Susan Whitall feature in The News
Grand River & Joy earns prominent attention today as one of two new novels presenting "a vivid glimpse of the city during tumultuous times." [[The Art Student's War by Brad Leithauser is the other.)
Quote:
The sense of loss in Messer's book is palpable. Messer describes the Dutch colonials, the red-stone Georgians and towering elm trees lining the streets of her Detroit in loving detail.
Whitall quotes a West Bloomfield reader who recommended the book to her parents, raised in Detroit.
Quote:
"My father had a drugstore on Eight Mile and Livernois during the '67 riots, and I remember going down when I was 9 or 10. Just like in the book, his store had not been touched. His customers, black and white, liked him, and so they protected it."
See full article here.
DetNews: Great book for holiday gift
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Susan Messer
Thanks so much for bringing this to the attention of DetroitYes.
You're as attentively polite as you are creatively gifted, Susan. Meanwhile, Susan Whitall waves the flag again today:
Quote:
Holiday Gift Guide: 13 great books to consider
"Grand River & Joy" by Susan Messer: Set in Detroit's west- and northwest-side Jewish neighborhoods just before the 1967 riots, and afterward, Messer's book is a dense read, but provokes memories for longtime Detroiters about blockbusting, white flight and other issues of the time. For those too young to remember, it's a window on middle and upper middle class life in Detroit at the time.