Post #85   July 24, 2023

Quote of the Day: "Detroit is the wettest and widest open town in the country and has the largest per capita consumption of liquor of all the cities in the United States -- New York included." Plain Talk Magazine . 1930.

Reviews

Savage City by Donald Levin

Detroit 1932, the Depression is gutting the city. Evections are soaring, jobs are gone, soup kitchens struggle to meet the demand, and the people are looking for someone to blame. The Communist party is attracting followers, the Black Legion a violent white supremacy hate group targeting Blacks, Jews, and Catholics is growing and, the Purple Gang's power may be waning  but it is still deadly. Those are forces in play in this totally engrossing novel covering one week in Detroit in March of '32.  It is in that week that several organizations staged a Ford Hunger March in which 3,000 marched to the Rouge Ford Plant demanding more jobs and aid for the unemployed. Dearborn Police and Ford Security employees opened fire on the marchers. They killed five and wounded 60. Countless marchers and organizers were arrested and held for days without ever being charged.

The novel follows four characters whose lives are transformed during the week of the march and its aftermath. Clarence Brown the only Black detective in the Detroit Police Department is obsessed with finding the killer of a young Black man the department tries to write off as a suicide. Roscoe Grissom has lost his job and joins the Black Legion. He is willing to murder anyone in the cause of white supremacy. Elizabeth Waters, a native Grosse Pointer, rejects her privileged past and works in soup kitchens, supports the rights of the poor, and joins the march. Ben Rubin hopes to take a step up from small-time crime and join the Purple Gang but things don't go as planned.  

A month ago I had never heard of this author and can't remember where I ran across his name. I'm glad I did because "Savage City" is one of the best books I've read in the past twelve months and ranks with the best historical novels set in Detroit I've read. The plot is driven by a powerful and propulsive narrative, the characterizations run deep and true, including Detroit that comes alive as a fully formed character. The author has a great feel for the temper of the times and although it is fiction based on fact and the author may have had to trim facts or invented some events to advance the plot there is an undeniable authenticity to this novel. It is the first in a series of historical novels set in 20th Century Detroit. 

As a point of interest the four killed on the day of the march were buried together in a mass unmarked grave. Fifteen thousand walked in their funeral procession. The fifth victim was a Black teenager who was wounded and died weeks later. He was not allowed to be buried in the white cemetery. It was 50 years before the UAW was allowed to place headstones on their graves. Neither the police or the Ford Security personnel suffered any repercussions from the shootings. 

Savage City by Donald Levin. Poison Toe Press, 2021, 417p., $19.95.

The Luck of the Fall by Jim Ray Daniels

This sixth collection of short stories from a master of the form invites the reader into the lives of the led astray and/or those trying to make the best of their situations. Incidentally they all happen to have more in common than just living along 8-Mile Road in Detroit. Nearly all of Daniels' characters are struggling to deal with life, it's mistakes, missed opportunities, regrets, and emotional burdens. What the stories also have in common is great writing, sly even laugh-out-loud humor, and unexpected observations on life in general or their own that pop into a narrator's mind. These unbidden intrusions are often the heart of the story and are gateways into a deeper understanding of the character and his life.

If the characters face hardships they don't quit, they get back up and keep trying. The Spirit Award story begins: "To say Jack was disappointed was to say it looked like it might rain while it was already streaming off the brim of your new baseball cap." Jack didn't win the Spirit Award but it wouldn't be the last time it would rain on his parade. His father married three times and never had time for Jack. Dad was always late or simply failed to show up for his sons activities. But maybe a negative can be a positive; Jack will learn how to handle disappointment of which there will be many in any life. Like all Daniels' stories it is marked with humor, sharp dialogue, and true to life experiences.

I particularly enjoyed the story The Mighty Wallendas. The nameless narrator and Peggy, his live in girlfriend, love circuses and consider the Wallendas the greatest circus act ever. They continue to go to circuses even though they aren't what they used to be, "but they still have that smell: "exotic animal sh**, cigars from Swampbreath, Louisiana, melting makeup from Buttercup, Missouri, and roadie scum from every federal prison in the good ol' US of A." Going to a circus always sparks vivid memories of the Wallendas. Then one day the narrator is struck by the notion that he and a lot of people often find themselves on a high wire without a net. The narrator's high wire act? His girlfriend is his brother's wife. He stole her when his brother was in Texas looking for work. 

Jim Ray Daniels writes short stories that you can't read and just walk away from.

The Luck of the Fall by Jim Ray Daniels. Michigan State University Press, 2023, 176p., $24.95.

Islands of Deception by Chris G. Thelen

There's a lot to like in this thriller set in Michigan that features more mayhem and flying steel that a figure-eight demolition derby. The book was written by a first time novelist with a BA in Journalism and a Masters Degree from a Theological Seminary. There is not a lot in this thriller that would reflect positively on the latter degree.

It would be almost impossible, or a more talented reviewer, to disclose more than a small slice of the plot without giving away too much. To be somewhat circumspect a man is given an package that he is assured will keep his family safe from danger. It doesn't. The package sparks the most ingenious prison escape I've ever run across in a thriller. Following the escape the plot features non stop action that moves from Detroit to the quite, peaceful, and beautiful Beaver and North Fox islands, which are no longer quiet and peace, and to the waters of Lake Michigan. The good guys include an agent from Homeland Security, a security specialist for the governor, and an ex-con. None of them can quite keep up to speed with their adversaries.  As if the plot needed a touch more action add a drone, a possible terror attack, and what part does a shadowy billionaire play in all of this. 

The book has loads of momentum and the author keeps you guessing up to the last page and then some. Readers should be warned if you get to the prison break the rest of the night may not be yours. This is a promising first effort by a writer with a lot of potential. 

Islands of Deception by Chris G. Thelen. Brookstone Publishing Group, 2023, 274p., $16.99.

Second Hand by Michael Zadoorian

When I stumbled across a list of the MLA Michigan Author Awards (you can find the list on the News & Views Page) the 2022 winner was an author I knew nothing about and had never run across his name before. Among his list of novels I got my hands on the above title. I fell in love with the book and Richard, the main character, within half-a-dozen pages. Time seemed to stand still when I entered Richard's world. I could have read this book in a couple of days but it took much longer because I kept rereading sentences, paragraphs, and even pages.

Richard owns a second hand shop on the ragged edge of Detroit. He has a wonderful oddball sense of humor, is a keen observer of life and society, suffers from a bit of low self-esteem, and simply loves being a Junker. As he says, "Junk has been my friend, my teacher, my mentor. It has taught me what is not required. It taught me to enjoy things, but not need them." He observes that most people are, "saving and sacrificing for stuff, then throwing that stuff out and saving and sacrificing for more stuff." 

Junk is his life and of late his life has been well ordered and without crisis. Then in the space of a week or so his  mother dies and he meets a woman who could be the love of his life. Picking through boxes full of junk, stuff, and treasures in his mother's basement he discovers a mom and dad he never knew. Meanwhile a woman by the name of Theresa wanders into his shop a couple of times and Richard is smitten. A relationship blossoms but "The Junk Goddess," as Richard calls her, is burdened by a mind warping load of guilt associated with her job. Even after Richard is surprised by his exceptional sexual performance, after previously admitting, "I am not the Thelonius Monk of the clitoris," their relationship flounders. Because Richard can't stop questioning or pestering Theresa about her feelings of guilt and unhappiness. The rest of the story awaits you.

Zadoorian has written a singularly original comic novel told with a remarkable voice. It is funny, profound, great entertainment, and concludes with a memorable and moving closing paragraph. And I am so pleased to have purchased "Second Hand" second hand. It has been added to my shelf of classic Michigan books. 

Second Hand by Michael Zadoorian. W. W. Norton & Company, 2000, 270p., $23.95.