  Irvine_laird Member Username: Irvine_laird Post Number: 101 Registered: 02-2007 |
Last night, I finished "The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt," Edmund Morris's Pulitzer Prize-winning biography. My wife and I enjoyed the book from cover to cover. I'd like to read some good fiction now, either set in Detroit or written by a Detroit author. Let the recommendations begin... (Please pardon me if there is an old thread from, say, three years ago on this subject). | ||
D_mcc Member Username: D_mcc Post Number: 1796 Registered: 12-2007 |
I hear there's a good one about an Ogre...Named Shrek | ||
Gazhekwe Member Username: Gazhekwe Post Number: 3013 Registered: 08-2007 |
Any of Loren Estleman's books, Amos Walker mysteries set in Detroit. | ||
Detroitej72 Member Username: Detroitej72 Post Number: 1386 Registered: 05-2006 |
Also Estleman's Detroit Series novels would be recomended. | ||
Det_ard Member Username: Det_ard Post Number: 73 Registered: 02-2009 |
Read any of Kilpatrick's State of the City speeches or his budgets. If you like the Fantasy genre. | ||
Tkierpiec Member Username: Tkierpiec Post Number: 193 Registered: 03-2007 |
I really loved Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides. Very unique and he grew up in Grosse Pointe. Much of the story takes place in Michigan. | ||
Norwalk Member Username: Norwalk Post Number: 486 Registered: 11-2006 |
I recently read "Band Fags!" by ex-Detroiter Frank Anthony Polito. and also "Second Hand" by Michael Zadoorian | ||
Sumas Member Username: Sumas Post Number: 853 Registered: 01-2008 |
Estleman's Whiskey River. | ||
Zrx_doug Member Username: Zrx_doug Post Number: 925 Registered: 03-2008 |
Ditto on the Estleman stuff.. I enjoyed "Motown" & "Jitterbug" enough to keep 'em hanging around looking curiously out of place, surrounded by all the sci-fi and service manuals..most "general fiction" gets traded back to the used book store.  | ||
Evelyn Member Username: Evelyn Post Number: 338 Registered: 02-2005 |
"Detroit Noir," a collection of short stories, gets my vote. If you like sci fi, there's the Narrows by Alexander Irvine. Interesting take on the Nain Rouge. "Secondhand" is also good. | ||
7miledog Member Username: 7miledog Post Number: 80 Registered: 03-2008 |
William Coughlin. Former judge and author, now deceased. Very good couple of books based in Detroit along the lines of The Firm. I recommend The Judgment. | ||
Zrx_doug Member Username: Zrx_doug Post Number: 928 Registered: 03-2008 |
SWEET! Just dug into the on-line version of "The Narrows," got through about sixty pages before I forced myself to quit reading a hacked version and go hunt down the real thing tomorrow.. Thanks for the heads-up. | ||
Bobl Member Username: Bobl Post Number: 692 Registered: 07-2008 |
Many of Elmore Leonard's books are set in Detroit. I liked Maximum Bob. | ||
Evelyn Member Username: Evelyn Post Number: 339 Registered: 02-2005 |
You're welcome. There's also "Detroit Tales," which is alright. It's a collection of short stories. Forget the author's name. If you can get it from a library, some of the stories are pretty good. | ||
Gravitymachine Member Username: Gravitymachine Post Number: 1775 Registered: 05-2005 |
that lafayette building thread has a good deal of fiction in it... | ||
Dannyv Member Username: Dannyv Post Number: 625 Registered: 08-2007 |
Them by Joyce Carol Oates. I second Norwalk about Michael Zadoorian's Second Hand | ||
Fmstack Member Username: Fmstack Post Number: 83 Registered: 06-2007 |
Eugenides' first (Virgin Suicides) is also worth a look -- it's clearly set in Grosse Pointe Park, even though IIRC the narrative is set up so that Detroit and GPP aren't ever named. | ||
1kielsondrive Member Username: 1kielsondrive Post Number: 1144 Registered: 08-2008 |
Both of Zadoorian's and both of Eugenides books are excellent. Zadoorian's books are lighthearted and fun, even the somewhat expected, yet somewhat surprising ending of Leisure Express. Michael's writing is smooth and flowing, making his books, very easy reading. Jeffrey Eugenides spins much more complex stories but fun and familiar as well as tragic. I'd lived in the Points at one time so I really related to Eugenide's strong identification with the settings for his stories. | ||
Gdub Member Username: Gdub Post Number: 285 Registered: 10-2003 |
Try Ellen Slezak's "Last Year's Jesus"--a novella and collection of short stories. She's from Hamtramck. In the title story, a young college student falls in to a Hamtramck Catholic church's Passion Play and falls in love with the man who played Jesus in last year's production. The other stories are set in Hamtramck and Detroit as well. I'm a sucker for good lines of fiction, and it's great when they take place in or describe places you know well. Especially when the author feels the same way about regional issues. In "Last Year's Jesus" in a story called "Settled" a character has recently moved to a faceless suburb and is regretting her decision. "Charlevoix - Sylvia sighed a little thinking about it - such a beautiful street name. Detroit had lots of others like it - Lafayette, Kercheval, Grand Boulevard . . .She couldn't get used to living on Bunnert Street in Warren, just four miles north of the Detroit city limits, and traveling up and down streets like Schoenherr, Hoover, and Groesbeck. Those street names caught like phlegm in her throat." Indeed, Ellen. Indeed. Slezak shows some love for the hopelessness of Detroit's downtrodden residents "especially when the lotto jackpot went over twenty million and she could walk in [to a liquor store] . . .see a long line of hope on display, desperation too, all for the price of a Coke." Sad and beautiful, all at once. Just like the best art. | ||
Grumpyoldlady Member Username: Grumpyoldlady Post Number: 393 Registered: 06-2005 |
Can't remember the name of the author, but there was a series of mysteries, the first of which was "The Rosary Murders", all set in Detroit. Written, I believe, by a former priest. I want to say the last name of the author was Kiensel or something like that. | ||
Wally Member Username: Wally Post Number: 609 Registered: 12-2003 |
quote:I've read "Swag" from Elmore Leonard, a good quick read (less than 300 pages) that takes place in the '70s along 8 mile and surrounding areas. | ||
Gazhekwe Member Username: Gazhekwe Post Number: 3014 Registered: 08-2007 |
The former priest was William Kienzle. | ||
Rustic2 Member Username: Rustic2 Post Number: 6 Registered: 03-2009 |
How about "The House on Alexandrine," by Stephen Dobyns? Sort of sloppily written, but it's got some great Detroit characters and settings in it circa 1973. | ||
Oldestuff Member Username: Oldestuff Post Number: 123 Registered: 01-2007 |
Up in Honey's Room - Leonard When the Sacred Gin Mill Closes - Block Jitterbug Esltelman All set a log earlier than 1973, good reading. | ||
Evelyn Member Username: Evelyn Post Number: 340 Registered: 02-2005 |
I forgot about them... very good Joyce Carol Oates novel! | ||
9936sussex Member Username: 9936sussex Post Number: 218 Registered: 10-2007 |
"City Primeval" by Dutch Leonard is based on the old Homicide Squad 6 of the Detroit Police Department. A lot of the characters are based on real people. A great read. | ||
Mhc Member Username: Mhc Post Number: 17 Registered: 04-2006 |
I give another vote to "Detroit Noir", a really great short story collection by contemporary Detroit writers. I also recommend the complete works of Donald Goines; start with "Dopefiend", which is a real page-turner... | ||
Tkierpiec Member Username: Tkierpiec Post Number: 194 Registered: 03-2007 |
How about Whoreson by Donald Goines? ;) Seriously, though - not my normal reading fare but I've read all of his books. I know he modeled his style after Iceberg Slim but I actually liked Goines a lot better. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D onald_Goines | ||
Cosine Member Username: Cosine Post Number: 19 Registered: 06-2006 |
Try this website for a list of good Detroit fiction: http://www.librarything.com/ta g/detroit%2Cfiction%2Cnovel | ||
Bobl Member Username: Bobl Post Number: 698 Registered: 07-2008 |
The former mayor's legal pleadings and financial statements. Even Estleman and Leonard couldn't compete with this fiction. | ||
Jiminnm Member Username: Jiminnm Post Number: 1802 Registered: 02-2005 |
Former Detroiter, Gary Hardwick, has written a number of crime and detective novels - all based in Detroit. They're gritty and entertaining. | ||
Cosine Member Username: Cosine Post Number: 20 Registered: 06-2006 |
OK--so here's the best of Estleman's Detroit novels: Thunder City, Jitterbug, Stress, Edsel, King of the Corner, Motwon and Whiskey River. Many of his Amos Walker novels deal with Detroit-- Downriver, Lady Yesterday, Motor City Blue and The Glass Highway. One book that might be a "one hit wonder" that I really enjoyed was "Burnt Offerings" by Charles W. Newsome. It's about the Detroit cops and the Latino gangs on the southwest side of town. I think Newsome was a cop here, but not sure. It's hard to find, but worth looking for. | ||
Treelock Member Username: Treelock Post Number: 286 Registered: 03-2005 |
"The Root Worker," by Rainelle Burton, came out several years ago. It's set in Detroit's east side during the 1960s when the neighborhood was already in decline. Pretty haunting coming-of-age tale. | ||
Gazhekwe Member Username: Gazhekwe Post Number: 3024 Registered: 08-2007 |
There is The Dollmaker by Harriette Arnow. It is set in wartime Detroit, the story of an uprooted rural Kentucky family trying to hold it together in foreign world. The movie with Jane Fonda is good also. The story shows people as the kindling and fodder that fuel industrialization. | ||
Ltdave Member Username: Ltdave Post Number: 340 Registered: 09-2006 |
i read a book many years back called "Wheels"... i dont recall who wrote it but it was based on detroit in the 60s and had a bit of auto culture related plotline... | ||
Flyingj Member Username: Flyingj Post Number: 414 Registered: 08-2006 |
Arthur Hailey, LtDave...really as sucky as "The Betsy" by Harold Robbins I 2nd the Slezak & 3rd the Eugenides, Elmore is better than Estleman | ||
Drjeff Member Username: Drjeff Post Number: 56 Registered: 06-2007 |
Elmore Leonard is probably my favorite author. A true genius. It's a bonus that many of his books take place in Detroit. | ||
A100driver Member Username: A100driver Post Number: 6 Registered: 09-2008 |
How about any of the William X Kienzle books? They are ALL murder mysteries with some relation to the Catholic church. Also, they all take place in Detroit in places that we all know of. Even some of the character descriptions of major "players" in the city in the books match the real people. The book most well known was "The Rosary Murders" which was filmed in Detroit, and starred Donald Sutherland as Father Koesler. | ||
Mtm Member Username: Mtm Post Number: 352 Registered: 06-2006 |
I HIGHLY agree with 9936sussex on Dutch Leonard's "City Primeval: High Noon In Detroit". It was the first (of many)of Loenard's Detroit books. So neatly written that it was very easy to picture all of the scenes and characters. | ||
Fnemecek Member Username: Fnemecek Post Number: 1995 Registered: 12-2004 |
There's always this one: http://www.amazon.com/Candidac y-Frank-Nemecek/dp/1413703496/ ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid =1238531879&sr=1-1 It's set - at least in part - in Detroit. | ||
Clermont Member Username: Clermont Post Number: 51 Registered: 09-2007 |
journey to the end of the night by LF Celine has a nice detroit section. |
