My New Novel about Detroit in the 60s

**eriedearie** · July-16-09, 09:44 AM

Really, when "I" think of the Detroit area - it encompasses Windsor and its outlying areas as well. So Metro Detroit is an even larger playing field in my mind!

Some may disagree. But that's just how I roll!

**Meddle** · July-16-09, 12:04 PM

Detroit of the 50's, 60's and 70's was highly ethnically oriented. There were serious pockets of Jews, Arabs, Ukraines, Germans, Poles, Italians, Greeks, and just about any other group you could think of. You could eat around the world in just a few days. Imagine REAL Polish breakfast, REAL Mexican lunch [[not Taco Bell crap), then a REAL a German dinner. Or maybe a REAL Arabic dinner after lunch at a REAL Jewish deli. I was never much for Soul food, but there was plenty of that too.

**Susan Messer** · July-17-09, 07:44 AM

Erie and Meddle,

Thanks for the response re: Windsor/Detroit and ethnic enclaves and flavors.

I had my reading last night, and so many people came who have/had connections with Detroit or lived there at one time. The emotional connections to that place and time are so powerful. I was overwhelmed.

**eriedearie** · July-17-09, 12:51 PM

Susan - I'm glad your reading turned out so well. And you are so right about the emotional connections - Detroit is in our blood. I wasn't born there, but I was raised there from the time I was 7 years old. No matter where I go, I'm a Detroiter, and I'm proud to say it!

Despite all of its troubles, our city is a great city and it will rise again. Our moms and dads didn't raise quitters.

**Trumpeteer** · July-17-09, 02:44 PM

Originally Posted by Meddle

Detroit of the 50's, 60's and 70's was highly ethnically oriented. There were serious pockets of Jews, Arabs, Ukraines, Germans, Poles, Italians, Greeks, and just about any other group you could think of. You could eat around the world in just a few days. Imagine REAL Polish breakfast, REAL Mexican lunch [[not Taco Bell crap), then a REAL a German dinner. Or maybe a REAL Arabic dinner after lunch at a REAL Jewish deli. I was never much for Soul food, but there was plenty of that too.

I still describe my old neighborhood around Vernor/Springwells as having been a true "melting pot" back in the 50' & 60's. We had Italian, Polish, Greek, German, Hispanic, Irish,.....families all in my church, school, and neighborhood. Most times the parents still spoke their language and their kids helped them with the english. Great memories

**Susan Messer** · July-17-09, 08:16 PM

Trumpeteer,

So interesting to hear about these other Detroit neighborhoods. I don't remember that kind of mix where I lived. In some ways, my world was very small when I was a child. I had such a limited view of the city I lived in.

And, erie, thanks. Wish you could have been there.

**Kathleen** · July-17-09, 11:01 PM

Susan: Glad to hear that your program at your local library went well. I'm sure you'll have the same type of reception at your appearances here in Detroit!! Looking forward to them...

**Susan Messer** · July-19-09, 07:24 AM

Back to the subject of perspective and what you call the events of July 1967 in Detroit . . . . I attended another event last night for my novel, and one of the people in attendance had an uncle [[Jewish) who owned a small clothing business in the Grand River and Joy neighborhood back in the 60s. That uncle's business burned during the "riots," but he told his nephew that he always thought of the events as a pogrom--the kind of intentional attacks and massacres that Jews suffered in Russia and Poland at the end of the 1800s and early 1900s. The pogroms drove many Jews to immigrate to the US, as their lives were surrounded by constant danger and uncertainty.

It was a completely new insight to me that someone could experience those events of 1967 as such a personal, intentional attack. Wow.

**1KielsonDrive** · July-20-09, 09:19 PM

Susan, I'm ordering it tonight through my library. I'll buy a copy for myself when I see you at a nearby book signing. That way I can get an autographed copy and put my bucks toward an art stimulus plan. Good luck. Keep me informed when you're appearing in the A2/Ypsi/Detroit Metro area. = 1KD = 1KielsonDrive@live.com

**Gannon** · July-20-09, 10:34 PM

Susan,

I can understand that perspective...a mob took away his livelihood, likely because of his race or religion. If they left other businesses intact, he is justified in that view.

I'm a product of the mixed neighborhoods around Vernor Highway in the late 50s and early 60s! Half Irish...Half Polish...and all Detroit!

Our 'hood in the Aviation Sub, between Wyoming and Schafer & Joy and Warren [[legally Tireman at the city limits, but both Esper and Littlefield continued into Dearborn) was integrated throughout the late-sixties/early seventies, but it was lily white in my earliest memories. Thank goodness for progress!

Cheers

**Susan Messer** · July-21-09, 07:35 AM

Thanks, 1 Kielson and Gannon.

It's looking like I'll be at the Common Language book store in A2 toward the end of Oct. I'm still hoping for some other possibilities, perhaps sooner than that and will keep you posted. End of Oct is good though, since my book begins on Halloween [[numerous reasons for this, which I will explain if you want to know).

Gannon, I'm continually struck by how much more there was of Detroit than I knew. And thanks for that understanding of the pogrom comment.

I have an interview this morning with Quinn Kleinfelter at WDET. Not sure when it will be broadcast. I'll let you know.

Susan

**Susan Messer** · July-24-09, 07:05 AM

Some gratifying news on the book:

I got a lengthy email from a long-time Detroiter who read it, including these words:

"Your book is stupendous. I started reading it last night about 10pm, and finally turned out the light around 2am. Started in again this AM around 8, and finished it by noon. I was transfixed the whole time. Was almost panting with excitement and anxiety as events unfolded."

Talk about making my day.

Also, this morning I heard from another acquaintance that she went into her local library [[in a Detroit suburb) to request my book. The librarian told her it was on order with seven holds on it already.

**Gannon** · July-24-09, 08:13 AM

Yay! Heard portions of your interview with Quinn [[I keep WDET on all day for company and pay attention when I can) and thought it was great.

I caught your comments on researching the steam boiler through an on-line repair forum...and the subsequent support from the literary fellow at the head of it.

So wonderful to see this take off from the launch...and even BETTER to hear directly from you all the work that went into the story.

Cheers and the best of luck on the way to the best-seller lists!

**Susan Messer** · July-24-09, 08:34 AM

Oh, Gannon. Thanks so much. Now I'm really happy.

And thanks for mentioning the WDET interview. I was surprised by some of Quinn's questions and wasn't sure how it came off. Now I'll have to find the link and actually listen to it.

**65memories** · July-24-09, 10:03 AM

Go to this link...scan down to July 21st show and you can copy or listen to the MP3 of the show

http://www.wdetfm.org/detroittoday/

**Gannon** · July-24-09, 10:18 AM

Don't take Quinn's questions personally, he is an amazing intellect and always finds avenues of exploration that the average journalist misses! I rank him as one of tops in town, easily.

I have to listen to it this time, too...too easy to merely hear.

Cheers

**Susan Messer** · July-24-09, 10:41 AM

Thanks for the link, 65, and to you too, Gannon. I didn't take his questions personally, exactly. He was a very energetic and engaged interviewer.

It's more that the stock-in-trade of novelists is feeling and nuance, and his questions went for broader issues. He also asked a lot about why I made certain decisions in the novel, but writing a novel or creating anything is a messy, complicated process. Anything that's in there came into being for multiple reasons--many of which even I don't know. When I started writing, I was embarrassed by the fact that I often stumbled into something. Now I understand more that it's part of the process--or my process anyway--the unconscious and the muse at work. So now . . . having to articulate clear reasons . . . well, let's just say it can be a challenge.

**Susan Messer** · July-31-09, 04:45 PM

Today a friend sent me the book page from the Traverse City Record-Eagle [[Sunday, July 26) because my book, Grand River and Joy, was #1 on the best sellers list for northern Michigan, hard cover fiction. It's a start, right?

**65memories** · July-31-09, 09:29 PM

Definitely. Congrats, Susan. I'm still waiting for my copy from Barnes and Nobel online.

**Susan Messer** · August-01-09, 11:54 AM

Thanks, 65. I hope you enjoy the book. I've had some good feedback. One reader has now posted a review on Amazon.

Susan

**Steve Luxenberg** · August-01-09, 12:27 PM

Hi Susan,

After reading your post on the thread about my new nonfiction book that takes place in Detroit [[Annie's Ghosts: A Journey Into a Family Secret), I'm popping over here to your thread. I'm putting your novel on my "to-read" list. I listened to your WDET interview via the magic of the Internet; the station signal just isn't strong enough to reach me here on the East Coast.

The good news: I've found that the Detroit area has a strong interest in books. I drew large crowds at two venues earlier this month, one at the Westland Library and one at the Birmingham Community House. So I think people will come out if they know about the event.

Steve Luxenberg

**Kathleen** · August-01-09, 12:29 PM

The University of Michigan Press is offering Grand River and Joy at a discounted price through August:

To receive this special email discount, enter MESSER09 in the shopping cart under Promotional Code. This offer is only available through the University of Michigan Press website [[www.press.umich.edu), not available in bookstores.

Offer Expires: August 31, 2009

I ordered my copy directly from the UM Press and am looking forward reading Grand River andJoy soon!!

**Susan Messer** · August-02-09, 08:01 AM

Hi Steve, thanks for coming over. I've got some Detroit-area library events scheduled now and have heard about the good audiences. Feelings about the city and its history seem to be so strong among current and former Detroiters. I'm going to go over to your website and send you a message soon.

And Kathleen . . . what a pal. Thanks for ordering a book and thanks for posting that discount offer. I'll keep you posted on my Detroit dates so we can meet again when I'm in town.

Susan

**65memories** · August-12-09, 09:22 PM

Susan...any Detroit dates scheduled?

**Susan Messer** · August-13-09, 07:54 AM

65, Thanks for asking. It's gradually coming into focus. I have two trips to Detroit Metro planned--one at the end of Oct, the other not until March. But here's what I have so far:

Weds, Oct 21--Schuler's Books in Lansing; 7:00
Thurs, Oct 22--Common Language Books in Ann Arbor; 7:00
Sunday, Oct 25--Book Beat in Oak Park, MI; 2:00[[?)

Thurs, March 18, Jewish Community Center, W. Bloomfield; Lunch and Literature, 12:00
Sat, March 20, Detroit Public Library [[a branch on Grand River, not yet sure which one, but isn't that cool?); 2:00[[?)
Mon, March 21, Southfield Public Library, Southfield, MI, 7:00

I'm hoping to add events/dates to both of those trips if anyone has any suggestions or contacts at other libraries or bookstores or colleges.

Thanks again for your interest.

Susan