Scott Lasser

I had to put this book down and walk away. I had high hopes for this book, being a Detroit area resident (I won't lie, I don't live within the city, but south of it.). Growing up, Detroit is the big city, the city my parent's used to go to, the one I started exploring when I got old enough to drive myself there, where I frequent now. It is the city my grandfather used to drive my four year old brother around, showing him the sights, especially Belle Isle. My husband is from the actual city, show more and his family still lives there, and I visit them as well, and know some of the neighborhoods. A few of my friends are also real Detroit residents, as is my stepsister. I grew up with the horror stories about Detroit and the good stories too.

So I had expectations of this book, because of the title. However, the book was so downtrodden, depressing, nothing good could happen. Nothing good was happening. 13 year olds on drugs, steel workers with cancer, infidelity, dementia to name a few character storylines. The title itself seems to come from a tshirt someone in the book was wearing - a guy holding a gun to the head of a puppy, and the writing was "Say Nice Things About Detroit", the implication being if you didn't he would kill the puppy. I just felt it perpetuated the beliefs about Detroit, focused only on the bad. The violence and despair. I was really hoping for a fresh take on the city, and I didn't get it.

Since I didn't finish, maybe the book ended with a positive spin on Detroit. I don't know. But from what I read, it's just another slam on the city. I don't believe Detroit is all bad, but like all cities, it has its ups and downs. Maybe I will give it another shot in the future, but as it stands now, I don't need to. I could be a jerk, expecting roses at the start, but I think I needed it to continue. If there ever is anything good anyway, that is. show less

I had to put this book down and walk away. I had high hopes for this book, being a Detroit area resident (I won't lie, I don't live within the city, but south of it.). Growing up, Detroit is the big city, the city my parent's used to go to, the one I started exploring when I got old enough to drive myself there, where I frequent now. It is the city my grandfather used to drive my four year old brother around, showing him the sights, especially Belle Isle. My husband is from the actual city, show more and his family still lives there, and I visit them as well, and know some of the neighborhoods. A few of my friends are also real Detroit residents, as is my stepsister. I grew up with the horror stories about Detroit and the good stories too.

So I had expectations of this book, because of the title. However, the book was so downtrodden, depressing, nothing good could happen. Nothing good was happening. 13 year olds on drugs, steel workers with cancer, infidelity, dementia to name a few character storylines. The title itself seems to come from a tshirt someone in the book was wearing - a guy holding a gun to the head of a puppy, and the writing was "Say Nice Things About Detroit", the implication being if you didn't he would kill the puppy. I just felt it perpetuated the beliefs about Detroit, focused only on the bad. The violence and despair. I was really hoping for a fresh take on the city, and I didn't get it.

Since I didn't finish, maybe the book ended with a positive spin on Detroit. I don't know. But from what I read, it's just another slam on the city. I don't believe Detroit is all bad, but like all cities, it has its ups and downs. Maybe I will give it another shot in the future, but as it stands now, I don't need to. I could be a jerk, expecting roses at the start, but I think I needed it to continue. If there ever is anything good anyway, that is show less

I loved the beginning of this book. Cat, a young divorcee with a son is searching for the son of her brother who died 9/11 in NYC. Cat's father, Sam, is at the end of his life and wanting to tell his daughter the mystery of her parentage. I really loved this book until Cat's old boyfriend, Tommy, came into the picture. He enabled such a simplistic and happy ending that I was unsatisfied. Not that I want unhappiness for Cat - happy endings are just not so easily come by.

I’ve seen this billed as a mystery, I suppose because there is a murder, although it is part of a secondary plot and it’s not really a mystery to the reader, only to the protagonist. The book is much more a novel about “coming home”. But, as the book jacket says:: “Where do you go when home is Detroit?”

My dad grew up in Windsor Ontario, across the river south of Detroit. He was a life-long Tigers and Red Wings fan, but no fan really of the city of Detroit itself, into which he show more took regular business trips. Myself, I spent my teen years listening to the music of Motown on clear radio signals throughout southern Ontario.

Today, Detroit has a reputation of a city in decay—although, recently, one finding its feet again—and so that question of coming home to Detroit intrigued me greatly. And it is as that—a novel about ‘finding place’ in a struggling city—that this book works.

Read this if: you come ‘from’ somewhere that’s changed for the worse since you’ve left; or you’d like to understand a little better the fierce pride of city in Detroit. 3½ stars show less