't mention any of this, but merely talk about the lost respectability, but the current kind neighbors and community members of no particular race. Then you tell us every time you need to go to a hardware store or go get something to eat. I kept slogging through the mundane boredom hoping for whatever the point was. There was no point. If you like "slice of life" and you're the type of racist who "doesn't see race/color," then this one is for you. I can't recommend it.
(The info that should make this story interesting is here: https://dsl.richmond.edu/panorama/red... You won't get it in this memoir.)
Easy. You don't mention any of this, but merely talk about the lost respectability, but the current kind neighbors and community members of no particular race. Then you tell us every time you need to go to a hardware store or go get something to eat. I kept slogging through the mundane boredom hoping for whatever the point was. There was no point. If you like "slice of life" and you're the type of racist who "doesn't see race/color," then this one is for you. I can't recommend it.
(The info that should make this story interesting is here: https://dsl.richmond.edu/panorama/red... You won't get it in this memoir.)
September 2, 2022
Book Review…East of Troost by Ellen Barker
When the narrator moves back to her old neighborhood in pursuit of a sense of home, she deals with crime, home repair, and skepticism. Supported by a wise neighbor, a stalwart dog and the local hardware store, we see her navigate her adult world while we get glimpses of author Ellen Barker's real life there as a teenager in the sixties, when white families were fleeing and Black families moving in and sometimes back out when met with hatred and violence.
I enjoyed this novel, it was not a very long one but it was an uplifting and heartwarming story about starting over! The narrator is an interesting character to follow. As she restores her childhood home, which also becomes a character, she tries to rebuild her life and create bonds with her neighbors. It has great writing, vivid details, good characters and a surprise ending! Thank you Book Sparks for sharing this book with me!
When the narrator moves back to her old neighborhood in pursuit of a sense of home, she deals with crime, home repair, and skepticism. Supported by a wise neighbor, a stalwart dog and the local hardware store, we see her navigate her adult world while we get glimpses of author Ellen Barker's real life there as a teenager in the sixties, when white families were fleeing and Black families moving in and sometimes back out when met with hatred and violence.
I enjoyed this novel, it was not a very long one but it was an uplifting and heartwarming story about starting over! The narrator is an interesting character to follow. As she restores her childhood home, which also becomes a character, she tries to rebuild her life and create bonds with her neighbors. It has great writing, vivid details, good characters and a surprise ending! Thank you Book Sparks for sharing this book with me!
September 8, 2022
Thank you @booksparks for this #gifted copy of #EastofTroost !!
This book was super easy to read, and was like I was reading a memoir. The main character moves back to her childhood home after her “double whammy” life events send her in a spiral. She looks to come back to a place of familiarity, but she doesn’t recognize this place she used to call home.
With the help of her (amazing) neighbors & local community, she is able to push through her grief & indecisiveness with moving back home. When she arrives, the neighborhood looks different, and she has to learn how to not be so naive when it comes to people around her & the stigma that exists “East of Troost.”
On a side note, whenever she referred to her mom, she called her mother & it freaked me out😂
Overall this was a great read! You get to experience the main character’s growth throughout a year, and get to go through her renovating this new home (which I love)!
This book was super easy to read, and was like I was reading a memoir. The main character moves back to her childhood home after her “double whammy” life events send her in a spiral. She looks to come back to a place of familiarity, but she doesn’t recognize this place she used to call home.
With the help of her (amazing) neighbors & local community, she is able to push through her grief & indecisiveness with moving back home. When she arrives, the neighborhood looks different, and she has to learn how to not be so naive when it comes to people around her & the stigma that exists “East of Troost.”
On a side note, whenever she referred to her mom, she called her mother & it freaked me out😂
Overall this was a great read! You get to experience the main character’s growth throughout a year, and get to go through her renovating this new home (which I love)!
May 8, 2023
I picked this up because I've lived in the KC metro area for about 37 years. I know all about "east of Troost" and everything that goes along with that stigma. That interest was definitely fulfilled in reading this book. The author even wrote about Fairyland, which has always been a HUGE fascination for me. When we moved here, it was abandoned; so I never got to experience it in its heyday, but I'm drawn to abandoned places. I was GUTTED when they demolished it all to build out what's now I-49.
As for the main character of the book, I LOVED reading about all the remodeling and trips to old haunts and all, but I was pretty put off by how often she was worried about what others would think. I almost grew to dislike her as the book went on.
All in all, I think this book will appeal to anyone familiar with the area. It definitely reads more like a memoir or diary than a novel.
As for the main character of the book, I LOVED reading about all the remodeling and trips to old haunts and all, but I was pretty put off by how often she was worried about what others would think. I almost grew to dislike her as the book went on.
All in all, I think this book will appeal to anyone familiar with the area. It definitely reads more like a memoir or diary than a novel.
August 8, 2025
I agree that this book is tedious in areas with a lot of lists by the main character, however to me it made a lot of sense giving the grieving the main character is going through. It makes sense that when everything feels out of control that she tries to control what she can. I loved the Kansas City memories and the ways she wrestles with understanding her intentions or motivations behind moving back to her childhood home. Could the author have woven more nuance to the conversations with her neighbors about race? Yes, I would have appreciated those, but to me this story was a story of grief healing, not just of her immediate past, but also addressing the grief of losing her parents and a home that she left without closure during her college years. Maybe because the character is one year younger than my own mother or maybe because my parents sold my childhood home when I left for college, but it resonated with my own life.
January 12, 2025
As a person who has lived in a Kansas City suburb for 25 years and for many years before that only an hour away, I had a pleasant time reading this book. The story traces the path to recovery of a grieving woman returning to her home town and even the home she grew up in. The story is also about the recovery of that home and the neighborhood and the particular issues that area has faced and still faces. There are lots of fun bits here for those of us who live in this area, but I think the story can be appreciated by anyone who loves a place and has watched it's decline and dreams of returning it to it's former state. The story is light, sort of a warm fuzzy book read which was perfect for my end-of-holiday reading. I gave it a 4 because I do think there could have been more meat on the bones, even though I loved reading it.
April 19, 2023
I have only been to Kansas City once and didn't venture far from my hotel but after reading Ellen Barker's novel, I feel like I know the city in a different way. But this is more than a book about a place. It is a book about a woman forced to change just about everything in her life and how she goes about that. Everything in this book seems very true. The main character is very real and relatable- she struggles, she worries, she has triumphs of varying sizes. I particularly loved that she is very good at her job and that religion plays a large part in her life but neither of these things involve drama. They are just what they are. This book never "shouts" but you will hear its message loud and clear. This book is a pleasure to read and would make a great selection for a book club.
February 21, 2024
What a memory laden book for me to read. The time line put me at about the same age as the protagonist, so I could remember the riots, the changes in demographics, and even the books mentioned. Growing u less than 100 miles from KC, and it being “our big city” I was familiar with the street names and locations. I had even had a high school mission trip to the area. The whole story line was very realistic, and I could even put myself in the protagonist, who moved back to her childhood home into a very different setting than she had experienced as a child. Yet it opened her eyes to all that began happening and changing in society when she was a child. This can be taken as a simple story, or the continuation of change in the face of America.
August 8, 2022
Whoever says you can’t go home again should read "East of Troost." After two devastating tragedies, Ellen Barker’s protagonist does go home again—to Kansas City, Missouri. She purchases her childhood home, which has been neglected for decades. This unique first-person narrative follows her reintegration into the community and her struggle to make the house a home. Barker subtly addresses the racial divide, in this case, an expressway, separating the affluent white neighborhoods from the African American neighborhood where her white narrator now finds herself. "East of Troost" is an uplifting, heartwarming story that reads like a memoir. Like me, you’ll fall in love with the narrator and cheer her on as she and her home become whole again.
September 14, 2022
“You can never go home again.” Because of personal tragedy, the narrator, the courageous protagonist, does indeed go home again. She purchases the vacant and waning home of her youth in a neighborhood that has been impacted by the social and economic realities that accompany redlining and eminent domain. Ellen Barker has created a friendly-paced, page-turning novel that examines this adage with the insight and compassion that comes with age and personal commitment to conscience development. It leaves the reader anxiously waiting for the author’s next novel. (Tricie-- a former resident of East of Troost.)
December 25, 2024
I live in KC and taught in this area for years, so I was excited to read this book. While I did appreciate a story with places I recognize and references to cultural things that are very KC and probably wouldn’t be recognized by someone who didn’t grow up here, there wasn’t much to the actual story.
So much of the book is a series of to-do lists and errands to the hardware store. It really reads more like her journal about fixing up a run-down house. There was so much missed opportunity here, because the division of the city is still quite obvious. So many native Kansas Citians aren’t even aware how this came to happen, and this story could have delved much more deeply into this.
So much of the book is a series of to-do lists and errands to the hardware store. It really reads more like her journal about fixing up a run-down house. There was so much missed opportunity here, because the division of the city is still quite obvious. So many native Kansas Citians aren’t even aware how this came to happen, and this story could have delved much more deeply into this.
October 23, 2022
I looked forward to this book because I am a resident of Kansas, work in the KC metro area, and care about my community. The East of Troost mindset is prevalent in so many communities, east vs. west, north of the tracks vs. south of tracks, etc.
One should not judge a book by its cover, which was true in this book and if true in life...would minimize these dividing lines.
The book was a quick read, insightful, yet I wish it had delved more into the tragedy of these dividing lines than it did.
One should not judge a book by its cover, which was true in this book and if true in life...would minimize these dividing lines.
The book was a quick read, insightful, yet I wish it had delved more into the tragedy of these dividing lines than it did.
December 5, 2023
I was torn between two and three stars. I did not finish the book. The writing was easy to follow, and the story is interesting since I live in Kansas City and drive through the neighborhoods on a regular basis.
Why didn't I finish the book? The story became a little boring, and I wasn't sure where it was going. The author keeps hinting that there is still rampant discrimination without any real evidence other than the old neighborhood isn't what it was. It could have a refreshing story of helping to heal old wounds instead of rehashing them.
Why didn't I finish the book? The story became a little boring, and I wasn't sure where it was going. The author keeps hinting that there is still rampant discrimination without any real evidence other than the old neighborhood isn't what it was. It could have a refreshing story of helping to heal old wounds instead of rehashing them.
February 11, 2025
Really good novel that reads like a memoir. The MC acts like a normal person and deals with her issues in her own believable way. Her thoughts vs. her actual words ring so true and it was a joy to go on this adventure with her as she returns to her childhood home and neighborhood.
The fifth star is missing for some awkward glitches and way too much geographical information included, I'm sure, to establish her bona fides in Kansas City. Some of it was useful, 80% was not.
Regardless, highly recommend.
The fifth star is missing for some awkward glitches and way too much geographical information included, I'm sure, to establish her bona fides in Kansas City. Some of it was useful, 80% was not.
Regardless, highly recommend.
June 18, 2025
The best novels teach as well as entertain and East of Troost does both. It tells the story of a woman who has experienced terrible loss and begins the journey of healing when she returns to the neighborhood of her childhood. Looking for a haven in the place that once nurtured her, she buys her derelict childhood house in a city dramatically changed over many decades. By turning the house into a home and by investing in her community, the main character regains her life. It is a beautiful and bittersweet journey.
November 24, 2022
It’s a nice book, especially someone who has lived in Kansas City. My mother-in-law grew up in the neighborhood and went to the same schools as the narrator. My husband’s family moved out of the neighborhood soon before my husband was born because their house was in the path of the highway. I enjoyed reading about the neighborhood I’ve heard so much about.
June 3, 2023
This book was so good. I grew up in Johnson County but the ties to things I remembered from Missouri, and my late husband’s history in the Missouri area-Ruskin tornado etc. I think it had a special meaning as he passed away this past August so a lot of what the main character was dealing with were things I could relate to. I didn’t want it to end.
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