Flavorwire

In a recent Daily Beast/Newsweek poll, 44 percent of respondents reported that their personal economic situation currently makes them upset, while close to a third said it makes them downright angry. It’s been about 2 and a half years since the Great Recession began, and there’s a slew of books you can count on to make your situation seem a little bit better if you’re one of the 9.1 percent of Americans who are still unemployed or if you’re a working stiff who can’t seem to get a break. So enjoy this list, dear readers, because a good novel about the economic slowdown can take the pressure off of another grinding week at the office or on the job hunt.

Model Home by Eric Puchner

When Warren Ziller’s real estate venture becomes a spectacular failure, he and his family move from their idyllic gated community in southern California to a sad little model home in the desert development he originally invested in. Unsurprisingly, no one is happy about this change, and they all have to deal with the shame of failure that results from dropping down a class.