‘Dwelling’ fictionalizes the American housing crisis with elements of fairy tale

Summary

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NPR's Book of the Day: ‘Dwelling’ fictionalizes the American Housing Crisis with Elements of Fairy Tale

Date: August 18, 2025
Host: Andrew Limbong
Guest: Emily Hunt Kivel (Author of Dwelling)
Interviewer: NPR Host (Adriama)

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Episode Overview

This episode spotlights Emily Hunt Kivel’s debut novel, Dwelling, which reimagines the American housing crisis as a modern fairy tale. The story follows Evie Carvalho, a New Yorker evicted after a citywide Airbnb takeover, who finds herself living in a novelty boot-shaped house in Texas. The discussion delves into themes of displacement, the allure and utility of magical realism, community, and the catharsis of reinvention in the face of late-stage capitalism.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Genesis of Dwelling and Its Fairy-Tale Roots

• Eviction and Displacement: The novel opens with a surreal but biting riff on real housing crises: New York renters are summarily evicted to make way for Airbnbs ([01:24]).

  • “The mayor has decided to turn all the city's available rental housing into glorified Airbnbs... renters soon find all their stuff piled up on the sidewalks like garbage.” – Interviewer ([01:24])

• Evie’s Journey: Protagonist Evie, orphaned and alone, is nudged by chance toward rural Texas, where she finds a peculiar home ([02:29]).

  • “Evie seeks shelter in the mysterious yet whimsical town of Gullick. Starting over as a young woman who...lives in a shoe, it's essentially the only rental property that Evie can afford.” – Interviewer ([02:29])

• Origin of the Shoe/Boot Home: The boot house itself stems from author Kivel’s fascination with fairy tales, particularly the image of the old woman living in a shoe ([03:22]).

  • “I started becoming interested in that image and...amused by doing a thought exercise. Oh, why is this woman in the shoe? What brought her there?” – Emily Hunt Kivel ([03:22])

Humor and Humanity Amidst Hardship

• Comedy as Levity: Dwelling peppered with running gags—Evie is mistaken for a cobbler, and there’s a recurring joke about awkward buffets ([04:14]).
  • “You’re watching people take these gigantic spoons and slop, you know, pounds of some random dish onto their plates...there’s this kind of unpolished quality that I wanted to always be in the novel.” – Emily Hunt Kivel ([04:36])

Mystery and Magical Realism

• Leaving Mysteries Unexplained: The story introduces magical keys, enchanted shoes, and secret societies, but Kivel resists the pressure to over-explain ([05:05]).
  • “I was interested in allowing a book to have mystery that goes unsolved...creating a world that had mysteries that go unexplained, that people accept as mysteries.” – Emily Hunt Kivel ([05:25])

Fairy Tale as Social Commentary

• A Fairy Tale of Late-Stage Capitalism:
  • “It’s a quest of one woman who’s been made to feel valueless in her society... And that becomes quite plain when she is, in fact, kicked out of the city that she lives in... because it would actually be more efficient if a tourist came and replaced her... there's an adventure that stems from a very deep collective anxiety that we're all experiencing.” – Emily Hunt Kivel ([06:11])

Autobiographical Elements and Aspirations

• Texas Through a New Lens: Kivel channels her own story—relocating from New York to Texas into Evie’s journey, noting an unexpected blossoming of creativity and community ([07:07]).

  • “I came to Texas not because I had any plans to...yet when I arrived, there was something expansive that happened to me and happened to my life and...my creativity. It was unexpected.” – Emily Hunt Kivel ([07:36])

• On Radical Acceptance:

  • “Evie's story is one of this kind of radical acceptance that I think is very difficult to achieve.” – Emily Hunt Kivel ([07:17])

The Wish for Magic Shoes and the Role of Community

• Longing for Community: Asked where magical shoes might take her, Kivel answers with a wish for greater connection ([08:16]).
  • “Community is one of the only ways to resist this kind of alienation that society is foisting upon us...places that are overwhelmingly expensive and exploitative to their residents make it difficult for those communities to form. Not impossible, but difficult.” – Emily Hunt Kivel ([08:41])

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “She shared a bench with a rat eating out of a shoe full of wet Cheerios.” – Emily Hunt Kivel, reading from her novel (Evie’s predicament in New York) ([01:56])
• “Buffets...they’re physically quite awkward...there’s this kind of unpolished quality that I wanted to always be in the novel, always be there to remind us that these people are human.” – Emily Hunt Kivel ([04:36])
• “I was interested in allowing a book to have mystery that goes unsolved...creating a world that had mysteries that go unexplained, that people accept as mysteries.” – Emily Hunt Kivel ([05:25])
• “Fairy tales and folktales always reflect the anxieties of their day. And so in that way, this certainly is a fairy tale of late stage capitalism.” – Emily Hunt Kivel ([06:11])
• “Community is one of the only ways to resist this kind of alienation that society is foisting upon us.” – Emily Hunt Kivel ([08:41])

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:02 — Introduction: How do we make a place “home”?
• 01:24 — Book setup: Eviction-by-Airbnb dystopia and Evie’s journey begins
• 02:52 — Living in a boot: Novelty housing, Texas, and folk tale inspiration
• 03:22 — Author’s fascination with fairy tales and reverse-engineering classic motifs
• 04:14 — Humor: Boot-cobbler gag and buffet observations
• 05:05 — Magical realism: Mystery and unexplained phenomena
• 05:57 — Dwelling as a fairy tale of late-stage capitalism
• 07:07 — Autobiography: Kivel’s move from NY to Texas and openness to change
• 08:16 — Magical shoes and the desperate need for community
• 09:31 — Closing: Thanks to Emily Hunt Kivel

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Tone & Style

The conversation is whimsical, reflective, and candid—mirroring the novel’s blend of magical realism and social critique. Kivel maintains a dry humor when discussing both hardship and absurdity, making the episode accessible and engaging even for listeners unfamiliar with the book or the genre.

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Summary Takeaway

Emily Hunt Kivel’s Dwelling uses the trappings of fairy tales to illuminate modern housing inequities, social atomization, and the quest for belonging. The episode is a rich exploration of how magical realism and humor can be tools for commenting on—and even coping with—the unsettling realities of contemporary American life. At its heart is the affirmation that community is the antidote to alienation, and that sometimes the strangest places can become home.

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Transcript

[Andrew Limbong]

Hey, it's NPR's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbong. How did you decide to live wherever you live now? Did you move for a job? For a partner? Did you visit one day and think, hey, you know what, it's pretty nice here. There are so many forks in the road that lead us to wherever we are now, and it's just up to us to turn the places we land into home. Which is something author Emily Hunt Kivel talks about in today's interview. Her debut novel, Dwelling, is about a woman who gets kicked out of New York City and has to live in a boot in Texas. Yes, a boot. The book is something of a blend between fairy tale and magical realism, and Kimbel talks to NPR's Adriama about building a world where the most wondrous things are left unexplained. That's ahead.

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[Interviewer (NPR Host)]

New York City is thrown into chaos at the start of a new novel, Dwelling. The mayor has decided to turn all the city's available rental housing into glorified Airbnbs, and because of this mass eviction, the city's renters soon find all their stuff piled up on the sidewalks like garbage. And that is where Evie Carvalho finds herself on the sidewalk, sitting on a random couch with a cook who is, well, not a cook anymore because they're unemployed and homeless. Both of them are trying to figure out where to go from here when.

[Emily Hunt Kivel]

The cook says, I guess I also have a niece with a duplex in Wisconsin, and my aunt has a ranch in Texas near Gullock. Gullock. The name lodged in Evie's mind like a funny piece of glass. She said goodbye to the man, though he was already lost within himself, and walked towards the bridge that would take her to the city center. She stepped over a baking sheet and shower caddy that lay prostrate across the sidewalk. She turned down the street that ran parallel to the water's edge and stopped to sit staring at the skyline. She shared a bench with a rat eating out of a shoe full of wet Cheerios.

[Interviewer (NPR Host)]

Both of Evie's parents are dead. Her sister is in A mental institution. But Gulick turns out Evie has a distant cousin there. And wouldn't you know it, the cousin is a realtor. This is the beginning of Emily Hunt K's debut novel, Dwelling. And from there, Evie seeks shelter in the mysterious yet whimsical town of Gullick. Starting over as a young woman who.

[Emily Hunt Kivel]

Lives in a shoe, it's essentially the only rental property that Evie can't afford, basically because it's a novelty property that looks like a giant cowboy boot that's, you know, just rising into the sky. It was formerly a dance hall, and then it was a shoemaking studio, and now it's kind of just been sitting vacant for years. And, you know, now it's going to be Evie's residence.

[Interviewer (NPR Host)]

I couldn't help but wonder at this point, are you like, a fan of fairy tales?

[Emily Hunt Kivel]

Yeah, I am a big fan of folk tales and fairy tales. And I also think that for whatever reason, as I was kind of conceiving of the book and of this image I had of an old woman living in a shoe, I started becoming interested in that image and I started becoming kind of amused by doing a thought exercise. Oh, why is this woman in the shoe? What brought her there? Kind of reverse engineering how she got there. So I ended up with this idea that, oh, she, you know, she has to be there. Even in the old nursery rhyme, there's this element of, you know, she's kind of adult children. There's some, like, economics implications even to the nursery rhyme. And of course that's indwelling. But I also think that when Evie moves into the shoe, it's actually kind of a turning point for the better in her life. And so there was actually some kind of catharsis in writing the book as it is.

[Interviewer (NPR Host)]

You have a lot of comedy in the book as well. Like you have a running gag where all these people start coming up to Evie's boothouse and asking for, you know, cobbler services. And then Evie eventually decides, well, maybe I'll start making shoes. You also have a running gag about buffets, which. What is it about buffets that you find so hilarious?

[Emily Hunt Kivel]

Oh, gosh. Because they're physically quite awkward. You know, you're watching people take these gigantic spoons and slop, you know, pounds of some random dish onto their plates one by one. And so I loved the idea that we're seeing all these, like, esteemed people at this event, and yet they're at a buffet. And so there's this kind of unpolished quality that I wanted to always Be in the novel, always be there to remind us that these people are human.

[Interviewer (NPR Host)]

Not to give away any plot points, but there are some secret societies, there are magical keys, magic shoes, and you don't do a lot of explaining in the story about all of these things. So I'm just wondering, like, how do you come up with them? Do you have some sort of, like, internal logic that you're following?

[Emily Hunt Kivel]

I was interested in allowing a book to have mystery that goes unsolved. Not necessarily like, you know, cliffhangers or anything like that, but really allowing certain facets of this world to just be and exist. And I think in a world where we're so encouraged and so compelled to explain everything and solve everything immediately there was something very liberating and creating a world that had mysteries that go unexplained, that people accept as mysteries.

[Interviewer (NPR Host)]

I read a description of your book that described it as a fairy tale of late stage capitalism. I don't think I've ever seen any book described as that. So I'm curious, like, is that how you see it?

[Emily Hunt Kivel]

Yeah, I think that, you know, fairy tales and folktales always reflect the anxieties of their day. And so in that way, this certainly is a fairy tale of late stage capitalism. You know, it's a quest of one woman who's been made to feel valueless in her society. Right. She has this kind of very removed work life. She has a living situation that she has no control over. And that becomes quite plain when she is, in fact, kicked out of the city that she lives in and was born in, because it would actually be more efficient if a tourist came and replaced her. And that's an anxiety, you know, obviously an extreme version of it, but an anxiety that we do all feel to some degree right now. And so I. There's this kind of. There's an adventure that stems from a very deep collective anxiety that we're all experiencing. And I do believe that within that, that is a folktale.

[Interviewer (NPR Host)]

And so how much of this story is aspirational for you? I mean, you live where this story takes place in Texas, right?

[Emily Hunt Kivel]

I mean, I do.

[Interviewer (NPR Host)]

I don't know if you live in Gullock, but you do live in Texas, right?

[Emily Hunt Kivel]

I wish I lived in Gallic. Yeah, maybe aspirational. I think that Evie's story is one of this kind of radical acceptance that I think is very difficult to achieve. And I came to Texas not because I had any plans to.

[Interviewer (NPR Host)]

Or even from New York, right?

[Emily Hunt Kivel]

Yes, from New. Yes, exactly, from New York. And I came here you know, kind of similarly, I didn't have any plans to it. I didn't particularly want to. And yet when I arrived, there was something expansive that happened to me and happened to my life and especially that happened to my community creativity. And so it was unexpected. It wasn't even my first choice, but there was this generosity of spirit and this kind of creative, imaginative world that opened up for me. And so I do think that there is a parallel, at least between my own experience in making this move and Evie's.

[Interviewer (NPR Host)]

Without giving the plot away, I want to ask you about Evie's shoes. At some point in the story, she comes across some very special shoes that help her get where she needs to go. I wonder if I could ask you to just imagine if you had a pair of these special shoes that could take you where you needed to go. Where would you go?

[Emily Hunt Kivel]

That's a great question. I think I would probably go somewhere where community is really, really easy to form. And I think on some level I have that here, which has been beautiful. But I do think that since moving, since writing the book, what I've really seen is that community is one of the only ways to resist this kind of alienation that society is foisting upon us. And so I think that places that are overwhelmingly expensive and exploitative to their residents make it very difficult for those communities to form. Not impossible, but difficult. And so I think for me, I'm always looking for places that allow for this kind of connection.

[Interviewer (NPR Host)]

We've been speaking with Emily Hunt Kivel. Her new novel is Dwelling. Emily, thanks so much for speaking with us about it.

[Emily Hunt Kivel]

Thank you.

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